Recently I was presented with an opportunity to buy a nice
house in a good neighborhood not far from work. I started researching all the
costs of buying and owning even before knowing the asking price. The more I
thought about it, the less comfortable I was with going in debt for something I
don’t really need to have. The tipping point came when I thought about the
monthly obligation of a mortgage as compared to the flexibility of having money
in the bank. I’m not saying home ownership is wrong for everybody, but here are
some of the reasons I think it is wrong for me at this time:
“I want you to be free
from anxieties… The unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord,
how to be holy in body and spirit” (1 Corinthians 7:32, 34 ESV). Although
home ownership doesn’t have the same permanence that marriage does, it is still
a long-term commitment to the welfare of something other than God. As a renter,
I know that my residence will be taken care of when issues arise. It may not be
done exactly the way I would choose to do it for myself, but I also don’t have
to figure out how to pay for it myself (except for the fact that my landlord is
also my employer, and I’m the one who writes the checks!). The anxieties of
home ownership could easily sap the joy and peace out of daily living.
“Each one should
remain in the condition in which he was called… For he who was called in the
Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise, he who was free when
called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves
of men” (1 Cor. 7:20, 22-23). Owing money can be a form of slavery. In New
Testament times, at least some of those who were slaves were people who sold
themselves into slavery in order to pay debts. If a mortgage payment forces me to
change or limit how I would otherwise use my money, it has become my master.
“For they [the
Macedonians] gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their
means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part
in the relief of the saints—and this, not as we expected, but they gave
themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us… For if the
readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not
according to what he does not have” (2 Cor. 8:3-4, 12). I can’t give what I
don’t have. Giving financial support to ministries has always been a high
priority for me, and tying up money in property would hinder my ability to
respond to needs I see. While considering mortgage payments, I started thinking
of a special project that I could donate to instead, and that stirred my
passion far more than the possibility of home ownership.
“You ask and do not
receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous
people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? …Come
now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and
spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—yet you do not know what
tomorrow will bring” (James 4:3-4,13-14). The American dream is all about
investing today in order to provide for tomorrow, but there are no guarantees.
Stock markets and housing markets crash; houses burn down; people lose jobs or die
unexpectedly; and someday the Lord will return and put an end to all our buying
and selling. What will really matter when that day comes?
In the midst of these internal debates, I’ve been reading
two books that have helped to confirm my decision. One is John Piper’s book Don’t Waste Your Life. He relates
the story of a man his father ministered to who neared the end of his life and
realized “I’ve wasted it! I’ve wasted it!” Piper includes the old poem, “Only
one life, ‘twill soon be past; Only what’s done for Christ will last” (p. 12).
I can’t reconcile in my own mind how buying a house can be done for Christ in
my current circumstances. (Hospitality is not one of my strengths, so I can’t
justify it by means of serving people who need a place to stay.) I don’t want
to come to the end of a mortgage and find I’ve wasted years of joy and peace
for the uncertain future of a few years of retirement.
The other book that
spoke to me was I Want God, by Lisa Whittle. She quotes a sermon by David Wilkerson, “A Call to Anguish,” and her response, “‘There’s
nothing of the flesh that will give you joy. I don’t care how much money, I
don’t care what kind of new house. There is absolutely nothing physical that
can give you joy.’ I’m fresh out of good, churchy answers. What I do know
is that the world has gotten to us. The church. All of us. And we look scary
normal” (pp. 150-151). She goes on to quote Deuteronomy 8:11-14:
“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His rules and His statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
I’m convicted anew that many Christians today are
indistinguishable from the world. We’ve adopted the same standard of living and
priorities, and aren’t willing or able to make some of the hard choices. Again,
I’m not saying that home ownership is wrong. Under certain circumstances it may
be more fiscally responsible than renting, particularly for growing families or
for those who wouldn’t require a mortgage. But we will each have to give an
account for our stewardship of all that God has entrusted to us, and I don’t
want to have to explain having chosen something that I’m not entirely
comfortable with.
“As each has received
a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace… in
order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter
4:10-11).
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Funnily enough, several weeks ago I was asked to write a post for today our denominational prayer blog, and the following is what I had written...
With all
the books, magazines, blogs, and conferences on prayer, you would think we’d
have it all figured out by now. Even though we know that God’s answers may be yes, no,
or wait, we still fall into the trap
of thinking we’ll get the answer we want if we just pray the right words with
the right attitude, if we pray more fervently and frequently, if we just had
more faith… And if we’re honest, we would have to admit that we’ve been
disappointed at times.
On more
than one occasion Jesus was asked to heal someone, but He didn’t do so until
after they had died (Mark 5:21-43, John 11). He healed some people but not
others (John 5:1-9). He slept through the storm while the disciples were
terrified. When they woke Him and He calmed the storm, they wondered, “What
sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?” (Matthew 8:27 ESV).
God is
so powerful and so unpredictable that it’s amazing to think we can influence
Him in any way. And yet we’re told to present our requests to God (Philippians
4:6) and to cast all our cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7). He knows all that we
think and desire, but He wants us to verbalize those desires in communication
with Him. We need to have enough faith to trust Him with our concerns, and yet
our faith is often strengthened by not receiving exactly what we want when we
want it. Faith requires us to believe that God’s plan is far bigger and better
than we can yet imagine. That should not prevent us from asking God for what
appears best to us at the moment, but may in fact allow us to ask more boldly
because we trust the Father’s will.
I
remember when they were small my nieces filled up on goldfish crackers because
they were too hungry to wait for Thanksgiving dinner. Their immediate need felt
far more important than waiting patiently and trusting that something better
was coming. We don’t change much as we grow up—our needs just feel that much
bigger and more important. But hopefully our faith in our heavenly Father grows
even bigger.
May we
learn to ask boldly, but wait patiently for whatever God has in store for us.
