Cloth diapers

Then, looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” But he was stunned at this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.

Mark 10:21-22

I was standing in my kitchen, doing the dishes, considering a career change that my husband and I were discerning through. As I loaded the dishwasher, I was doing the math. 

“We need this much to put food on the table, this much to pay the bills, and this much to pay for diapers. Because I will NOT be changing cloth diapers.”

Diapers are a major expense when you have a baby and toddler at home. It was a seemingly innocent and honest enough thought, but it stopped me in my tracks. 

The Spirit instantly convicted me: Am I not worth more than cloth diapers?

We didn’t end up making any career moves in that season, but God used that moment to give me a heart-check. Would I have humbled myself enough to change cloth diapers if that is the sacrifice it took to follow His will?

As a worshipper at heart, my life verse is Romans 12:1 Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.

For those of us intent on laying our lives on the altar, we might have this grand idea that we’re willing to lay our lives down and be obedient to Christ up to the point of martyring…or maybe moving to a foreign country…or maybe doing jail time. But if we’re honest, maybe it looks a little bit more like up to the point of minor inconveniences, like changing cloth diapers. 

Lord, reveal to us the simple things that we are unwilling to surrender over to You. Help us to be obedient to Your call to lay our lives down on Your altar. Amen.