Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.
- Oscar Wilde
This is funny and sad at the same time, when taken as intended. The great drive we all have to live beyond our means, to have more than we can afford, including in non-financial areas, the concept of laugh now - cry later, is something that has created a hole that many of us struggle to get out of and not to return to. I have thought before that America's motto shouldn't be Land of the free;home of the brave any longer as much as Buy now; pay later. But I don't want to rant against the something for nothing, debt based, leave the mess for someone else to clean up structure our society has become.
The thought that crossed my mind when I most recently read this quote was how, tongue and cheek or not, it really is a call to responsibility and not living beyond our means. Then I thought, but we're supposed to. We are supposed to live extravagantly beyond our means. Not in a selfish, self centered, have everything I want but can't afford, give me what they have, kind of way, but in a child of a rich and loving Father kind of way. He paid the debt due on the damages of our lives so that we can have a relationship with Him and be free of judgment and condemnation. No matter what kind of special interest rate we might find, that is a bill we would never be able to afford.
Being made clean and giving us forgiveness we never deserve is just the beginning. Then Daddy generously pours out His Spirit to give us power that we could never harness or develop that makes us free and gives us the ability to walk with Him. To walk with God is due to extravagant grace and means that we are living well beyond our means, far outside the confines of what we can do and provide on our own. And wait; there's more! The returns and benefits of surrender to the Spirit include suddenly finding one's self living a life worth living with love from and for God and for others, with joy that doesn't get destroyed by a flat tire, an unexpected bill or even a life threatening illness, and peace that doesn't make sense considering the circumstances that can't shake it, in the very midst of the wind and rain of hurricane the spirit can stay calm. What would a life like that be worth?
Well, like they say, if you have to ask, you can't afford it. And you can't. I can't either. No one can, because you can not do well enough, make enough, steal enough or fake enough to earn it. Earning it takes perfection, perfect righteousness and perfect holiness. Once again, none of us qualify. The best don't even come close. There are no good people in heaven. There are forgiven people in heaven. There are no low, low payments or even high, high payments or amount of work that can make this awesome life package ours. It is beyond our means.
But the answer isn't found in imagination, manipulation or working any system but rather in the very core of truth that created all that has ever been created. God has made this available to everyone who wants it. There is freedom. There is a life worth living. It is possible to be happy, joyous and free beyond not only our means but our wildest dreams and imagination. It's free. It costs everything that we have. Giving our all could never come close to affording all this and heaven too, but when we give everything, all our heart, mind and soul to Him who made the way, He makes it enough. We become His children, inheritors who live well beyond our means because Daddy made sure the bills have all been paid and everything we need is provided for.
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