Having read “The Way,” we have to know that MacDonald will double down here with the addition of the word “Hardness” in the title! If we realized we were too hard on the rich young man before then what are we going to do when it is about us and our time and priorities? So, let me start with a little about myself and my life to add a little more context for my thoughts.
Context
I live in a waterfront condominium on a beautiful reservoir and enjoy the most beautiful sunrises from my front porch and sunsets from my back one. I own a sports car, a truck, and a camper. We have a large TV, two laptops, one tablet, and two cell phones. Our home has hot and cold running water, indoor plumbing, gas cooking, and a pantry full of food. By the standards of the world at large, I am rich! However, when I look across the water, there are rows of McMansions, multi-thousands of square foot homes in “Palisades.” My forty-year-old, thousand square foot, two-bedroom would be slumming it for those across the water. As always, all things are relative, right?
Jesus, of course, was not interested in this comparison game. For Him, this was a question of heart, more specifically, the question of a divided one. But Life as They share it has nothing to do with these things at all! If you have Life, you can enjoy all the things that matter without possessing any of them. If you don’t live from Their Life, there will never be enough things to want and possess. So, Jesus puts us all, whether rich or poor, under this preoccupation with things!
Time
The glasses of time are a good lens to see this clearly through and put it into perspective. Where you spend your time is where you spend your life! How much of our thought, effort, energy, and heart are spent on things? How driven are we by bigger, better, newer, and more? What would we do with all the time if we were not so occupied by things so completely?
We might, for instance, become aware of the Spirit’s presence in everything, everywhere! The ordinary as the extraordinary all around us for free! Or, all the others around us struggling in their pain and loss, or entering into their joy and life!
Things
The only ones who can AFFORD to have things are those who care nothing for them at all! Only then will the things not crowd out the Life teaming all around us. We were not created to possess things but to enjoy them with others forever!
I don’t know what this would look like for me, much less for you. I think the question here now is, are we willing to admit to our divided hearts? Ready to surrender them to our Lord and Master and let him free us from things into Their Life?
Suppose we took no thought for tomorrow. How much thought and time we would have for today and the beauty found only at this moment, this bit of time, which so easily and quickly slips away unnoticed!
Time is an introductory reflection on the Unspoken Sermon linked below: