Lighthouse Keeper

Her profits will be put to the use of God-Aware, God-Serving-People, providing plenty of food and the best of clothing. (Isaiah 23:17-18 MSG)

I came across the Isaiah 23 verse the other day and it reminded me of the verse in Timothy:

“But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (1 Timothy 6:8). 

Food and clothing features across the Bible as necessary for individual care but also as our acts of worship and provision for others. So we should always make sure that others have food and clothing too.  (Isaiah 58, Matthew 6, James 2). 

I had a builder come to do a quote for me the other day at home. It seems the flue where the chimney for my log burner goes up has a little leak and there’s water getting into the ceiling. I just assumed it was heat damage above the fire but he seemed to think it was water. 

Anyway, he said to me, “I can do a quick fix or I can do a proper fix. It’s not like this is your “forever home” is it?”

I said, “Well it is actually I love this house. It is my forever home”. 

He quickly ate his words. I knew he meant nothing by it but because I’m middle-aged and still have a few years to go (God willing) he assumed I would keep trading up to a fancier house. There’s always a better car or a better house or a better partner or a better kitchen, and we can get on the treadmill of always wanting more and never being content. 

I live in a small town in the mountains where there are a lot of retired people and I hear them say things like “I’m not sure if we’ll stay here or move somewhere else…” 

I’m thinking, “You’re 75! Isn’t it time you planted and had some contentment. How long do you think you’ve got?!”

As I’ve blogged about before, I moved around a lot as a kid and into my working years and as much as I’m glad of all the experiences I had, moving around all the time is doing life on “hard mode”. Especially when you think about community and people and making friends. Upping sticks and moving all the time can lead to you becoming lonely and self-isolated and, well, discontent. See how the spiral works?

But back to the food and clothing. I love both of these things but I also love buying gadgets on Amazon and cool design things on IKEA and books (not an ad by the way). I’ve asked God that my sneaker collection can be counted as “clothing” for the “best of clothing” part of the Isaiah verse. 

As my finger hovers over the “add to cart” button online I need to remind myself that I have plenty of both good food and clothing and I don’t need to sign up to the worldliness of always craving more. The magpie who likes shiny things in me finds this difficult. Reaching a level of contentment in both the big and small things doesn’t mean living a miserly or frugal life as such. It just means the sugar hit of change can be replaced with the gratitude of contentment and and your mental bandwidth can be spent on other things. 

Yes this is my forever home and I would like the permanent fix please Mr Builder. I would like to experience the daily contentment that Jesus offers and see all the beautiful food and best of clothing that the Lord’s hand has graciously provided for me.