Our Daily Bread: Ezra 9:5-9; Luke 9:1-6

Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic.

Can we even imagine living so sparsely? Conditioned as we are by runaway consumption, swamped in our own stuff, this seems an impossible exhortation. Yet our difficulty with it only highlights our need for it. Indeed, more than our discipleship is at stake. The planet itself is endangered by our ever-growing hunger for more. We also suffer untold stress as we try to manage too many possessions. Let us strive to live more simply — relying fully on God — that we might become better stewards of creation and, in turn, grow in faithfulness to the Lord.

*For the grace to live simply that others may simply live, we pray.