Possessing Nothing

My mind keeps wandering to a hospital room.  To a family gathered around their son.  To the aching decision to pull the plug.  I can barely put myself there in my mind, and yet my friend has lived it the last week, watching her 29-year-old son, who was hit by a drunk driver, struggle for life and lose the battle.  

Just weeks ago, I sat next to her planning a children's musical.  Now her life is forever marked by tragedy.  I am stunned by the speed in which a person's story can change.  

When I read A.W. Tozer's devotional today, about how God pried Abraham's fingers from his son, Isaac, in the second most painful act of sacrifice in the Bible, I thought of all the things I clutch to my chest.  My husband and children, my home, my stuff, my time, my will.  They are beautiful gifts from God, but they can be His rivals in my heart.  

I can't call this story of Abraham allegory or history.  I can't say, "I'm glad I'm not in Abraham's shoes,"  because God says, "You are Abraham.  You have the same two alternatives.  Possess the world and everything in it, or possess nothing."  Tozer calls it the blessedness of possessing nothing.

I pray for Becky and her family, that they run to a deep and bottomless well of grace.  

And I pray that I continually learn the lesson of possessing nothing to gain everything.  

Recommended reading, The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer