Stuff and Things: My 2013 Goals

Stuff and things is the perfect phrase for this time of year.  So much revolves around stuff and things.  Christmas shopping.  Present-wrapping.  Gift-giving.  Food-preparing.  Snack baking.  Stuff, stuff, stuff, things, things, things.

At the Temple of Heaven in Beijing

Seven years ago I spent the holiday season in China.  I can't tell you how drastically different Christmas has become for me since that experience.  If you aren't up on the situation of the church in China, crash course: as a communist nation, the official religion is atheism.  In the best of places, Christ-followers are frowned upon, and in the worst, they are imprisoned or worse for simply following Jesus.  You would think, therefore, that this would discourage people from following Jesus.

Wrong.

We spent Christmas of 2007 among believers who met in secret, among those who could be arrested simply for owning a Bible, among those who have only a fraction of the stuff and things we have simply by being Americans.  One of the folks in our group encountered a woman who was working on memorizing the Bible.  The entire Bible.  Yup - the whole thing.  When asked why, she responded "Because someday I will likely be in prison.  How will I read the Word of God then?"  Seriously?  I'm a Christ-follower, but if a prison sentence is eminent, I'm quite sure memorizing scripture would be pretty far down on my to-do list.  I think I'd be trying to figure out a way to stay out of prison.  But you know that passage in the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus says:

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." - Matthew 5: 11-12

I have no experiential knowledge of this passage.  Sure, I've had people say hurtful things about my being a Christian, or criticize decisions I make because of what I believe, or make assumptions about me because of my faith that simply aren't true, but that's about the extent of my experience with persecution.  This woman and the millions (and more every day) like her are literally risking their lives for the sake of the Gospel.  Persecution?  Um...yes.

Understand something - the underground church in China is flourishing.  While we were there we visited (at night, under cover of darkness) a body of believers who were training up missionaries to come to America.  America?  The nation under God?  Yes, they said, because it is so very dark there. Wait a minute - you live in China, a place where to even speak the name of Jesus can land you in prison, where owning a Bible is a capital offense, where you have to meet at night in secret, and you think America is dark?  We have religious freedom.  We can speak the Name of Jesus whenever we want.  I probably own at least ten Bibles.  We have hundreds of thousands of churches country-wide and people go to them in the daytime.  How can you say that America is dark? 

Stuff and things.  We are lured away from the things that are truly important by those that aren't.  We focus on things that have no eternal significance.  All our stuff and things distract us from what really matters.  These people recognize that their lives are temporary.  Stuff and things don't matter - loving Jesus matters.  This trip hammered this point home to me in a way that sitting in church never has.  The world is going to end for each one of us.  It may not end the way the Mayans predicted, but each one of us will expire.  What, then, will our stuff and things mean?

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:18

In 2013, I want to make an effort to live life for what is unseen.  I want to have what I need, but ultimately I want to invest in those things that are eternally important.  My basic to-do list is this:

1. Love God.
2. Live Connected.
3. Serve All.

Not one of these elements involves stuff and things.  Instead, it involves a heart that is free of the clutter of this world and impassioned with the love of Jesus.  I stole this list from our church.  If you were to come by on a Sunday, you would hear this, read this, see this over and over and over.  This mantra has forever been hammered and carved into my brain.

2013 is the time to write it on my heart.