Our Closets Judge Us
Posted by: ba <ba@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Straight to the Cross
COLUMN: Field Notes
Our Closets Judge Us
By Michael E. Brooks
"But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul
will be required of you; then whose will those
things be which you have provided?' So is he who
lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich
toward God" (Luke 12:20,21).
A friend and I were discussing the economic
classification of countries in the world. What
determines whether a given nation is "First
World", or "Third World"? We realized that it is
tied to issues of technological development and
economic health, but where precisely is the line
drawn? When does a country truly qualify as
"poor"? Who exactly are the "have nots"?
Having traveled in several parts of the world
considered poor by virtually everyone, I offer one
observation. Generally speaking the poor people I
have seen have no closets. Think about that. Their
homes contain no storage capacity of any kind. No
basements, no attics, no stuffed garages, no
closets. If you have no possessions besides what
you wear or carry on your person, you need nowhere
to put them. That is getting very close to a
definition of poor. The poor are those who have
only the bare minimum of the direst necessities
for life, OR LESS!
Consider this statement from the Law of Moses:
"If you ever take your neighbor's garment as a
pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun
goes down. For that is his only covering, it is
his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in?"
(Exodus 22:26,27a).
It is his only garment! He has nothing else even
in which to sleep. Note that it was the
presumption of the Law that many (most?) people in
Israel would fit in that category. This is the
Scriptural background of the teaching of Jesus in
the instructions for the limited commission:
"He commanded them to take nothing for the journey
except a staff – no bag, no bread, no copper in
their money belts – but to wear sandals, and not
to put on two tunics" (Mark 6:8,9).
The disciples would be preaching among people who
had nothing extra and they were not to flaunt
wealth among them. Whether they had it to flaunt
is another question, but Matthew (Levi) had been a
tax collector; Peter and the sons of Zebedee were
fishermen who at least seem to have owned boats
and nets. Perhaps others of the disciples had
means of their own. If so, they were commanded to
identify with those they were attempting to reach,
who certainly included the poor. That meant not to
take so much as a change of clothing on their
journey.
When we get to the parable in Luke 12 of the man
whom we so superciliously call "the rich fool",
the application becomes quite personal. What
precisely was his sin? He had extra possessions,
given by the graciousness of God. What did he do
with them? He put them in barns (i.e., storage
rooms, attics, closets?) for future use, rather
than to use them for the benefit of others. He
"la[id] up treasure for himself, and [was] not
rich towards God."
When we in America build or buy a house, one of
the most desired features is usually abundant
storage space. We want lots of closets. Should
that become a guideline for us in answering the
question, "who are the poor?" And conversely, "who
are the rich?" Biblical evidence points strongly
in that direction. It is long past time for us to
listen to the judgment pronounced by our
overfilled closets and to be rich towards God,
through being generous to the poor who are his
people. Listen to his warning as given by Moses:
"And it will be that when he cries to me, I will
hear, for I am gracious" (Exodus 22:27b).
----
Read this article online, tell us what you think,
see who's commenting, click here:
forthright.antville.org/stories/735377/
----
You can help us get the word out. Here's how:
forthright.antville.org/stories/340415/