Tiny Houses and Greater Barns

In 2nd Corinthians 9, the apostle Paul talks about the display of generosity and the thanksgiving that results from our obedience to the Lord:
10Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,11while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.12For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God...

We are about to enter a season of the year in which we can observe unprecedented generosity in our culture.  And, it provides us the opportunity to consider the condition of hearts regarding our possessions.  If we are prone to accumulation, at the expense of our devotion to God and the willingness to help meet the needs of others, perhaps a re-evaluation would be in order.  We are called to be faithful stewards of what God has entrusted to us.

Jesus spoke a convicting parable in Luke chapter 12 about our stewardship of our resources:

16Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.17And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'18So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.19And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." '20But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'21So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
The average home square footage in the U.S. continues to climb — 1,525 square feet in 1973 to 2,598 last year, according to a piece on the USA Today website.  

Could you imagine living in a home that is 100 square feet?  That piece profiled a gentleman named Sean Spain from Iowa, who works in construction and built a tiny home. 

The report says that:

Most people's master baths are bigger than Spain's cottage. It sits on an old trailer and is made of reclaimed materials and features a living room, kitchen and sleeping loft all in one room and a tiny toilet closet.

In fact, there apparently is a trend toward "micro" living.  Iowa was apparently at the forefront, but the trend has taken off in other areas.  The article adds:

The small homes hit at a philosophy, which often sounds good on paper but more difficult in reality: Let's get rid of all this stuff and live simply. The young want them for affordability, the empty nesters because they are tired of tending to large homes filled with rooms they never go in. Others want them because the Earth is warming and the environment matters to them.

The Small House Society was launched in Iowa City. Jay Shafer, a former university art professor, built a 130-square foot home in Iowa City and word got around. By 2002, he joined Greg Johnson and others to form the society (www.smallhousesociety.net) that fosters the development of smaller, sustainable living spaces.

Johnson lived in what was essentially a sleeping cabin, 10 feet by 7 feet, from 2003 to 2009. "I'd wake up in the morning and go to the gym to take a shower."

He said people are waking up to the low cost of ownership and upkeep on a tiny house. He's also talked to plenty of folks who tried to sell a 4,000-square-foot house that sat on the market for two years while smaller homes sold in days.

From another USA Today piece, I found out about an organization in Austin, Texas, called Mobile Loaves and Fishes.  A MyFoxAustin.com piece reported on the groundbreaking of Community First! Village, a 27-acre affordable-housing community for the chronically homeless.

Mobile Loaves and Fishes has been working for 10 years to build Community First! Village for Austin's chronically homeless population. The project includes 235 homes with rent ranging from $110-400 a month. There is also a chicken operation where homeowners can gather eggs for meals and a community garden for fresh grown fruits and vegetables. Mobile Loaves and Fishes Communication Director Nate Schlueter says, "Most importantly it provides them a neighborhood to live in. It's a first-class master-planned gated community where our friends are safe and they're able to be settled." 

I think there are some concepts for us to consider about the use of our resources.  I remember that our Sunday School teacher may years ago challenged our class to think about how big our barns are.  In Luke 12, Jesus spoke about the accumulation of "many goods," or what we could call, "stuff," and warned about not being rich toward God. If we are so overwhelmed by our things that we possess to the extent that they become idols to us, replacing God as the foremost pursuit of our lives, then perhaps we need to re-examine our priorities.  I think it is instructive to think about what possessions that are appropriate to have and examine what we really need.  

Also, you have to consider how God can use us in the context of our culture to meet the needs of others.  As we love God, I believe He will direct us to consider that perhaps He has blessed us material for the purpose of sharing.  We have to examine whether or not we are driven to accumulate to the extent that we are not sensitive to our cultural calling to be used of the Lord to address needs around us.   God may not be calling you to downsize to a tiny house, but He may be directing you to consider what you have and think about what you have to give.