After quite a long time of waiting I have finally moved house to London. The whole process of preparing for this has been a little complicated but thankfully all has gone well on the day. If you have ever moved home you will know that it is thought provoking to see all of your possessions boxed up. I am amazed at how much can be fitted in to a cardboard box as we, like most people think that, despite getting rid of a lot of stuff we still have far too much!
As once again someone in my family said to me “why on earth are you keeping that?!” I have to confess I do struggle with the relationship between possessions and discipleship especially when recently recording a message about the calling of the first disciples. We all know what has sentimental value to us and we all process our memories, keepsakes, and experiences differently. Technology has helped me as I spent some time a while back scanning old documents and destroying them (well most of them anyway!)
One new thing that I did learn from the removal team was that despite the fact that I had, months ago, already packed up items from my office there still needed to be some “squaring off” to be done by them to ensure that all the boxes could be easily and stafely stacked in the lorry. This was one time where things really do need to be neat and tidy but this is probably the exception that proves the rule. The rest of the time despite our desire to make everything thing fit neatly together in an orderly way life conspires against us doesn’t it! To be a disciple of Jesus Christ today surely is more about being resilient and even thriving amidst all the ragged edges and the ambiguities of everyday life. To trust Jesus even when things don’t seem to fit and are in danger of toppling over is easier said than done – don’t you think?
Having said all this there are things we can try to do. Dallas Willard describes disciples as simply “people who are constantly revising their affairs to carry through on their decision to follow Jesus”. Over the coming months I hope to encourage you to do just that. Please get in touch if you would like to join the conversation.
So now I am waiting to have the big pile of empty boxes collected but that is a different story. The company are called ‘The Perfect Group’ and thankfully almost lived up to their name in every way. The good news, as I am regularly saying in my video messages from Mark’s Gospel (https://vimeo.com/discipleseveryday), is that imperfection is no obstacle to discipleship. Here’s the thing; its a prerequisite!
I still haven’t found my pliers after the move though!
Eddie
References:
Dallas Willard – Rethinking Evangelism http://www.dwillard.com.php73-37.phx1-1.websitetestlink.com/articles/rethinking-evangelism?fbclid=IwAR02HMoBg0S6rEYfgfPGgXcUn0ppjYAdcp3FfiJAfphcip5UEYS7NXMmHOw)
Top image photo by Tan Kaninthanond on Unsplash
