Today is Ash Wednesday, and I just finished joining several of our church staff and a team from another church here at St. Luke’s Church on the Lake for Ash Wednesday service. It was a beautiful, moving call to humility and contemplation of our sins and the grace of God toward us. Today is also the beginning of Lent, a forty-day period of fasting in preparation for the week of Passion and Resurrection marked at Easter. The Lenten season is a call to release things, to let let go of things and to set aside things that might interfere with our relationship with God so we can know him better.

It’s not about setting aside cokes and snacks so we can lose weight. It’s about denying yourself things so you can gain God. And, it’s a great concept.

God is rarely found in the world of surplus. Often the scriptures associate wealth and luxurious living with pride and rejection of God. It takes a mature person indeed to keep God first in his or her life when living with wealth. So the Bible calls us to seasons of fasting, prayer and self-denial so we can keep things and God in proper perspective. And if you’ve ever done that, you quickly learn that less really is more.

The wealth, surplus and comfort that are promoted in our culture as the good life really isn’t the good life at all. It’s a myth, an illusion. There is an amazing spiritual dynamic in the practices of releasing, not accumulating, of giving, not receiving, and of downsizing, not spreading out.

Simplicity, peace, less stress, heightened spiritual awareness and joy are found in settings of less, not more. In the crazy, upside-down economy of God’s Kingdom, small is big, last is first, empty is full, and poor is rich. It’s counter-intuitive, and you’ll never move toward less without taking deliberate steps to set aside more. The culture pull of stuff and our appetites are just too strong.

So, let’s pursue less–not for a season, but for our lives:

• Start by giving a minimum of 10% of your income to the church you attend, and then give above that to ministries and non-profits you believe in
• Go through your closet, take out anything you haven’t worn in the last year, and give it away.
• While in your closet, take out half of what you have more than two of–jeans, shirts, socks, suits, whatever. Where you have clothing redundancy, give half away.
• Consider downsizing your house and car.
• Get involved in serving those who can’t serve you back
• Spend one week a year doing mission work in a third world country

Each of these ideas–and there are many others–will help you start down the road of discovering the joy of living with less.

Let’s seize the opportunity that Lent affords us. Give something up and give something away. And at the end of 40 days, don’t pick it back up and don’t replace it. Less really is more.

*If you want to know more about finding more by living with less, I’ve written an entire book on the subject called Enough. You can pre-order the book (and save a few dollars on it!) here.

What do you get when you cross a man or woman with a really nice car? Nothing. That’s right, absolutely nothing. Cars in no way add to you’re value. But, by the way we pursue the more expensive cars and the status we attach to them, one would think that they add infinite value to our souls. I talked to a woman recently who is married to a movie producer. When they lived in Hollywood he was required by contract to drive either a Jaguar or BMW. He was told that if he didn’t look successful, potential clients wouldn’t take him seriously.

It is a ridiculous notion that any inanimate object–including a car–can add value to a person. You insult the priceless soul God placed within you if you think that it is somehow defined, improved upon or cheapened, by what you wear, where you live, what you drive or what you do. And yet we spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year in pursuit of those very things, as if they somehow had the capacity to give us life.

It’s really silly if you think about it.

So, I have a question: Are you willing to drive a car for more than 100,000 miles? Would you be willing to keep the car you have a few more years and when you replace it, go with a cheaper version? I can already hear the pushback: But I need this type of car–I have to have the extra room–I’m on the road and really need to be comfortable, etc.

Go out in your driveway or garage, look at whatever you drive and say outloud, “This doesn’t define me. I am not what I drive, and I will not ever (again) seek to drive a status symbol.”

Then, look up to heaven and thank God for making you infinitely valuable, no matter what you drive.

Here’s how:

1. Live a life that honors God and prefers others over yourself

2. Be content with what you have

Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. 1 Timothy 6:6 (NLT)

 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people, Matthew 14:19.

Taking, blessing, breaking and giving. That’s God’s pattern for everything he uses and even for everything he gives you.

Take–he declares it his

Bless-he declares it holy

Break–he multiplies it

Give–he gives it away

It’s what God did with the five loaves and two fish. That’s what he did with Jesus. It’s what he wants to do with you.

And, it’s what he expects he to do with everything he gives you.

Take it–Acknowledge it as a gift from God. It’s not yours.

Bless it–Declare it holy in Jesus’ name

Break it-Pray for God to multiple it

Give it–Start giving it away

Do this with every material thing you gives have. Do it with your money. Do it with your time, your skills and talents, your spiritual gifts. Everything.

And when you do, here’s what happens: They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children, Matthew 14:20-21

God always does more with what he gives you than you can. And when he does, everyone is satisfied.

My friend Tonya Parrott and I are working on the Bible study and small group questions for Enough: Find More by Living with Less. We want to feature dozens and dozens of real examples from people who have learned to spend less, give more, downsize, reduce overhead and live more simply, and also the joy and peace that such living has brought them.

Many of you contributed to the book Enough, and you’ll get your free copy when it comes out in a few months. But if you have learned new ways to move toward enough, or if you haven’t yet shared your success stories, would you do so now? We’d love to learn from your moving toward enough experience.

Please send me your success stories Send Email or just post them in the comments here. Thanks so much.

Let’s help people find ENOUGH!

Greetings fellow travelers. As I write this I’m sitting in a pub in the Toronto airport waiting to catch a flight to Winnipeg. I have a backpack and a very small carry-on suitcase with me. Just enough to get me through the last couple of days. I’ve learned through many travels and even better, through backpacking, how to travel light–very light. When you’re hiking up a mountain or visiting two cites in 48 hours, you just don’t need a bunch of stuff.

It’s amazing how minimalist you can become you you’re forced to carry on your back or pay $25 for whatever you want to bring along. And given that I’m cheap and old, carrying extra baggage has no appeal to me.

Oh that we could have such a mindset toward life. We are travelers here. This world is not our home. The time we spend here compared to eternity isn’t even a blip on the radar. And yet, we accumulate stuff like our lives depend on it. We act as it stuff defines us, increases our value, loves us and give us life. We insure our stuff, rent storage facilities for our stuff, and even work to get more of it.

So much for traveling light. We’re more like the kings of old who couldn’t go anywhere without an entourage of slaves and mules just to carry all their stuff.

Question: is all this really necessary? Is all this helpful? I just talked to a friend who recently moved onto a dream house with his wife, and yet his marriage is dying. They’ve got the right house on the right street in the right part of town, and they still can’t get along. So tell me again why we’re carrying all this junk around with us?

So here’s a challenge, and I’m very serious about this–limit your life to 100 items. From your bed to your car to your purse, you get to have only 100 things. That’s it! Work on that list, figure out your 100 things, and you’ll be well on your way to realizing just how much you don’t need in your life.

When I backpack, I’ve got 80 cubic centimeters to work with, and that’s a big pack. Anything else is just too much. Apply that to your life. If it can’t fit in a pack, you don’t really need it.

Don’t be consumed by the monster of more. It’s not worth it.

For more info about the 100 item rule, click here.

I’m writing about the three best things I did in 2011 that are helping me in 2012. (See yesterday’s blog for #1.) The second, curiously, is I wrote another book. It’s called Enough: Having More by Living with Less, and it will be released in a few months. I can’t tell you how much writing that book has impacted my life.

I learned that from the world’s standpoint, I am extremely wealthy.

I learned that I have a God-given assignment/opportunity to care for the poor and needy around me.

I learned that very few people can manage wealth and pursue God and the same time. They’re (almost) mutually exclusive.

I learned that I can live on much less.

So what am I doing? How am I living differently?

1. Susie and I are saving more money. We’re strategically trying to spend less and save more so we can be ready to help when needed.

2. We’re jettisoning some material cargo. We have too much stuff, way too much. We’re trying to buy less and even keep less of what we’ve had.

3. We’re trying to be more spontaneously generous. I’ve become a big tipper and an instantaneous giver. It’s a blast!

4. I pray more for the poor. I know some folks in poverty in Austin and around the world. I pray for them and work with those who help them.

5. I serve. I make sure I’m helping those who can’t help me back on a regular basis. I keeps me grounded.

6. I’m rethinking my future. As I look at the next few decades (God willing) of my life, I’m reconsidering what success and retirement look like.

Anyway, writing Enough really messed with me. I think reading it will mess with you. Stay tuned. In the meantime, why not start thinking about how you could move toward enough.

This Christmas, serve someone who can’t serve you back.

I don’t travel a lot–maybe just a few times a year. But I had to fly recently and I was reminded yet again at how much we’re bred to think too highly of ourselves when we travel. I mean, the whole experience is wired to create a diva mentality in us.

It started when I was boarding my first flight. I’d seen this before, but this time for some reason it struck me as odd. It’s the little pole right in front of the gate check-in. On the right side of it is a little red carpet about 3 feet long leading to the place where the gate agent scans your boarding pass. Above the carpet is a sign with words like preferred, platinum, elite and advantage. It might as well have said big dogs.

I wasn’t invited to walk on the right side of the pole and down the red carpet, but I wanted to. I wanted to be a big dog. And even though when I walked down the left side of the pole (with a sign that basically said everybody else) with no red carpet, and still ended up in the same place as the red carpet people on the same plane, it bugged me. Why can’t I be one of them? I want to be elite.

Then, at another counter I saw this sign:

I laughed out loud. That’s when I saw the conspiracy. I saw how culture is set up to make me think more of myself than I should, at least as a Christian. For on the one hand I am a child of God and a member of God’s family. But on the other, I am only a servant of my King.

There are no celebrities in God’s Kingdom. No powerful people, no preferred or elite consumers. Only servants. Really, only slaves. We are called to defer to others, the walk second miles and to think of others before we think of ourselves. And since we live in a world that tells me it’s all about me, that can be quite a struggle.

So today, I choose to walk on the left side of the pole. I don’t need a red carpet. I don’t need to go first. I choose to prefer others and treat the least of these as the elite of the world that they are. I choose not to be a celebrity or a diva. Just a servant.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus . . . . Philippians 2:5