Guilt free spending

I've always felt guilty for having some of the things that I have. A warm or cool bed to sleep in at night, four or five meals a day, climate controlled house to live in, a car all to myself, recreational equipment at the ready, and  rooms in my house we only use about 5% of the time.  It's actually quite modest compared to the way some people in the country live.

But there is a guilt that comes to me.  There's millions of people around the world that don't have any of that. And sure we do a little bit to help, but we could do more. We could always do more, see Oscar Schindler.  Why don't we?

It dawned on me this morning, while listening to a sermon from a church that I actually believe is starting to do make a shift from "traditional" christianity. They talked about the system in place, the buildings, the classrooms, the space, and the "stuff".   They said those things aren't necessary but they find them helpful to learn more about what it means to live like Jesus and find community.

I'm not saying that learning to live like Jesus isn't important.   And I'm not saying community isn't important.  Those things are VERY important.

But.

Is it worth the cost?  The hundreds of thousands of dollars even into the millions and maybe even billions dollars spent  on those very buildings to use learning how to live like Jesus while so many people around the world don't even know when their next meal is coming from.  I can imagine Jesus saying something like, "In feeding the hungry and clothing the naked you will learn to live like me."

OR....."Build huge buildings and go into massive debt.  Send out fliers to get people to come to your church and have special giving days to help pay for everything.  Use these buildings to sit and read books and talk about how to live like me."

So, maybe I shouldn't feel guilty about all of my stuff that is helpful to me. The example the church is setting is that it's ok to spend money on things that are helpful to you.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the message I got.

If you think I'm kind of off my rocker, perhaps go and see why the beloved author Francis Chan of the book "Crazy Love" left the very megachurch he started.