If Chapter 2 of 7 by Jen Hatmaker was a doozy for you, we want to know about it! It has been so interesting reading through the comments from Monday’s post to hear your thoughts on clothes and excess. We’re sharing a bit from Sarah and Kayla below on how this chapter changed them. Click on over to their blogs to read the full story! We’d love for you to add your voice to the conversation, too!
Just link up your post on this month’s topic below, or share in the comments!
{Sarah @ Truth in the Journey}
I have a confession to make. I dress the way I do so that you’ll like me. You, women. I try to impress you with my wardrobe. You see it isn’t just our culture that is obsessed with fashion. It’s me, maybe you, and millions of other women in the church.
Why? There is a long list of reasons (pride, feeling rejected, wanting to be loved, etc.) and it’s important to figure out which one is driving us. Because the reason matters. We spend money on clothes, we spend even more time thinking about them, and probably even more time coveting them. This is more than a waste of time. We’re told to look to the things above, not to the things here on this earth. That isn’t just a friendly suggestion. It’s the reason for our very existence.
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{Kayla Aimee @ Only Slightly Neurotic}
After I read 7 I saw abundance everywhere. There was the fruitful, the “I came so that you may have life and have it in abundance” and there was the amassed, the abundance of things that I collected and held on to so tightly that it kept the former at bay.
7 changed my entire life.
But the breakthrough came in my closet. That’s not even a spiritual metaphor.
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Both my husband and I grew up on farms. Many believe farmers are rich, in part due to the shows that used to be on TV about rich farmers and their lives, like Dallas, etc. My husband grew up seeing the shows of place like the Ponderosa, etc. My father even though he fixed TVs as a sideline, never allowed us to watch much. Saturday night was the only night, which was not a school night when we were aloud to watch TV, occasionally on Sunday for preaching or an afternoon show, but not often.
The farm my father had belonged to a university and was used for teaching, so the university paid his wages. There were 6 children in our family, so the wages had to stretch. We were brought up for things to be functional and practical, stuff and fluff was not allowed. A visit to our home showed a simple, yet elegant starkness. My mother knew how to make things stretch.
We were always neat and clean, yet when the 60’s came with the appliqué work being in fashion, my mother and aunts were so relieved because the patches on our clothes were still functional, yet stylish. In other words, even in an era of great economy, there were still many, who struggled to get by. Many who came out of the depression passed on being frugal and practical to their children.
I have heard it said what one-generation does; the next does it in excess, rather good or bad. Solomon stated that the young generation forgets the wisdom of the former generation. Some of my husband’s relatives were Amish and Mennonites, so the simplicity of life never left such group of people. These values also permeated generations, so such things as excess did not creep in until my generation.
The generation of emaciation, free love, etc. liberated far too much. When I see some around me who parents and grandparents struggled, it is not so evident in their lives. The generation of entitlement was birth. Such is the downfall of many nations over the millennia’s, the spirit of entitlement (greed). With our children, we learned over time to reign in such and it was not easy with the influences of “prosperity” preaching.
When we get out of balance with God’s Word, this is what happened, I am so grateful to see post like these that are a call back to simplicity and righteousness, keeping our eyes on the goal, God’s purpose here. Persecution makes the church grow, appeasement does not, and appealing to the flesh only dulls the spiritual growth of the body of Christ. There is nothing wrong with prosperity, if we understand the purpose for it in God’s Word.
For years now I have shopped mainly at the thrift stores! You would not believe what people send there! I have purchased new items with the tags still on! You just have to look things over-check the zippers-check for stains-try them on-etc. It WILL save you money!
Reading this chapter makes me realize I too have 100’s of clothes items and do I really need them all? I’ve gone through, sorted, tried on and decided most I am giving away. Will keep key pieces that I can mix and match with…But I do work part time and need to look presentable…Working to perfect presentable “on a budget”.
Freedom. That is what I want. I think that is what has been coming home to me in this chapter. That if I am willing to let go, and simplify, in reality I will have more freedom. So amazing, God gives his will in his WORD if I would just realize it is not to restrict me, but to give me FREEDOM!!
I Tim. 2:9-10
I Peter 3:3-4
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