Dear Church,
Many people have asked for a copy of these ten principles so we thought we would post them on the web site.
Remember, it's not about rules or laws but about listening to God and doing what you think He is leading you to do through each of life's decisions. It's sometimes easier for us as humans to follow a list of rules rather than having to try and listen to God and live in dependence on Him. The down side of living by rules is that we begin to stop listening to God, and we begin to get proud because we think we are pulling it off.
Nonetheless, these principles (Not rules!), are helpful for reflecting on where we are at with regard to money and "things".
Richard Foster’s suggestions for Simplicity. (From "Spiritual Disciplines".)
1. Buy things for their usefulness [+ value and looks – Sean], rather than their status.
2. Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you.
3. Develop a habit of giving things away. De-accumulate!
4. Refuse to be propagandised by the custodians of modern gadgetry.
5. Learn to enjoy things without having to own them.
6. Develop a deeper appreciation for the creation. Discover afresh that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” (Ps 24:1)
7. Look with a healthy scepticism at all “buy now, pay later” schemes.
8. Obey Jesus’ instructions about plain honest speech. Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’, and your ‘no’ be ‘no’. Avoid flattery and half-truths. Make honesty and integrity the hallmarks of your speech. [Reject jargon and the breathless extolling of the ‘latest thing’ – Sean].
9. Reject anything that breeds the oppression of others.E.g.cheap stuff manufactured by child labour etc.
10. Shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the kingdom of God.
Simples! Tch. (Like the meerkat Alexander Orlov)
Sean.
What was the quote you read out on Sunday by Richard Foster?
ReplyDelete“Contemporary culture lacks both the inward and the outward life-style of simplicity. We must live in the modern world, and we are affected by its fragmented and fractured state. We are trapped in a amaze of competing attachments. One moment we make decisions on the basis of sound reason and the next moment out of fear of what others will think of us. We have no unity or focus around which our lives are oriented.
ReplyDeleteBecause we lack a divine centre our need for security has led us into an insane attachment to things. We really must understand that the lust for affluence in contemporary society is psychotic. It is psychotic because it has completely lost touch with reality. We crave things which we neither need nor enjoy. ‘We buy things which we do not want to impress people we do not like.’ Where planned obsolescence leaves off, psychological obsolescence takes over. We are made to feel ashamed to wear clothes or drive cars until they worn out. The mass media has convinced us that to be out of step with fashion is to be out of step with reality. It is time we waken from the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick. Until we see how imbalanced our culture has become at this point, we will not be able to deal with the mammon spirit within ourselves nor will we desire Christian simplicity.” (Richard Foster, Spiritual Disciplines, London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1989, Pg.100)