{"id":9405,"date":"2015-08-23T15:36:37","date_gmt":"2015-08-23T20:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=9405"},"modified":"2015-08-23T15:36:37","modified_gmt":"2015-08-23T20:36:37","slug":"book-review-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=9405","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Have you ever looked at a pile of your stuff and wondered…how did I accumulate all this stuff? \u00a0Do you feel guilty when you walk in your closet and see so much stuff…that you never wear? \u00a0How many times do you hear “I want this…I want this” when you take your family to Target? \u00a0Are you tired of the constant battle against consumption? \u00a07: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess<\/em><\/a> by Jen Hatmaker<\/a> will make you want to get rid of all of your stuff. \u00a0But…not because her focus is organization or simplicity…it’s because her heart’s desire is for us to love Jesus more. \u00a0Let’s clear away the clutter and all that we have accumulated while in hot pursuit of the American Dream. \u00a0My prayer in reading this book and following Jen’s journey of 7 is that I wouldn’t miss it. \u00a0Dear Lord, please don’t let me miss your best for my life because my focus is on me and my comfort. \u00a0I want to be radical for the sake of the gospel…and that has to start with my tainted heart of consumption. \u00a0Enough is enough…when Jesus uttered “It is finished” on the cross…He meant that I don’t have to collect stuff, jump through hoops, or make myself look good in any way to be in relationship with Him. \u00a0The gospel proclaims that I’m already in…and I don’t need to dress a certain way, eat at certain places, or have the right stuff to make that work out. \u00a0Jesus is enough. \u00a0So now, I need to live like that on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

I highlighted several things while reading and posted those notes below…<\/p>\n

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  • Dedication: For Jesus, who lived so lightly on this earth, He didn\u2019t even have a place to lay His head. \u00a0I want so deeply to be like you.<\/li>\n
  • 7 will be a tangible way to bow low and repent of greed, ungratefulness, ruined opportunities, and irresponsibility. \u00a0It\u2019s time to admit I\u2019m trapped in the machine, held by my own selfishness. \u00a0It\u2019s time to face our spending and call it what it is: a travesty. \u00a0I\u2019m weary of justifying it. \u00a0So many areas out of control, so much need for transformation. \u00a0What have we been eating? \u00a0What are we doing? \u00a0What have we been buying? \u00a0What are we wasting? \u00a0What are we missing? \u00a0These questions grieve me, as well they should. \u00a0I\u2019m ready for the deconstruction.<\/li>\n
  • I\u2019m hoping for a way back home.<\/li>\n
  • While the richest people on earth pray to get richer, the rest of the world begs for intervention with their faces pressed to the window, watching us drink our coffee, unruffled by their suffering.<\/li>\n
  • It\u2019s the engine behind this month of 7: giving away is somehow sacred, connecting to the sacrificial heartbeat of Jesus. \u00a0It\u2019s as transformative for the giver as a blessing to the receiver. \u00a0When God told us to give, I suspect he had spiritual formation in mind as much as meeting needs.<\/li>\n
  • The gospel will die in the toxic soul of self.<\/li>\n
  • Do not store up for yourselves treasures on rather, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. \u00a0But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. \u00a0For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. \u00a0Matthew 6:19-21<\/li>\n
  • I\u2019ve asked God a billion times why I have so much while others have so little.<\/li>\n
  • My communion with God suffers not for lack of desire but time. Actually\u2026when I say I don\u2019t have time, I\u2019m a gigantic liar. \u00a0I have time. \u00a0I just spend it elsewhere.<\/li>\n
  • He has showed you, O man, what is good. \u00a0And what does the Lord require of you? \u00a0To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. \u00a0Micah 6:8<\/li>\n
  • I\u2019m just beginning to embrace the liberation that only exists at the bottom, where I have nothing to defend, nothing to protect. Where it doesn\u2019t matter if I\u2019m right or esteemed or positioned well. \u00a0I wonder if that\u2019s the freedom Jesus meant when He said, \u201cBlessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heave.\u201d \u00a0Matthew 5:3. \u00a0I order for Jesus\u2019 kingdom to come, my kingdom will have to go, and for the first time I think I\u2019m okay with that.<\/li>\n
  • The earth is the Lord\u2019s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. \u00a0Psalm 24:1-2<\/li>\n
  • What if we\u2019re buying a bag of tricks? \u00a0What if wealth and indulgence are creating a polished people rotting from the inside out, without even knowing it? \u00a0Is there a reason Jesus called the rich blind, deaf, unseeing, unhearing, and foolish?<\/li>\n
  • Wow. \u00a0We spend a lot of money. \u00a0Combing through a year of bank statements, we are not big-ticket item buyers; we nickel and dime ourselves to death.<\/li>\n
  • The world is waiting. \u00a0Our kids are watching. \u00a0Time is wasting. \u00a0Are we willing?<\/li>\n
  • There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God\u2019s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. \u00a0Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. \u00a0Hebrews 4:9-11<\/li>\n
  • My eyes are awake before each watch of the night, that I may meditate on your promise. \u00a0Psalm 119:148<\/li>\n
  • The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. \u00a0Numbers 6:24-26<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
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      Have you ever looked at a pile of your stuff and wondered…how did I accumulate all this stuff? \u00a0Do you feel guilty when you walk in your closet and see so much stuff…that you never wear? \u00a0How many times do you hear “I want this…I want this” when you take your family to Target? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,21,14,25,16,23,28,17,32,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adoption","category-bible-study","category-book-review","category-education","category-family","category-generosity","category-integrity","category-leadership","category-marriage","category-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}