Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.” For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. (2 Corinthians 9:6-13)
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Friday, January 11, 2013
Gracious act of giving
I once heard a marriage conference speaker share that he
and his family gave away all the money they had, not just once but twice! This man was not a rich man but one of
average means. Interesting since
finances rank in the top three of troubled areas for married couples.
He went on to explain that he and his wife clearly sensed
God was telling them to give out of obedience not knowing if they would recoup
to where they had been financially. Not
a good technique to share in counseling a troubled couple struggling with
finances!!
I grew up under the pretense that you MUST give the first
10% of everything you earn, with much petty debate over gross or net, to
God. If you didn't fulfill this
obligation you were not going to be blessed or _______(fill in the blank) could
happen to you! “God loves a cheerful
giver”, is the imploring from the pulpit on Sunday mornings. This always brought a sense of fear resulting
in obligation and duty rather than joy and generosity. How could these two thoughts be reconciled? The answer would ultimately have a huge
affect on the coffers of non-profit organizations but even deeper, the true heart treasure
of the giver.
2Cor 10:12b tells us not to use ourselves as a standard
of measurement. Whew…does that take the
guilt away since I will never be able to measure up to someone else’s
expectations and standards of giving. The only standard to measure myself by is the
standard of Christ (Eph 4:11-13).
The apostle Paul gives us some guidelines for this standard in 2 Cor 8:1-15
(NLT)
· Give ourselves to the Lord
God doesn't want my
money! Surprised? The Creator of all doesn't need anything to
accomplish his purposes. What He wants
and needs is my obedience and faith—not given out of duty or obligation but a heart
of love and thankfulness. He gave the
ultimate Gift before you and I were even born. God initiated pursuing me because
my mind, heart and soul are the greatest gifts I can give him.
· Give ourselves to each other
When I understand and accept God’s
amazing free gifts of grace, mercy, forgiveness and kindness; when I acknowledge that God has
provided all my needs I then am able to freely give of not only what I have but
of myself to others. “…he uses us to
spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising
up to God.” (2 Cor 2:14-16). When we
give ourselves to others we give a glimpse of Christ’s character.
· Give in proportion to what you have
Giving is not a competition
sport. ‘Showy’ giving not only distorts true giving but
can also deny the basic necessities for those the giver is to be caring
for. Proportionate giving doesn't have a
percentage sign. Neither is the act of
giving to clear self (or other) imposed guilt. “Whatever you give is acceptable if you give
it eagerly. And give according to what
you have, not what you don’t have.” (2 Cor 8:12)
· Give even in troubled times
The past few years have been
extremely financially difficult for many people and giving is usually the first
area to be axed. In this atmosphere giving
can be very creative and doesn't always mean money. Giving can be food, warm clothes or blankets
to those without or spending time with the sick, elderly or those in prisons.
“Right now you have plenty and
can help those who are in need. Later,
they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it.” (2 Cor 8:14)
· Excel in the gracious act of giving
The churches Paul was telling
the Corinthians about were “being tested by many troubles and…very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy,
which has overflowed in rich generosity….they gave not only what they could
afford, but far more. And they did it of
their own free will. They begged us…for
the privilege of sharing…” He then
encourages his readers, “I want you to excel also in this gracious act of
giving. I am not commanding you to do
this. But I am testing how genuine your
love is…” (2 Cor 8:2-3,7)
To excel in anything comes
with the price of practice and testing. How
are we doing? How genuine is our love?
Gracious giving is "patient, kind not jealous, boastful or proud. It is not demanding, irritable, or keeps records. Gracious giving new gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance.' (1 Cor 13)
What better time as we enter a fresh new year to excel in the gracious act of giving.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Where was God?
We will not soon forget the horrific events of December
14, 2012. What started out as a typical
day ended anything but typical for the residents of Newton, CT and the world. I have no personal connection to any of the
families who have been ripped apart nor can I even begin to imagine the depth
of their grief. I only know my heart and
throat felt like someone was strangling me as I went to bed that night. My grief became my enemy when trying to
breathe and my mind raced trying to make sense of how anyone could do this
horrible act against innocent children and those who tried to protect them.
Earlier that evening this question was posed, “Where was
God?” Even Jesus voiced this question of
his father, God. I’ve thought a lot about that question today. I didn’t know what to say. How would you have answered? If you were one of those parents, would you
have wanted a pat cliché answer? Is there an answer?
Theological reasoning’s to this question have been explored
and debated for centuries. This debate
does not however mean God was absent.
I do know this; God was in the same place when his son was
murdered. He knows what it is to grieve
over a loved one. To give and love and
be denied those in return. He finds no
pleasure in witnessing the indescribable acts his creation does to one
another. Nor does he find pleasure in
letting go of someone who chooses to reject him.[i] He has long been denied a place in our lives
except when it is beneficial to us. Nor,
as has been suggested, did the gate for these indescribable acts swing open the
day prayer was taken out of school. The
groundwork was laid long before then and has been built upon as our tolerance
to truth and violence weakens.
It strikes me no one is questioning the ‘where and why’
of evil (aka Satan) that day? Satan is
not a harmless once-a-year-Halloween-appearance person wearing a red suit with
horns and a pitchfork. He is a force who
knows his time is limited and will steal, kill, and destroy anything or anyone
who stands in his way including innocent children. [ii]
Everything in life is not a clear black and white issue nor
are the answers to life’s difficult questions.
Gun control is not be the solution in preventing these types of
horrendous acts because morality and values cannot be legislated. Those bent on destruction will find a avenue
to accomplish it.
Being a child of God does not relieve us of pain. We live in a world in which our actions affect
others, good and bad. But these are
truths we can hold onto when everything else, including God, doesn’t make
sense:
·
God is still God and there is no other equal to
him or above him. We can trust him even
though we don’t understand. Isaiah 40; 2
Peter 3:9; Isaiah 55:8-9
·
He hasn’t abandoned you or me: “No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will
come to you.” John 14:18; 2 Chronicles
16:9
·
We can have His peace in the midst of pain: “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind
and heart. And the peace I give is a
gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled
or afraid…I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on
earth you will have many trials and sorrows.
But take heart, because I have overcome the world. (John 14:27; John
16:33)
Where was God that day?
Grieving alongside those whose hearts were ripped out. Holding and giving them his strength to
continue until he takes us to a home where there will be no more sorry, pain or
hurt…ever again.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Expectations
Funny how one word can bring such diverse emotions. Whether expectations are met or unmet they have
the potential to bring disappointment and potential impacts on our lives that
can last a lifetime.
We have expectations from family, friends and coworkers;
from our employers and government; contractual expectations from various
sources. This is a year of political
expectations.
As parents we have expectations, some spoken and some not,
for and from our children and likewise they have of us.
The disciples and people in Jesus time had expectations from
him
The mother of James & John expected her boys to have
special favor with Jesus because….well, because after all they were in the ‘inner
circle’.
The disciples expected John to get answers from Jesus
when the others didn’t want to approach him.
The multitudes had expectations of healing, deliverance,
and supplying food (John 6:26) for them.
The religious elite expected Jesus to ‘toe the line’ and
conform to their expectations of a messiah.
We have expectations of Jesus today. The outcome of our fulfilled and unfulfilled
expectations of him plays a major role in our current and future faith and
beliefs.
Sometimes our expectations of God are unrealistic. There are situations we put ourselves in as a
result of either ignorance or total rebellion of God’s ways and truths and then
look to God like a genie in a bottle for immediate relief. When he doesn’t do his magic we then assume
he doesn’t love us (because if he did he would give us everything we ever asked for!) so we storm out of our relationship
like a spoiled child slamming the door.
I certainly am not expert on the mind and ways of God…none
of us really are. Just when we think we
have him figured out (i.e., “Ten steps to________”) we realize God’s ways are
not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). Expectations are blown out of the water and
we start back on square one with learning all over again about trust and faith
in what we can’t see but yet our hearts tell us is real.
There are other times we pray with purely unselfish
reasons and God doesn’t answer the way we think he should—a friend or family
member suffering with unbearable pain with no relief in sight. Again our expectations of God are not fulfilled
in the immediate answers we seek. Trust and
faith in the unseen is once again called upon even though we don’t understand
the silence.
Have you ever consider God’s expectations of us? They are actually quite simple yet
complicated for our “I” mentality.
B ELIEVE…. in Jesus Christ as the
one and only son of God (Jo 3:5-6, 16; 6:29; John 14:11).
O BEY… more than saying but living
what we believe… (John 8:31-32; 14:15; John 15)
L OVE… one another as I love the
Father (John 13:34-35). Love is the
product of BELIEVE and OBEY
(1 John
4:18-19).
D ISCIPLE… is BELIVE, OBEY and
LOVE in action (Matthew 28:18-20).
Jesus said, “All who love me will do what I say. My father will love them, and we will come
and make our home with each of them. I
am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world
cannot give. So don’t be troubled or
afraid. The world would love you as one
of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it
hates you. I have told you these things
so that you won’t abandon your faith. The
Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came
from God. Here on earth you will have
many trials and sorrows. But take heart,
because I have overcome the world.”
(Jesus praying for you and me) “ Holy Father you have
given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they
will be united just as we are…I am praying not only for these disciples but
also for all who will ever believe
(you and me!!) in me through their message….may they be in us so that the world
will believe you sent me…may they experience such perfect unity that the world
will know that you sent me.” (John 14-17)
It takes being BOLD to stand against popular
beliefs and expectations. It takes being BOLD to live in this world, not become part of
this world. It takes being BOLD
to live as Jesus would today.
A fellow BOLD… in progress,
Kay
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
'those' people
One
day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were
sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all
Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was
strongly with Jesus. But the Pharisees and
teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does he think he is?
Luke
5:17, 21
Detractors will always show up where God’s harvest field
is ready…but Gods power will show up even greater.
What if Jesus had given in to the pressure and standards
of the religious elite of his day? Think
of all the people recorded in the Bible (and today) that would never have been
touched, healed, delivered or given hope. You
and I would never have been offered a taste of grace because Jesus mission of
why he came would never have been filled.
There will always be well meaning friends and even
coworkers within the religious establishments of our day that will try to
convince us to stay within the norm, warn us to be careful or not understand
our choices or decisions.
Where is it
written we must be careful of Jesus calling to “go into all the world and make
disciples?” Where is it written we will
never have to give up our lives for the sake of the gospel? Where is it written we will not be
misunderstood or abandoned by others because of our choice to be a follower of
Jesus Christ?
Yes, I agree some
persecution we hear about today is brought on because of foolish actions. At the same time true persecution will always
be on the heels of total abandonment of self in order for Gods work, his
Kingdom (not ours) to be advanced.
Our standard and foundation must always align with what
Jesus taught. That in itself will be at
odds with not only the world view but that of the established religious
communities view. Do we really want to
live and be as Jesus set the example for us?
I grew up with ‘be a fisherman
for Jesus’ but with the warning ‘don’t
go into certain establishments because you wouldn’t want people to think poorly
of Jesus.’ Do fishermen wait for the fish to jump out of
the water or do they go where the fish live?
Didn’t Jesus go into homes and the marketplace to eat and drink with the
those people
of his day who were searching and disenfranchised with lifeless religion?
Today, don’t
those people also deserve to hear, and more importantly, see the grace of
God? And would those people
actually feel welcomed in our religious establishments today? According to the Pew Forum on Religion and
Public Life only 39% of Americans attend a church service once a week yet 92%
believe in God or a universal spirit. [i] Those
people are clearly not coming
into the church building. They are not
interested in a building; there is no power in a building. They are
interested in someone walking grace with them, not condoning or condemning them. When we, the body of Christ, move out of the
building and show them Jesus rather
than just telling them Jesus, grace begins
to grow.
What Jesus was accused of as blasphemy was the very avenue
for forgiveness and healing to occur.
His actions caused those around and usually those outside the religious
elite to be gripped with great wonder
and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!”
Luke 5:26
Jesus not only spoke grace he lived it. He requires no less from us as his followers.
I have not yet arrived but am trying with his help to
walk in grace every day. Some days I
stumble a lot. What about you, want to
walk grace together?
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Empyting
I’ve been reading a book about emptying oneself in order to
make room for what God wants to do in and through our lives. Must admit the self reflection has been
revealing and emotionally exhausting at times.
Yet there has been, and is continuing to be, a cleansing very much like
the summer rains I used to run in as a kid.
Did you ever do that? Remember
the fresh gentle rain falling on your warm skin? Remember the relief from the heat and rejuvenation
that came with the rain? It recharged us
to the point we could have run around until midnight with the energy that came
from those rains.
This same kind of cleansing can come when we honestly ask
the Lord to reveal things we have not let go from our past or dreams and hopes
we are tight-fistedly holding onto for our future. The wounds we never allow to heal from our
past prevent us from using those as lessons in order to turn our past into
opportunities to help someone else that is going through the same difficulty
today. The hopes and dreams we have do
not need to hold our present in bondage if we allow the Lord to have
those. The harder we grip the less
energy we have to live our today. The
harder we manipulate and work to have those dreams come to pass, the less we
enjoy living our today. We will never
truly know if those dreams are planted in our hearts by the Lord until we
release and allow God to fulfill his timing and his purposes in our lives.
For me, I am learning there is a freedom in realizing I don’t
have to know my future but rather trust that God will direct my current today
to join paths with my future hopes and dreams. Today I want to be open and prepared to hear
God speak or see Him move in me and those around me. Who knows, someone I come across today just
may be that divine appointment from God to give clarity of his purposes for either
me or them.
Don’t dismiss the ‘outside’ appearance of a chance meeting. God sometimes uses the most unlikely
candidates to speak into each other’s life.
Philippians 1:6,2:3-4; 3:13; Jeremiah 29:11
Monday, July 2, 2012
Change
God created me at my core a unique individual, just as he
has you, for his purposes and to bring him glory. Period.
His purpose and plan may change from time to time, day to
day, and perhaps even moment to moment; our response can be interesting,
adventurous and yet confusing and defiant—not on God’s part but ours or more specifically
mine.
Just the time I get comfortable it seems he changes the
game plan AND without consulting me!
Could this ‘change’ be the refreshing everlasting water[i]
constantly flowing in and through me rather than stagnant and unyielding water
I tend to gravitate to? At heart, I am a
very private person and like my time
and my ways. But I’m coming to realize God did not create
me for…well, me. That is not to say we don’t
need quiet and/or alone times to refresh and be rejuvenated. I’m talking about the avoidance of others
just because I don’t feel like interacting or feel like changing my plans.
Could it be that chance meeting was an ordained crossing
of two paths God orchestrated for encouragement, healing or salvation? Perhaps it was to be the exact moment in time
for God’s glory to be revealed to one who is desperately seeking someone higher
than their thoughts and ways. Could it
be God wants to teach me rather than the person I come across something or open
my eyes in an area I have shut?
I recently read that God could have created us with
incorruptible bodies and morally flawless character but instead he created us
out of dirt—clay. Why? So it would be absolutely obvious that
anything of eternal value accomplished through our lives is from God and not
from us[ii]
(2 Corinthians 4:7).
So in the end, it’s realizing my comfort is not God’s
purpose for my life. OUCH!! Obedience and surrender are not popular
topics nor are they to come from a defeatist attitude. Obedience and surrender are costly. They are also at the heart of understanding and
accepting who God is, why he created me and how he takes great pleasure in my partnering
with him for the amount of years he has given me to live.
So at times it is with kicking and throwing tantrums
that I surrender. And with a grateful
heart God doesn’t treat me as my sins deserve[iii]
but rather with grace he loving opens his arms and walks beside me--wherever that may be. Am I to do anything less for those around me?
What about you? Where
are you in your process or should I say progress?
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