We’ve begun the process of simplifying and scaling things down. We’ve shed a lot of clothing, some books and some obvious junk that would have gone out with the spring cleaning, but we still have a long way to go.  Now the walls of our home are bare. The living room has a hollow, tinny echo and the garage is full to the brim with the trappings of our lives in this home… stacked irreverently on folding tables and the concrete floor waiting for our big two-day garage sale. Life as we’ve known it, is for sale.

The advise that was given to us was to take over to Germany only what you can fit in suitcases. Gut check. That started the BWA flair ups we’ve been having.  “…But What About?…” Currently the only cure for this disorder is trust God and ask Him to remind us what really matters.

I love the Sermon on the Mount. I’ve hung onto many of the Beatitudes during my adult life.  I’ve said The Lord’s Prayer more times than I’ve brushed my teeth… probably (Don’t tell my dentist). I’ve heard sermon after sermon pulled from these chapters.  But hearing a recent teaching on a familiar section of Matthew 6 sounded VERY different to me. Matt. 6:19 - Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth… and Matt. 6:25 - do not be anxious about your life.

John MacArthur has said, “Hell will be full of people who thought highly of the Sermon on the Mount. You must do more than that. You must obey it and take action.” Right now that action feels like a punch in the belly. It’s an exercise we really weren’t prepared for.

We hear echoes of the dialog between Jesus and the rich young ruler.  ”Sell everything you have…” We hear the memories ringing back the prices we’ve paid for this and that.  We hear the  voices of our friends and family asking if  we are really getting rid of ________?  And we wonder deep in our hearts if we’d rather fill the living room back up, relax again on the sofa, polish and dust the treasures we’ve collected, and walk away from Jesus sad. Sad but with our arms full and our minds pacified. So what matters?

We have to remember that even as we are disassembling our home, we are actually building for the kingdom: the reconciled world that Christ will usher in. We are not making more food for the moths or more material for the rust heap. We are letting go and clinging to what matters, a God who has shown His love and trustworthiness over and over again. Our Heavenly Father knows.

We still think highly of the Sermon on the Mount.  We don’t want to repeat the same mistake of the rich young ruler. But if we’re really going to give the Lord of our lives all that we are, we might as well begin by giving Him everything that we have.  It’s all for sale.