I feel like God has been doing a lot of money-related things with us lately. We just added 3 new supporters last week bringing us closer to full-time ministry. I've started thinking and reading about stock market investing. Yesterday, I bought a bunch of stuff at a garage sale to either keep for myself or resell on ebay (a natural side business for two compulsive rummage salers). When I was going through the pocket of the big framepack I got, I found $150 in cash! I was ecstatic and then mortified when I realized I would need to tell the people who were running the sale. I managed to find their email on Craigslist and told them about the money, giving them the option to claim it or let it be (the backpack's owner had passed away and his roommates were selling his stuff).
I thought to myself, "well maybe God wants to bless our integrity with even MORE money. Maybe if we do this, someone will pay our student loans, or we'll make it big on the stock market, or we'll get more supporters." ...To which Debra bluntly replied that I had my head screwed on backwards.
Paul puts it this way: "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things."
Wouldn't it be cool if I just got to know Jesus better through all this? Yeah I'm still trying to convince myself of that too. But I guess even if we make it big (and I don't see that happening anytime soon!) I can consider it all a wash when I think about how cool it is to know and be loved by Jesus. If after that, I'm still hanging on to the dream of wealth, that's my issue, not his.
4.03.2011
4.01.2011
Resting
Below is an excerpt from an email I sent to my men's group...
I haven't had a reading plan with the bible lately. Each day I crack it open to a new spot because I don't feel I have the energy to commit to a whole section. But God's been really faithful and as often as not will lead me to a specific place, often by dropping a random reference in my head. Today it was 1 Corinthians 3:11-13. Before I even knew what it said, the Lord challenged me to memorize it. Here's what it says:
"For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on that foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his work will be shown for what it is because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed by fire and the fire will test the quality of each man's work."
At first I felt convicted that I wasn't working hard enough or doing quality work in the kingdom. I though about our group and felt like maybe we should be doing something other than hanging out and drinking beer. But the more I thought about the things we could do differently, the more I realized that I've just been building with straw and trying HARDER is just adding more straw to the pile. It'll all burn up in the end. I realized that I can't build with what I don't have.
So while at first that verse was a challenge for me to work harder, in the end I realized that for me, it was a challenge to rest in the Father's love and to ask Him to fill my heart with good things that I can poor into others. In John 14, Jesus says, "I will not leave you as orphans" but so much of me still believes that I AM an orphan. The more I can soak in God's love for me, the more I'll have the right materials to build with.
I haven't had a reading plan with the bible lately. Each day I crack it open to a new spot because I don't feel I have the energy to commit to a whole section. But God's been really faithful and as often as not will lead me to a specific place, often by dropping a random reference in my head. Today it was 1 Corinthians 3:11-13. Before I even knew what it said, the Lord challenged me to memorize it. Here's what it says:
"For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on that foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his work will be shown for what it is because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed by fire and the fire will test the quality of each man's work."
At first I felt convicted that I wasn't working hard enough or doing quality work in the kingdom. I though about our group and felt like maybe we should be doing something other than hanging out and drinking beer. But the more I thought about the things we could do differently, the more I realized that I've just been building with straw and trying HARDER is just adding more straw to the pile. It'll all burn up in the end. I realized that I can't build with what I don't have.
So while at first that verse was a challenge for me to work harder, in the end I realized that for me, it was a challenge to rest in the Father's love and to ask Him to fill my heart with good things that I can poor into others. In John 14, Jesus says, "I will not leave you as orphans" but so much of me still believes that I AM an orphan. The more I can soak in God's love for me, the more I'll have the right materials to build with.