Matthew 25:31-40 is the passage of scripture that has served as the mission statement for TORCH Missions. I was reading it again last night and it struck me that Jesus again mentions the idea of being blessed by God. As I said previously, this is a burning question inside me that I have been thinking about for a few years now. In verse 34 it says "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." Then in verse 35 it seems to suggest what kind of actions go hand in hand with the blessing of inheriting the kingdom, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."

Somehow in our language we have come to associate blessing with stuff and I think we need to redefine it. The way Jesus talks of blessing has nothing to do with stuff or material things at all and I again wonder if all of our stuff is not a tool of Satan to distract us from the real blessings of God. Our desire to accumulate stuff, our desire to hoard our stuff, our worship of our stuff, etc., etc., etc., can keep us from enjoying the blessings that Jesus talks about. It is also painfully obvious that as we live in this way we do a whole lot less of what Jesus is talking about. It is a lifestyle that is more about ourselves and less about caring for and loving our "neighbors.'' Talk about living in contradiction to the leading of the Spirit. This is the exact oppostite of what we are called to as the people of God!

As I am getting the opportunity to be with so many that have little or nothing, I believe the Spirit of God inside me is moving me to a desire to become more uncluttered, uncomplicated, and live more simply. I now pray that I am able to grow in that desire and follow where the Spirit is leading.