GIVING

 

Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him… I Corinthians 16:2 (KJV)

In a meeting the other day, we were discussing funding for certain of our ministries and the need for economy. Someone piped up with, “If everyone tithed, we’d have enough for all the ministries.” That wasn’t exactly a revelation, but we all moaned in agreement.

Statistically speaking, “Tithers make up only 10-25 percent of a normal congregation. Only 5 percent of the U.S. tithes, with 80 percent of Americans only giving 2 percent of their income” (relevantmagazine.com). There are reasons people give for not tithing, but it all boils down to relationship—relationship with God.

You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. And actually, tithing is not a gift. A tithe is just a basic payment in recognition of God’s generosity. A tithe is a payment; anything above the 10 percent mark becomes a gift. With all that God has given us, how can we fail to recognize his generosity by our giving in return? “Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand” (I Chron. 29:14 NIV).

Do we foolishly think we can out-give God? Will our faithful stewardship cause us to suffer financially? In response to that, God challenges us, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it” (Mal. 3:10). He promises blessing in response to obedience. But we don’t obey to be blessed; we obey out of love.

Perhaps you’re thinking, this is old stuff. I already tithe and don’t need any reminders. So, what about becoming a giver and moving to another level? In Freedom of Simplicity, Richard J. Foster suggests practices such as simplifying our lives by giving away all the extraneous things we tend to warehouse just because they might someday be needed. He cuts even deeper proposing that we begin giving away (all or in part) monies that we weren’t expecting, such as tax refunds or inheritances or rebates, those unexpected windfalls. And there are even more ideas in Freedom…

Foster’s thoughts could be considered radical, but considering all God’s marvelous abundance with which we are constantly and consistently blessed, our giving back is nothing. Think about your giving as an index of your relationship with Jesus.

 

Lord, we cannot begin to express our gratitude for you and your ongoing kindness, love, and mercy. Work in us a heart of thanksgiving so that we willing let go of more and more of those things with which you have blessed us. And let our joy abound. In Jesus’ name. AMEN.

ERROR

 

“God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Romans 2:24

 

I am part of a team going to explore Navajoland in response to an invitation of the bishop there. We will look and listen and learn from the Navajos and see how we can partner with them to do God’s work. In preparation for this marvelous opportunity, our team has been reading extensively and researching the history and culture of Native Americans.
To my distress I have read that:
“The Navajo’s concept of religion is so total that it can be said that there is no such thing
as religion in Navajo culture because everything is religious. Everything a Navajo knows—his shelter, his fields, his livestock, the sky above him and the ground upon which he walks–is holy. The Navajos for the most part, have long resisted Christianity. They look upon it as a ‘part-time’ religion where a man’s god is available to him for only a few hours on Sunday and then has to be sought out in a special house where his spirit dwells.” (Locke:  The Book of the Navajo)

 

Even though this may be a broad generalization, it seems that the Navajo are not the only ones who hold this opinion. These “part-time” Christians could be called “nominal,” Christians in name only or, perhaps, they are believers who have not yet been discipled. Nevertheless, that those who call themselves Christians do such a poor job of representing the Son of God, the Light, the Truth, and the Way is heartbreaking.

 

As true followers of Jesus, we are to lift him up so that when people see us, they glorify God. Our actions are to reflect hearts of love and integrity and bless and bring the life of Christ to our world, especially those around us. We have centuries of misperception to undo, and it can only be done by abandonment to Jesus Christ, scrupulously following the crucified Lord, and abiding in his resurrected life.  All the while depending totally on him…

 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see a massive global turning to Jesus Christ through the witness of his children who are walking faithfully with him?

 

Father, forgive us for our selfish, flawed portrayal of our idea of Christianity. Convict us and work within us that those who do not yet know you might hunger and thirst for you because of the Jesus they see in us. Humbly, I pray in Jesus’ name. AMEN.

TRUE RELIGION

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 5:20

 

The Sermon on the Mount is the essence of Jesus’ teaching and the Gospel.  Many of the religionists of Jesus’ day found him annoying because he took the Law and applied it in uncomfortable ways.  Through the 1500 or so years since the Law had been given, the religionists had managed to twist and compromise the Law so that it would be easier to obey and more complimentary to their comfortable lifestyle.  Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The Law focused on the outside—acts that could be admired as righteous or those acts that could be condemned as wicked and which rendered their perpetrators as outcasts.  Jesus made everything more difficult by interpreting the Law to encompass the motivation and the heart condition of its adherents.

For example, in Matthew 5:21-42, Jesus begins each new topic with something like, “You’ve heard it said [in the Law]…but I say…”  Where the Law says don’t commit murder, Jesus says don’t even be angry with someone or call him demeaning names.  Where the Law says don’t commit adultery, Jesus says don’t even think wrong thoughts about a woman.  Jesus is looking at the heart condition that initiates the sinful behavior.

Sometimes we’re not far removed from those hypocritical Pharisees who seemed right on the outside but were filled with unrighteousness on the inside.  We have to be convinced that the thing of most concern to our Father is our personal relationship with him by which everything else is determined.  If our heart is right, our attitudes, our words, and our behavior will be right.  We will act out of who we are and not who we pretend to be.

Remember that old metaphor about the cup of tea?  When the cup is agitated, only what’s inside will come out.  When Jesus fills us, any bumps along the way allow him to spill over and saturate whatever and whomever is around.  No pretense necessary.

 

 

Lord, change our hearts constantly; fill us with your Spirit; and cause us to glorify you in all we think, say, and do.  In Jesus’ name.  AMEN.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

…God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.  Romans 5:5  (NIV)

 

 

Who doesn’t want to love and be loved?  But sometimes we find ourselves working with people we don’t even like.  They’re unpleasant or disagreeable or—worst of all—don’t do things our way.  We know that God has called us to love and has, in fact, made provision for those times when we can’t find in ourselves the ability to love.  That’s when we discover that we truly are “poor in spirit” and desperately need God in us to love the way we know we should.

We’re tempted to think that this time he’s really given us more than we can bear.  He’s asked us to do something we can’t do.  And yet, he stretches us so that he will be glorified, and we can be changed.  We must acknowledge our spiritual poverty and cry out to him for what he’s already deposited in us through the person of his Son.  God isn’t looking for just a lovely character.  He’s looking for the image of Jesus in his children.

God has already given us everything we need to manifest Jesus in every circumstance.  Our task is to abandon our commitment to self-sufficiency and receive his grace to be manifested in and through us. His love has already been poured into our hearts.  We must choose to ignore the attitude that causes us to shut out the one with whom we have no affinity or who may even cause us grief.  Instead, we access God’s love and by faith live out his supernatural love.  What a perfect opportunity to die to the selfish nature that seeks to control and impoverish us.

In loving the unlovable (Aren’t we sometimes in that category?), we glorify God and recognize his sovereignty:  He put me here; He is in control; He has a good plan; all things [eventually] work together for good.  A loving God will never abandon us to environments where he can’t be glorified and where we can’t manifest him.  In all things, we trust to his love and his perfect will.  God does all things well.

God is bringing many sons (and daughters) to glory, but we occasionally find ourselves kicking against the vehicle he has chosen to get us there.  If we embrace the people and circumstances he has brought into our lives, we find the love, the grace, and every single attribute of the life of Christ available for us.  And often we discover that he sent the very person or thing that we most needed.

 

Father, we are your children.  Live and love through us that we may glorify you and that we may learn more of your ways.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  AMEN.

LEGALISM

…for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.  II Corinthians 3:6  (NIV)

 

 

I have a friend who’s been struggling.  She had the good sense to enlist the help of a Christian counselor and poured her heart out.  In one of the sessions, the counselor asked her to describe her devotional life, the practices she follows to feed her spirit and to connect with the Lord.  My friend talked about the little religious routine she observes:  Read the Bible passages recommended in her Prayer Book; read a popular devotional book; and pray.  The counselor then asked how that helped, and my friend responded that it was just a custom that she followed.  It was another task of the day that had to be checked off before dressing for work.  What had started as a time of spiritual refreshing had gotten to be a habit so that there was no life in the practice.  The counselor told her to stop that deadly list-checking and instead get out and walk and talk with God.

I remember times when my children were small that I would sometimes get annoyed if they demanded attention while I was “having my Quiet Time.”  That sacred Time that no one was to interrupt.  Instead, I, too, found that my devotional time had evolved into what Oswald Chambers called “my time with my habit.”

Of course, this is not to discredit a secret time each day that we set aside to be with the Lord.  The whole point of devotional time is relationship.  We put ourselves in a place of sitting and being with our Father and listening to him, talking with him, and waiting on him.  The Psalmist tells us that “in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11).

None of this checking off the list.  Having my Quiet Time.  We are speaking of a refreshing, life-giving, intimate meeting with our precious Father.  It becomes as necessary as breathing and eating, and it is not burdensome.  It’s not dead time, and we wouldn’t miss it.

If your Quiet Time has gotten “lame” (as my children might say) and dry, put away your books and begin to seek God with all your heart, asking him to give you a hunger and thirst for him and his righteousness.  And stay with it until he appears.  He will not disappoint—but please put away those habits that masquerade as fellowship with him.

 

Father, sometimes we get caught up with our religious practices and mistake them for reality.  Move us back into your presence so that we rediscover our joy.  In Jesus’ name.  AMEN.