Pipe dreams & stewardship

I saw a thing of absolute beauty a couple of days ago. Let me give you the background. I change my car pretty regularly. Not because I want to keep up with the latest model, but because the cars I drive are usually so old and decrepit that they have a very short life span. The longest I have ever owned a single car for was 14 months. That was a little blue VW Golf that I had a couple of years ago. We became quite attached, and I was a little sad when it finally ended its long decline and went to the great scrap yard in the sky.

I’m gradually upgrading – I do try to improve the quality of the car every time I buy one. I know I’ll feel pleasantly pleased with myself when I finally manage to secure a car that is less than 10 years old. And I’ve started spending a little more money on cars as well. 3 years ago, I bought a Rover 414 for £150. Seriously. And it actually drove. It had moss on the windscreen, and a sunroof that poured water on the heads of my unsuspecting passengers every time I took a bend too tight. I drove it for 10 months, before the engine finally seized on the motorway one day (incidently, at the time, I was attempting to overtake a little old lady in a blue Nissan Micra, when my car decided to both embarrass and endanger me by spluttering to a halt). I sold it for scrap for £40, so that car cost me about £11 per month. Bargain. But I’ve been upgrading – my most recent acquisition cost £900, and felt like I was giving away a very large fortune. Breaking down 3 days after purchase didn’t help, but we’ve recovered from that little incident, and my battered old Seat Ibiza & I now have a pretty reasonable relationship of mutual appreciation.

But, money is tight these days, and I feel like it’s time for the Ibiza to go, and to downgrade again for a little while. Not quite to the dire days of the Rover, but maybe something around the £400 mark – see if I can save a few quid. So I was browsing on Autotrader, supposedly checking out the bargain bucket, but I got distracted. And that’s when I saw it. The thing of beauty. A 1974 VW Beetle 1.7. The owner was reluctantly selling it after 20 years of ownership. And by the looks of it, 20 years of tender loving care. Fully rebuilt and restored – resprayed purple, chrome trims, glass sunroof. Oh man. Beautiful.

I lived in South Africa for a few years, and for about 12 months there, I owned a 1971 VW Beetle. This one was good fun. It was an ex-lease car, so still had Bacardi Breezer advertising on it. It was maroon, with big black wheel arches, and on the side it said ‘Watermelon – Bacardi spirit in every one’. I loved it. I called it the Breezer – partly because of the advertising, and partly because of the many holes in the bodywork that provided me with my own air conditioning. I used to have to roll up my trousers when I drove in the rain, because the water came in around the pedals. The number plates and mirrors were held on with blue duct tape. But I loved it. It roared!! I only had the Breezer for 12 months, but it was the fulfilment of a lifelong dream, and since then, I have always wanted to drive an original VW Beetle again.

So when I saw this thing of beauty on Monday night, all my thoughts of frugal living just flew out the window. I got a scrap of paper and a pencil, and started figuring out just how I could do it. You see, the thing of beauty was priced at £3000 – about £2500 beyond my limit. But that didn’t matter. I could do it – couldn’t I? I worked it out. I could contact my bank, and increase the loan which I got to buy my last car (and still haven’t paid off). My monthly payments would probably at least triple, and I’d be paying it off for an extra year, but that would be ok, because it’s a classic car, and will always retain its value – as long as I can keep it moving. It was a win win. Right?

Except it wasn’t really right. It’s not that I think God doesn’t want me to own a nice car, or even enjoy driving a 1974 VW Beetle. I’m not the kind of Christian who thinks that being in relationship with God means walking around in sackcloth and never owning anything nice, or enjoying material things. I’m a firm believer that God loves to bless, and loves his children to enjoy his blessings. As a little aside, this is distinct from the prosperity gospel, which I am not a supporter of. Acknowledging that God loves to bless is not the same as the prosperity gospel, which implies that faith in God guarantees material blessing and prosperity. The blessing is God’s to give away, as and when he chooses – it is not our entitlement. But anyhow, I’m digressing. I don’t think it’s the case that God doesn’t want me to enjoy good things, including a VW Beetle. But I do know that everything I have comes from God. It is God who keeps me and upholds me – God who provides for me. He can bless and he can take away. The people in my life are people he has entrusted me with, to be in relationship and community with. The roof over my head, the job I have, the car I drive – all have come through his provision. The money I have in my bank account – all came from him. It is God who sustains me when things are tough. It is the God of miracles who can step into my situation when I am desperate, and bring about something wonderful. All these things – even my very life – can be gone in an instant. Praise be to God that he sustains and protects and provides.

If all has come from him, and belongs to him, then that means that rather than owning the things in my life, I have been entrusted with them. That puts a whole different spin on things. ‘To entrust’ means ‘To give over to another for care, protection or performance’. It’s about being a steward – being responsible, maintaining and guarding, using wisely, developing what is given, and using it for good. Using it for the expansion of God’s kingdom. Using it in a manner that reflects kingdom values. Using it to support, protect, provide for, sustain, encourage, promote, and bless the people around us – whether we know them or not. That’s what I aim for. I miss the mark most days. I almost missed it a couple of days ago, when I considered putting myself into a mountain of debt, just so I could get a kick out of driving around in a 1974 VW Beetle. I may still get to drive one, some day in the future when I can do it without debt, and without being detrimental to the other things God wants me to use his money for. Who knows. I’ll always enjoy the pipe dream. But right now, there are more important things to engage in. There is something immensely wonderful about using the things that God has bestowed on us in a way that is lasting – building treasure in heavenly places. How do we do that? For me, it’s about investing in people. God has filled my heart up with love, not so that I can waste it, but so that I can pour it out on the people around me, and let it overflow. God has blessed me with spiritual gifts, not so I can keep them to myself for my own use, but so that I can encourage and build up the community of believers. God has blessed me materially and financially through my job, not so that I can hoard up money to spend on myself, but so that I can contribute to the church, to the community around me, and in some little way, I can usher in the kingdom of God. My VW Beetle pipe dream can wait. In the grand scheme of God’s plan, it’s not that important. I’ll take a contributing role in a dynamic, living, energetic, spirit-filled church over a car any day!

“A good deed done without love goes for nothing, but if anything is done from love, however small and inconsiderable it may be, every bit of it is counted. God considers what lies behind the deed, and not what is actually done. A man does much if he has much love. A man does much if he does what he has to do well. A man does well if he does the will of the community and not his own will.” Thomas à Kempis

“Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more’. His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master’.”    Matthew 25: 19-21

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