When you find honey, eat only what is sufficient for you,
lest you become stuffed with it and vomit it up. (Proverbs 25:16)
As we dined on New York steaks with furloughed missionaries to Mozambique and Tibet, the conversation turned to strange baths we’ve had in remote places.
“We don’t usually get a bath but every few weeks. I like it when I can get it, but I’m okay doing without,” a Tibetan missionary said.
Her attitude is vital to a true missionary spirit. God gives special grace to endure hardships while in his service, but we have to go into it with the understanding that the rescue of human hearts is more important than our creature comforts. I think I’ll make that my motto—I like it when I can get it, but I’m okay doing without. It fits most everything in the world.
In Zimbabwe, Dani and I were privileged to have dinner with orphans. The staple is cornmeal mush called sudza. Try as we might, we couldn’t master the African technique of rolling sudza balls so all the bits remained intact. The children giggled as the paste covered our hands and worked its way up our wrists.
The good things of the earth are sticky. They are provided for our sustenance and enjoyment. Yet, if not handled correctly, bits and pieces adhere to our soul and make a mess of us. Everything from food, to money and sports, to family, must be enjoyed within the context of declaring God’s glory. I have to continually roll each gift in thanksgiving or it will begin to stick until I can no longer say, “I like it when I can get it, but I’m okay doing without.”
There is only one thing I can’t live without and that is the Spirit of Jesus.
Prayer: Jesus, my everything, help me enjoy your gifts and remain clean.