Just the Essentials

Discussion Questions 

1. Read Malachi 3. Then read the devotional below, “Just the Essentials.” 

2. If you were to prepare for a week-long backpacking trip, as the writer describes, what would you want to take with you that might not be essential? 

3. What are you holding onto—in your emotions, in your faith, in your daily routine—that isn’t really necessary? 

4. When has God scrubbed away something inessential from your life?

Devotional 

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to [God’s] temple… But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. – Malachi 3:1a, 2 (NRSV) 

I bristle a bit at this passage. The idea that God’s messenger arrives like harsh soap or melting fire. That salvation means being scrubbed clean or having my impurities burned off. 

I believe God saves us in our messiness. My dross is what makes me, me! 

But then I think of preparing for a backpacking trip: how first, I lay out everything I think I need, what feels like just the essentials. Then I imagine carrying it on my back for a week. And I start to cut:

• *Those extra shirts? They’re just ego. No one cares if I repeat an outfit.
• *That deck of cards? A distraction. Ditto books two and three.
• *All the little items that fall under the heading, “What if?” or “Just in case,” That’s just fear.

Soon, I’ve paired things down to a load that feels, if not comfortable, at least manageable. And I’ve never yet missed something I left behind.

I still believe God saves us in our messiness. I don’t think redemption means letting go of anything that makes me, me. Or you, you. 

On the contrary, drawing close to God reveals exactly who I am. And all those things that I am clinging to unnecessarily. 

By the fire of God’s love, I can see what’s truly essential. And I am free to set every other burden down. 

Prayer
Fire of Love, lighten our load.