School Supplies and the Gospel
Dear daughters,
Today, we went school supply shopping, and in the span of four hours you broke my heart.
The afternoon started reasonably well. The shopping was already done for the sophomore and freshman, so we only needed to tackle the lists for the 5th grade and 2nd grade at the classical Christian academy you've attended for most of your school years.
Nothing on the lists had changed. Green pens. Ticonderoga pencils. 2" binders. Large backpacks. The mundane trappings of your education, wrapped in pink molded plastic or bedazzled ponies. And yet, you began to speak of the pencil pouches that I did not buy you last year, that were simply beyond our ministry salary budget, that all of the "cool" kids in school had. You spoke of mechanical pencils that cost $6 apiece that were considered status symbols, of $25 lunch boxes that made a statement. And oh how I wish that these words were only coming from the high schoolers.
Beloved daughters, I was naive to think that uniforms were equalizers, that sinful hearts would not grasp for other material things to set us apart. Our sinful hearts will always grasp for things to set us apart. The hard, painful truth of this world is this: There is nothing you can own, nothing you can look like, nothing you can be, that will ever be enough for this world to accept you. The standard is transient, and you will spend a lifetime chasing after it.
And yet, daughters. And yet. The gospel message is this. Even as this world is telling you to buy things in order to be accepted, your Savior is telling you that your very life was bought at the price of His life. You are perfectly accepted because of His sacrifice. You've each put your trust in Him, which means your identity rests in Him.
So what does that mean for this school year? Well, as your daddy would say, be who you are. Live as daughters of the king, freed from the bondage of sin and death and freed from the bondage of materialism and the need to make any kind of statement about your life based on what you own. Live free to radically give money away to those in desperate need on the other side of the world and support the gospel going out to the lost, without having to explain to anyone why you aren't wearing more expensive clothes or driving newer cars. Live free to show lavish love to others based on their value as image bearers of the king, not based on what they wear, or the color of their skin, or how they smell or if their hair is combed. Why? Because the gospel has freed you from all of that!
And do it with a really, really cool pencil pouch, because that's okay too.
Your fellow daughter of the king,
Mom
Today, we went school supply shopping, and in the span of four hours you broke my heart.
The afternoon started reasonably well. The shopping was already done for the sophomore and freshman, so we only needed to tackle the lists for the 5th grade and 2nd grade at the classical Christian academy you've attended for most of your school years.
Nothing on the lists had changed. Green pens. Ticonderoga pencils. 2" binders. Large backpacks. The mundane trappings of your education, wrapped in pink molded plastic or bedazzled ponies. And yet, you began to speak of the pencil pouches that I did not buy you last year, that were simply beyond our ministry salary budget, that all of the "cool" kids in school had. You spoke of mechanical pencils that cost $6 apiece that were considered status symbols, of $25 lunch boxes that made a statement. And oh how I wish that these words were only coming from the high schoolers.
Beloved daughters, I was naive to think that uniforms were equalizers, that sinful hearts would not grasp for other material things to set us apart. Our sinful hearts will always grasp for things to set us apart. The hard, painful truth of this world is this: There is nothing you can own, nothing you can look like, nothing you can be, that will ever be enough for this world to accept you. The standard is transient, and you will spend a lifetime chasing after it.
And yet, daughters. And yet. The gospel message is this. Even as this world is telling you to buy things in order to be accepted, your Savior is telling you that your very life was bought at the price of His life. You are perfectly accepted because of His sacrifice. You've each put your trust in Him, which means your identity rests in Him.
So what does that mean for this school year? Well, as your daddy would say, be who you are. Live as daughters of the king, freed from the bondage of sin and death and freed from the bondage of materialism and the need to make any kind of statement about your life based on what you own. Live free to radically give money away to those in desperate need on the other side of the world and support the gospel going out to the lost, without having to explain to anyone why you aren't wearing more expensive clothes or driving newer cars. Live free to show lavish love to others based on their value as image bearers of the king, not based on what they wear, or the color of their skin, or how they smell or if their hair is combed. Why? Because the gospel has freed you from all of that!
And do it with a really, really cool pencil pouch, because that's okay too.
Your fellow daughter of the king,
Mom
posted by The Bakers at 6:59 PM
1 Comments:
I love this perspective, Megan. It applies at many stages of life.
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