by Miranda Craig
We are beginning a journey. And, just like any journeyers, we are faced with great excitement for the hopes, dreams, and future ahead of us; and we are also quite afraid of venturing into the unknown, the undiscovered, and the uncomfortable. I don’t believe it’s the quest of our lives, but it will certainly be the quest of our living. It’s putting newly-fashioned ancient practices back into habit and breaking free from a phase of infatuation with frivolity. It’s an exercise in contentment, not consumerism.
An experiment in relationship, not remoteness. An application of intentional living, really living, and Christ is at the center.
Some call it crazy. We call it “Timshel.”
“Timshel,” roughly translated, is the Hebrew word for what essentially means “thou mayest,” as spoken by God to Adam after the Fall. We take this to mean that we have free will when it comes to living our lives. We may choose to live the life society has bred us for: the capitalistic, selfish, untrusting, ever-spending, never-grateful, keeping-up-with-the-Kardashians lifestyle that America urges us to fall victim to from the second we turn on the television and see a commercial for another useless product we can’t live without. Or, we may choose to take another route. A route that looks more like the church in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit comes and everyone shared everything they had and no one among them had any need. True community. True intention. True love for thy neighbor. Timshel. Thou mayest.
So this is what we are going to do. We are going to venture to look more like the church in Acts 2. We are going to embark on a journey of life to live intentionally; caring for our neighbor, caring for the world around us, caring for something bigger than corporate America and the newest shiny garbage in the shopping mall. But in order to successfully sustain such a countercultural ideology, we must strip away every single, meaningless, useless thing standing in our way. If you study the
teachings of Jesus, you will understand the importance of building on a firm foundation --building on the rock, not the sand -- building with the cornerstone as the measure and angle to which everything else is assembled. And we need to build from the Cornerstone, the center of our lives, Jesus Christ.
So we are going to try this on for size. With careful consideration, careful planning, and careful execution, we will become less, allowing more room for the Spirit to work among us. We are minimalizing, downsizing, and evangelizing through a lifestyle of fewer things and greater friendships. We are getting rid of the stuff that doesn’t matter to make room for what does matter.
We are throwing away the distractions to focus on what’s important. And Christ is at the center.
This is only the first step. We don’t really know where this will lead us, but we do know that right now we are too blinded by the standards of society to truly experience the grace of God. He must become greater, I must become less. And right now,
He doesn’t have enough wiggle room.
He must become greater, I must become less.
Check out these other resources to learn more about the birth of Timshel:
http://www.redletterchristians.org/start/
http://thesimpleway.org/
http://jenhatmaker.com/blog/2011/12/26/an-experimental-mutiny-against-excess
We are beginning a journey. And, just like any journeyers, we are faced with great excitement for the hopes, dreams, and future ahead of us; and we are also quite afraid of venturing into the unknown, the undiscovered, and the uncomfortable. I don’t believe it’s the quest of our lives, but it will certainly be the quest of our living. It’s putting newly-fashioned ancient practices back into habit and breaking free from a phase of infatuation with frivolity. It’s an exercise in contentment, not consumerism.
An experiment in relationship, not remoteness. An application of intentional living, really living, and Christ is at the center.
Some call it crazy. We call it “Timshel.”
“Timshel,” roughly translated, is the Hebrew word for what essentially means “thou mayest,” as spoken by God to Adam after the Fall. We take this to mean that we have free will when it comes to living our lives. We may choose to live the life society has bred us for: the capitalistic, selfish, untrusting, ever-spending, never-grateful, keeping-up-with-the-Kardashians lifestyle that America urges us to fall victim to from the second we turn on the television and see a commercial for another useless product we can’t live without. Or, we may choose to take another route. A route that looks more like the church in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit comes and everyone shared everything they had and no one among them had any need. True community. True intention. True love for thy neighbor. Timshel. Thou mayest.
So this is what we are going to do. We are going to venture to look more like the church in Acts 2. We are going to embark on a journey of life to live intentionally; caring for our neighbor, caring for the world around us, caring for something bigger than corporate America and the newest shiny garbage in the shopping mall. But in order to successfully sustain such a countercultural ideology, we must strip away every single, meaningless, useless thing standing in our way. If you study the
teachings of Jesus, you will understand the importance of building on a firm foundation --building on the rock, not the sand -- building with the cornerstone as the measure and angle to which everything else is assembled. And we need to build from the Cornerstone, the center of our lives, Jesus Christ.
So we are going to try this on for size. With careful consideration, careful planning, and careful execution, we will become less, allowing more room for the Spirit to work among us. We are minimalizing, downsizing, and evangelizing through a lifestyle of fewer things and greater friendships. We are getting rid of the stuff that doesn’t matter to make room for what does matter.
We are throwing away the distractions to focus on what’s important. And Christ is at the center.
This is only the first step. We don’t really know where this will lead us, but we do know that right now we are too blinded by the standards of society to truly experience the grace of God. He must become greater, I must become less. And right now,
He doesn’t have enough wiggle room.
He must become greater, I must become less.
Check out these other resources to learn more about the birth of Timshel:
http://www.redletterchristians.org/start/
http://thesimpleway.org/
http://jenhatmaker.com/blog/2011/12/26/an-experimental-mutiny-against-excess