You can't take it with you.

I miss seeing the children bound through the fields to play with us. Their smiling faces brought more joy to my life than I can express. Their mothers would later invite us over for ground nuts and fellowship.

These are my heroes, the volunteers at St. Gabriel's. Though some are suffering illnesses themselves, they lay down their life and work extra hours to provide care to the disabled and the sick in their villages. I miss their songs and their laughter. 

Maybe it'll stop you trying to be so desperate about making more money than you can ever use?

 You can't take it with you, Mr. Kirby.

 So what good is it?

 As near as I can see,

 the only thing you can take with you is

the love of your friends.

George Kaufman & Moss Hart, You Can't Take It with You

You can't take it with you.

When I was little girl, my mother always took our family to plays. She wanted us to be cultured and to grow in an environment that appreciated the arts. I remember watching the play, You Can't Take It with You, as a little girl at Taproot Theatre in Seattle. Thinking back on it, I was vastly confused. There was a lot of noise, a tan set with tons of picture frames, and many actors on stage piling on top of each other. Since I didn't comprehend most of the jokes, I forcefully laughed to show my parents that I was enjoying it. Yet, even though most of the play was over my head as a kid, the theme was undeniable and easy to understand as a youth. You can't take it with you.

This theme has been fueling my thoughts lately. It's been a little over a month since I have returned from Malawi, and I am still learning from the experiences and the people in Africa. The people of Malawi are characterized by joy, laughter, generosity, and hospitality. These qualities are all rooted in the phrase: you can't take it with you.

I started re-reading the gospels in Malawi. This started because I wanted to study what the Lord says about healing and has since evolved into a study of Jesus, his life, his death, his resurrection, and his call on his disciples. As I read each gospel, I am overwhelmed by the radical statements Jesus makes. He isn't always "nice" and he says extremely challenging things. Many times in many different ways Jesus distinguishes his disciples from the rest: "Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33). Jesus is basically saying that his disciples are characterized by the following: you can't take it with you.

As a Christian, this "all in" or "you can't take it with you" mentality is not an option; it is a command. As Christ-followers we are expected by Jesus to put him above everything else in our life. This doesn't mean go out and sell everything (even though sometimes it does). It means that your value is in Jesus alone and that your heart is focused on the Kingdom of Heaven. It means that our lives and our daily decisions should be kingdom-building focused, rather than self-building. That whatever we do, whether by word or deed, do it for Jesus (Col. 3:17).

I've been so challenged by these words. My natural tendency is to build myself up, to establish my security through education, through a good job, through a supportive social network. Yet, Christ is moving me to examine my life (2 Cor. 13:5) and to see if my heart is focused on this world and its security or on his kingdom and his provision. I am challenged by the following quote from my all-time (literally, childhood to adulthood) favorite theologian, C.S. Lewis:

If you read history you will find that the Christians

 who did most for the present world

 were precisely those who thought most of the next.

 It is since Christians have largely ceased to think 

of the other world

 that they have become so ineffective in this.

I don't know about you, but I desire to be effective in this world because my heart is focused on Jesus and his glory. This "you can't take it with you" issue is not a matter of money, though sometimes it manifests that way, it is a matter of the heart. Do we love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, and soul? Are we living in a manner that glorifies our Savior? Are we living for this world or for the next? When the answers to those questions are "Yes, we are wholeheartedly in love with Jesus and living with a kingdom focus," then our lives change. This is the freedom of Christ that the Bible proclaims. It is a freedom from stress and anxiety, because we know that our treasure is in heaven and we trust that our Heavenly Father is providing for our every need. It is when we embrace the freedom that we have in Christ that our lives reflect joy, rejoicing in the Lord always (Phil 4:4), generosity, giving freely and growing spiritually richer (Prov. 11:24), and hospitality, contributing to the needs of the saints (Romans 12:13).

When I reflect upon my experience of watching that play at Taproot Theatre, it shockingly resembles my experiences in the hospital wards and village homes in Malawi. This is because when you embody a life that values people and the kingdom of God more than material security, joy, laughter, generosity, hospitality, and boisterous noise overflow. It is contagious. It captivates. It fixes our eyes on Jesus and his mission. This is a freedom that I am praying to experience more and more every day.

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 profit"

 - yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.

 What is your life?

 For you are a mist that appears for a little time

 and then vanishes.

 Instead you ought to say,

"If The Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

James 4: 13-15