Aes Alienum

I was just reading “Walden,” by Henry David Thoreau and there was a paragraph that  struck home with me. Thoreau talked about how the world's possessions and our pursuit of materialism takes control of our lives so that we end up serving the pursuit of riches and lose sight of our purpose.  “For my sight has been whetted by experience; always on the limits, trying to get into business and trying to get out of debt, a very ancient slough, called by the Latins, aes alienum, or another’s brass, for some of their coins were made of brass; still living and dying by another man’s brass, always promising to pay, tomorrow, and dying today, insolvent….”

I couldn’t help but think of the man who was tearing down his barns to build bigger barns. He lived “aes alienum” or in pursuit of another’s brass.  The mark of covetousness is when our possessions and desires take precedent over our love and service to God, the kingdom, and our fellow man.  It is a form of slavery, but a subtle form to a master who robs us of the riches of the kingdom in servitude to filthy lucre. Satan is shrewd in providing us justifications for our pursuit of success, wealth, fame or another’s brass, but the end is always the same, we serve the masters of this world and neglect our true calling. It was in this context that the famous phrase we have all heard was penned, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

When we trade the riches of Kingdom for the tares of the world we willingly surrender the freedom in Christ, to the bondage of a temporal and perishable world. Our life’s efforts are spent on pursuing the fool’s gold that moth and dust corrupts and that thieves break in and steal.

All of creation is a reminder to focus on those things that are “true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable and praiseworthy” (Phil. 4:8).  It is through our surrender and devotion to Christ that we understand that this corruptible body will put on incorruption and our mortal journey will transform us into the eternal, immortal presence of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Limitless Resources

I started mapping out my goals and objectives for 2012 and like most years they are pretty ambitious. My list probably looks like most people's with a few minor exceptions. I have financial goals, health and fitness goals and spiritual goals. There are specific things I want to accomplish and places I want to go, but all in all it probably mimics many of your lists.

Over the years I have had some great successes and miserable failures when it comes to this goal-setting thing. My current weight indicates that excercise did not top my list of successes last year, but my retirement account shows that at 52 I am finally taking my golden years seriously. This year I decided I want to take a very different approach to achievement - it is based on a blessings philosophy. When I do my goal setting each year, one thing I do is list resources available to help me meet my goals. As I was going through my list of resources (also known as blessings), it really sank in how truly blessed I am.

In the past, next to my list of resources I would make a list of additional resources that I would need to achieve my goals. That is where I plan to experiment this year. When it really registered just how blessed I am, I decided to "work from my abundance." In other words I am going to see how much I can accomplish with what is already in my hands. I am going to try to avoid buying that hot new app, or the electronic gizmo that has caught my fancy. I really want to learn how to differeniate wants and needs. For example in the area of exercise. I have been looking at purchasing some free-weights to work out in the garage. I already have a treadmill, dumbells and the local recreation center. I haven't used those resources very well to date, adding resources won't do anything until I demonstrate the ability to use what I have effectively.

In 2011 I took over a foundation that was struggling. We didn't have much in available funds or resources, but we did have a rich history and a worthy work going on in Africa. I had no choice but to begin to rebuild the organization with limited resources. God blessed African Christian Schools last year in ways I couldn't imagine. While our resources were limited, God's were not. So this year I plan to approach my own life that way. Be thankful I am blessed with so much - now to use what God has already put in my hand to achieve great things in 2012.