The Loincloth Trap

“King Jesus, I let go of my desire for security, affection, and control, and embrace this moment as it is.”

- Contemplative Prayer App Prompt

PAUSE there.

How is your soul with what God has given you?

Leaders, and all people really, can spend so much energy reaching for more: more clarity, more approval, more giftings, more resources, more momentum, more control, more stuff. Not always because we are greedy, but because we are afraid.

We wonder whether what we have been given is enough.

There’s an old parable about a monk who wanted a simple life. He had only a loincloth. But rats chewed it, so he got a cat. The cat needed milk, so he got a cow. The cow needed grass, so he got land. The land needed workers. Soon, his whole life was built around managing what he never meant to accumulate. When someone asked why he had accumulated all these possessions, the monk said, “You won’t believe it, but there was no other way to take care of my loincloth.”

That is how leadership (and life) can feel. One faithful responsibility becomes one more thing to manage, then one more worry to carry, then one more reason to believe we need more before we can be secure.

More stuff.

More titles.

More that-a-boy or that-a-girl.

But Jesus meets us with open hands.

His hands, stretched out on the cross, forgive our grasping hands. His resurrection reminds us that our future is not secured by our control, but by His victory.

Today, let the Good News of Christ win back your whole self in this moment.

Repent for grasping for more and begin to live and lead from a place of God’s grace as a gift to you.

Receive in gratitude what God has given you in your accounts, roles, and responsibilities.

Respond to Jesus right now in praise, adoration, and joyful clapping because He is in control.

I mean it! Clap! Shout! Praise the One and Only Living God! He loves to hear it.

I just clapped three times and said aloud, “Thank you, Jesus, for life!”

And then resume your day, taking this prayer with you:

King Jesus, I let go of my desire for security, affection, and control, and embrace this moment as it is.