Minimize to the maximum!

     I couldn't live in a "tiny" home.  There just wouldn't be enough room for me much less anyone else including two dogs.  Yet, this trend has taken off and there are even tiny house communities here and there.  Lots with their vehicle ready to tow them to a new location at a moments notice.  Some to tow them our of their parents driveway when they have had enough!  They are cute.  They are functional and they are not going away.  When I was younger we had tiny houses that we called "studio apartments".  Nothing was more than an arms reach away.  The whole idea behind studio apartments was the housing was something we could afford.  The whole idea behind the tiny houses are their portability and carbon footprint.  It's a different world and we minimize for different reasons.  I'm not a minimalist.  Well, in some ways maybe I am.  I don't like to have long drug out conversations about the theology of Christ's work on the cross when I can just say, "Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so."  That's enough.  Simple.  To the point.  Jesus had neither a tiny house or a studio apartment.  His closet was relegated to what he wore and his food came to him day to day from wherever.  He was a minimalist living in a maximum world. 
     Many of us have had teachers, professors, preachers and family members who ended up talking to a wide awake comatose audience.  The "deer in the headlights" look plastered on our faces was enough that they should have noticed.  I had a classmate who slept with his eyes open!  What a great trick for just such people!  Having our eyes closed even when they are open is a way of minimalizing our involvement in anything.  Jesus said, "though seeing they do not see."  and "though hearing, they do not hear."  Following that we can add, "though they could be doing, they don't."  We all have our excuses as to why we see this but not that, hear this but not that and think we are doing but don't.  Most of the time it's to maximize our own pleasure and comfort in our place in society as well as in the body of Christ.  The vast majority of people in the world have no reason to complain for lack of needs being met.  The vast majority of people have excess all around them.  The vast majority of people see but don't see, hear but don't hear and don't do because they choose to engage the first two.  Minimizing to the maximum to the Christian means minimizing the focus on me, mine and ours while maximizing the focus on Jesus and what he wants.
     I'm a hypocrite.  So are you.  We say we have given our lives to Jesus.  BUT we retain so many rooms in the mansion that it's hard to see the room within which Jesus is patiently waiting for us to visit.  Jesus would most likely put a dozen homeless in a tiny house or a studio apartment and have room to break bread and fishes to feed them all.  We call it tuna helper today.  It's not that we aren't supposed to have anything in our lives.  That's not scriptural either.  We all need food, clothing and shelter.  We all need clean air, medical treatment and a place that is safe.  The difference between need (minimize) and want (maximize) is found in how much of our total life belongs to Jesus.  I've disappointed Jesus more times than I like to confess by looking at my wants instead of his plan.  His plan always maximizes the proclamation of the Gospel so those who need him can find him through you and I.  To sum it all us, "more of Thee and less of me."