Accumulation | Wayfarer

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
Acts 20:24 (NIV)

Over this past week Wendy and I watched the third season of the Amazon Prime original, The Man in the High Castle. Most every television or movie drama hinges on some kind of threat to life. Someone’s life is in danger. Someone is trying to escape those who seek to end his or her life. Someone’s life had been taken and the protagonist must find out who did it before more people die. In The Man in the High Castle the writers throw in the twist of the multi-verse, the theory that parallel realities exist and people known as “travelers” can slip between them. Nevertheless, seeking to stay alive and striving to avoid the threat of death don’t change. They are always the common themes.

As I read today’s chapter, the themes of death and life are just as prevalent as they weave themselves through Paul’s story. The Jews plan another attempt to assassinate Paul, so he changes his travel arrangements. A boy falls from a third-story window and dies, but Paul miraculously brings the boy back to life. Paul then declares to the elders of the believers at Ephesus that he will not see them again on this earthly journey. Even though Holy Spirit has continually revealed that prison and persecution await, Paul is ready to face it: “I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me.”

Here we have yet a different twist on the theme of life and death: the willingness to sacrifice one’s life for a higher purpose. Paul has faithfully followed the footsteps of Jesus. Self-sacrifice is the way of Jesus:

“Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
[Jesus] said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

In the quiet this morning I find myself wrestling with the themes of life, death, and self-sacrifice. In a relatively safe midwest American existence the threat of death is incredibly low. The odds for a long and relatively easy life are incredibly high. So, what does the way of Jesus, the way of self-sacrifice mean for me on this journey? In a culture that values a “better life” as defined by the acquisition of things and the accumulation of bucket list experiences, what does it mean to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow? I live in a completely different reality that Paul, Luke, and the Ephesus elders. I know what self-sacrifice looked like for Paul, but what about me in this place, in this century, in this reality?

Monday morning. More questions than answers. I’m gonna keep wrestling with this one.

Have a good week my friend.

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow,without hope.”

David son of Jesse was king over all Israel. He ruled over Israel forty years—seven in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. He died at a good old age, having enjoyed long life, wealth and honor. His son Solomon succeeded him as king.
1 Chronicles 29:14-15;26-28 (NIV)

Wendy and I have begun to declutter our house. It’s interesting the accumulation of “stuff” after nearly a decade. I find myself increasingly willing to get rid of things that, for some apparent reason, I felt I really needed at one time. I find it interesting what your heart labels as “treasure” and what you consider “junk.” Yesterday I came across a tub which contains my grandmother’s diaries, which I still treasure and hope to catalog more thoroughly some day.

For over twenty years my grandmother faithfully recorded the events of her day. I must be honest. The diaries are, for the most part, very boring. The entries are not the least bit introspective. Grandma was not one to write about her feelings or insights or to wax eloquent about her perspective on anything. Her entries read like a mundane grocery list of activity:

Thursday, June 19, 1969 – Got up late. Slept good. We did a big wash + ironing. Went for a ride this eve. Sure enjoyed it. Dad drove car. Hot day.

On a whim, I picked up the diary from 1977 and navigated to one particular entry:

Wednesday, July 6, 1977 – We did odds + ends today. Took Don and Dan to Jackes for supper this eve. Had a shower early a.m. + a little shower this eve.

It was the last diary entry my grandmother would make. After writing this entry, she and my grandpa went for a walk “up town” and were struck by a car while crossing the street. My grandmother died that night. My grandfather picked up the daily duty of writing in the diary and continued the practice until late in his life.

How easily we forget life’s fragility. In our hearts we all plan to live to a ripe old age and hand off our accumulated “stuff” to our children just as King David did in today’s chapter. And yet, there is always the possibility that we are just an evening stroll and a distracted driver away from making our own final entry in this life’s daily diary.

I found it interesting that in his advanced age, and in the moment of his giving away the throne, King David recognized that everything came from and belonged to God. It’s easier to give away what was never yours in the first place, and the further I get in this life journey the more I recognize David’s realization in my own heart.

Today, I’m grateful for what I’ve been given. I’m seeking to let go of the notion that I can lay claim to anything and think that it is mine; not even this beautiful summer day in July.