Luke 18:22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

I’ve written and spoken a zillion words about generosity and compassion, wealth and poverty. I have a stock answer now for the most commonly asked questions. They all begin with “how much” and “how many”.

How much should I save for…? How much should I spend on…? How many square feet…?

My answer frustrates to no end the rule keepers…and accountants: “God gave us a perfect Person, not a perfect plan.”

Because if I could turn to a diagram, a spreadsheet, a bullet pointed list in the back of my bible…I’d follow it. I’d plug my income and the square footage of my home and the ages of my children and the average lifespan of a white American man into the equation and I’d have my answer. But no relationship.

“Come follow me,” Jesus invites.

“Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” and hours of prayer, and wise counsel, tears and disagreement, and wrestling, and confession and reading and late night conversations with the bills spread on the kitchen table alongside the bank statement…and follow Jesus.

It’s the constant arrival of new questions that requires my constant dependence upon and conversation with Jesus.

I’m standing at a crossroads tonight. And I so wish the answer was behind the concordance at the back of the book. Oh, man, that would be so much easier than…

Jesus, lead me.

Our Prayer

A person’s steps are directed by You, Lord. How then can anyone understand their own way? (Proverbs 20:24)
God, show me the way and move me to follow. Amen.