So here’s a thought . . . I guess you could categorize this as a Big Idea. I call it the “Go one month without buying anything new” challenge. Basically, the only rule is, don’t buy anything new for yourself for one month. Pretty self explanatory, I know. Don’t worry, we’ve already began searching for a new “naming the challenges guy”.
But in all seriousness, think about how much stuff we buy. Sometimes it seems like we never put our wallets down. We convince ourselves that the stuff we want to buy is a necessity, when it’s really just stuff that will end up as clutter, or in a garage sale, or on craigslist, or out of date by next season. We want and we want and we want. We have to have the biggest and the best and the newest and the most fashionable.
For this challenge, I’m not talking about food purchases, or any other necessities that might keep you alive or in good health. It’s going to be up to you to define what is a necessity. This challenge targets those material goods that advertisers have convinced us that we deserve to buy for ourselves.
Try living the next month as though you were on a mission trip. If you’ve never been on a mission trip, then what I mean is, learn how to live with what you already have, without buy new clothes, or new shoes, or new stuff. It will take some getting used to. It will take some planning. It will take some patience and it will mean you might have to change the way you think.
Jesus spent a lot of time teaching us to love God first before anything else, to be humble, to serve others in love, and to be selfless. If we aren’t careful, the opportunities around us to share God’s love may be obstructed from our view because of greed and a need to consume.
Find something that you can give up and do without.
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