Ownership Blues

ALL – Psalm 51:1-19
ALL – Proverbs 22:24-25
OT – Song of Solomon 5:1-8:14
NT – 2 Corinthians 9:1-15

Interesting passage for the day: Yes, God will give you much so that you can give away much, and when we take your gifts to those who need them they will break out into thanksgiving and praise to God for your help. – 2 Corinthians 9:11, The Living Bible

Thought: I really struggle with ownership. I’m not saying that I have a hard time owning. I own much more than I need to own. But I struggle with that reality. On the one hand, I’m called to give thanks for God’s wonderful provision. On the other hand, I’m called to be generous. And I live with a sense of guilt that says I fall short in both areas. I’m neither as thankful nor as generous as I ought to be. And then when I start to think about how I ought to be managing our family finances and belongings in such a way that they grow to the point where I can still care for my wife when I get to old or weak to work, my sense of tension goes through the roof! How can I be thankful and content, yet seek more? How can I both build personal wealth and be generous to the extent that I believe God wants?

I can’t. I just can’t. I’m not perfect. And I don’t see perfection coming my way too quickly, either. In fact, I’ve come to the point that I believe this is a tension I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life. And Jesus will grow me in all three areas as the years go by. Sometimes I’ll take a leap forward in gratitude. Other times I’ll learn more about planning for the future and providing for my family. And other times I’ll soar into higher levels of generosity. But I doubt they’ll all be at once, at least not usually.

Which will require faith. That’s what I hear Paul encouraging the Corinthians to display: faith. Faith that God is the ultimate provider. Faith that, because He is, they can be generous and provide for others. Faith that expresses thanks to God for all He does and will do. Faith that rests in God to such an extent that others in turn have the chance to thank God, too. Faith that at the end of the day, our ownership isn’t about ownership at all, but about God’s wonderful love toward us, providing enough for us all and giving us gifts that transform us into thankful recipients rather than prideful owners and managers. We may not get it all down to a T, but we can walk by faith that allows us to grow, because we can rest in God’s perfection rather than ours.

Lord, grant me the faith to provide, to give, and to be thankful through it all. And by the way…thank You. Keep taking care of us all.

Question: What have you learned about being an owner? How have you learned not to let your possessions own you? Or are you still learning? What’s the journey of faith looking like for you?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

No Burden Too Heavy

ALL – Psalm 40:11-17
ALL – Proverbs 22:2-4
OT – Job 20:1-22:30
NT – 2 Corinthians 1:1-11

Interesting passage for the day: We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us, for he can even raise the dead. – 2 Corinthians 1:9, The Living Bible

Thought: When Christy, Emma and I headed to Louisville so that I could attend the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in June of 2006, we felt ready and self-sufficient. We had saved about $15,000 as a cushion for the first few months’ expenses, Christy’s web design business was clearly capable of generating income, and we had everything planned out for me to watch Emma enough each week for Christy to be able to run her business smoothly. Survival would not be an issue in seminary. We were going to thrive!

That’s not how I felt in September or October when I was sitting in the corner of the dining room, sobbing uncontrollably because we were already less than a month away from being completely out of funds, and feeling like a total failure as a husband and father. What had I led my family into?

I felt kind of like Paul: “doomed to die and [seeing] how powerless we were to help ourselves.” Okay, maybe the dying thing is a little dramatic, but seriously, I was totally aware of my own weakness, powerlessness, inability, failure.

But God turned things around. He provided business for Christy. He gave me the strength to add a part-time job (actually two jobs, for a while) to my schedule. We weren’t wealthy, but we were living. God had saved us from going totally broke.

God is always providing for us. He does it for the entire world. But He especially delights to provide for His children. Sometimes God calls us into situations that we cannot handle, circumstances that threaten to overwhelm us—even to wipe us off the face of the planet! But our God is able to raise the dead! He owns all of creation! There is not a challenge we can face that is “too big” for Him!

Question: What has overwhelmed you—in the past, or perhaps even now? How can we support one another as we call on Jesus, our God who saves us from every trouble?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Much Has Been Given!

ALL – Psalm 27:1-7
ALL – Proverbs 20:20-21
OT – 2 Chronicles 35:1-36:23
NT – 1 Corinthians 1:1-17

Interesting passage for the day: Now you have every grace and blessing; every spiritual gift and power for doing his will are yours during this time of waiting for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 1:7, The Living Bible

Thought: Sometimes it feels like we just get loaded down when we come to church. You know what I’m talking about. We’re grateful that Jesus died for our sins, don’t get me wrong. But Jesus’ call to holy living sometimes seems overwhelming. Even though we’ve been saved from our sins, avoiding them isn’t always easy.

Today it’s time for some encouragement! Jesus’ goal isn’t to drain you of every last drop of life, to squeeze every last ounce of goodness out of you like orange juice from an orange, leaving you crushed and worthless. Jesus came to give you life! To fill you! He not only died to free you from sins, but He ascended to heaven to pour out His Holy Spirit into your life! God Himself is filling you! He is filling you with strength, with His thoughts and words, with holiness and righteousness, with new motives! God is infinite, so His Holy Spirit will never stop supplying your every need!

Some of you may hear this the wrong way. You may think, “Oh, Matt’s just telling me I have no excuse for feeling exhausted, discouraged, worn out and fed up. He wants me to get up and work harder.” That’s not what I’m saying. If you’re exhausted, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-burdened, and I will give you rest.” If you’re overwhelmed, spend some significant time with Jesus. See if you can lay other expectations aside for a few hours, or a day, and go to the King who wants to fill you with His riches. I’m saying to take a break. But I’m not advocating the kind of break many people are tempted to take. They step back from serving Jesus and His church because they’re exhausted, but they seek to be refreshed only via the world’s ways: sleep, food, entertainment, lounging. These things can be gifts from Jesus, so go ahead and receive them during your break. But make sure that you spend significant time with Jesus, too. One on one. Praying. Reading or listening to His Word. Being refreshed by godly songs. Unless you spend time being refreshed by Jesus, you’ll never find the motivation you need to stop taking your break. Only when you are receiving Jesus’ blessings can you be ready to share them. If you’re empty, stop trying to share what you don’t have. Go to Jesus and be filled up with His life. Then, once you and Jesus agree that you’re ready, come back to the harvest field singing and refreshed.

Question: Have you been working to the point of exhaustion? What would it take to get some time to spend alone with Jesus? Or perhaps you’re taking a break. Have you been taking that break with Jesus, or without Him? How can you re-work your time to receive the rejuvenation that Jesus gives us by His Spirit?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Thankful or Confused

Interesting passage for the day: Yes, they knew about him all right, but they wouldn’t admit it or worship him or even thank him for all his daily care. And after awhile they began to think up silly ideas of what God was like and what he wanted them to do. The result was that their foolish minds became dark and confused. – Romans 1:21, The Living Bible

Thought: One of the most important responses to knowing that God’s alive and well is not just to say so, but to thank Him for His daily care. God created each one of us. He saw us through the nine months in our mothers’ wombs, He helped us out the birth canal, He provided us with fathers and mothers, with protection and care and nourishment. God has given us every breath we’ve breathed. He’s seen us through sickness. He’s helped us grow in every way.

Thankfulness is so important. From Romans, you can see that when people refuse to thank God for His blessings they begin to pretend they know how to go through the paths of life on their own, and their lives become muddled, senseless and confusing.

Question: How long has it been since you have thanked God for anything? Especially for His “normal” daily blessings? Would it be hard to thank Him because it’s been so long? Would it help if you sat down and decided to write out a list of at least ten, fifteen, or twenty-five blessings, and then spent time thanking Him? Share a few snippets of how God has blessed you.

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Repetition That Means Something

ALL – Psalm 41:1-13
ALL – Proverbs 10:15-16
OT – Leviticus 16:29-18:30
NT – Mark 7:24-8:10

Repetition can be dull. Boring. Tedious.

But sometimes we need our teachers to repeat the truth. We’re so prone to forget life’s most important lessons.

See if this scene sounds familiar:

“Are we supposed to find food for them here in the desert?” his disciples scoffed.

“How many loaves of bread do you have?” he asked.

“Seven,” they replied. – Mark 8:4-5, The Living Bible

The last time we read something like this, a crowd of 5000 men was listening to Jesus’ teaching. Jesus told His disciples to feed them, and the disciples were overwhelmed. So Jesus asked the disciples to bring him what food they could find. It turned out to be five small loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus took them, gave thanks to the Father, and fed the whole crowd with them.

This time there’s a crowd of 4000. Jesus tells His disciples that He doesn’t want to send the crowd away hungry because they’re too far out in the wilderness, and some of the people might have difficulty making it to the nearest town walking on an empty stomach. Again, the disciples protest, Jesus asks the disciples what they have, they give Him what they have (this time seven loaves and a few small fish), and He thanks the Father while providing food for the whole crowd. Seven large basketfuls of food were left over!

Why the repetition? Why did the disciples need it? It’s easy to mock them. After all, they saw the first miracle; you would think they could trust Jesus for a second.

But why do the gospels record both miracles for us? Why do we need the repetition?

I think there’s something fundamental we’re meant to believe—but don’t.

We’re so concerned with meeting our own needs. We’re so afraid that we don’t have food to spare. We don’t trust God to meet our own family’s needs, so we hoard what He’s provided, not sharing with others when they’re in need.

God is the Provider. He will meet your needs. And both of these miracles demonstrate not only that He’s willing, but that He’s able to meet not only our needs. In fact, with the little that we have, God is able and willing to meet many more needs than we trust Him to meet—not just ours and our family’s, but the needs of those all the people we encounter. He invites us—Jesus urges us—to stop clinging so tightly to our “little,” to give it to Him, and to watch Him provide for many more people than we thought He could.

What is overwhelming to us is easy for God. What are you withholding from others because of your fear that God won’t meet your needs?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Provided

ALL – Psalm 18:37-50
ALL – Proverbs 4:11-13
OT – Genesis 44:1-45:28
NT – Matthew 14:13-36

Have you ever been in debt? You look at the $5 bill in your wallet, knowing that your debt is so much more, and you kind of wish you could just multiply your money and pay the whole thing off. And then your mind starts to wander as you daydream about what kinds of things you could provide for your wife and kids if you had the ability to multiply money. It’s a nice dream. But at the end of it, you come back to reality remembering that you’re not a super-human money-multiplier, that you’re limited, that sometimes needs are greater than your ability to meet them.

Jesus, on the other hand. . . Jesus can provide exactly what is needed at a moment’s notice. Jesus is God. Jesus has authority over the whole creation. If He wants to meet a need, He meets it.

Then he told the people to sit down on the grass; and he took the five loaves and two fish, looked up into the sky and asked God’s blessing on the meal, then broke the loaves apart and gave them to the disciples to place before the people. And everyone ate until full! And when the scraps were picked up afterwards, there were twelve basketfuls left over! (About 5,000 men were in the crowd that day, besides all the women and children.) – Matthew 14:19-21, The Living Bible

We men like to be good providers. But no one can provide like Jesus. No one else is God. Creation obeys no one else. Things that aren’t become things that are, just because Jesus tells them to. Too Little becomes Too Much. Hunger becomes Satisfied. Empty becomes Full. Exhausted becomes Invigorated. Discouraged becomes Bold. Poor becomes Rich. Weak becomes Strong. Dead becomes Living. Sinner becomes Saint. What we need, Jesus provides. As men who like to see others provided for, our wisest work is to introduce people to Jesus. Then we, the limited, can sit back and joyfully watch our God meet people’s needs.

What has Jesus provided for you?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Recession

ALL – Psalm 8:1-9
ALL – Proverbs 2:6-15
OT – Genesis 18:16-19:38
NT – Matthew 6:25-7:14

Many here in America have been hurt by the economic recession. A member of our church lost his job just a few weeks ago; the recession’s not over. So times have been tough, and will probably continue that way for a while. Men and woman are having difficulty affording the basics—their homes and transportation and food—let alone paying off their debts. Most people would understand the mood of worry that seems to be in the air.

But Jesus did not want His people to worry.

So don’t worry at all about having enough food and clothing. Why be like the heathen? For they take pride in all these things and are deeply concerned about them. But your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well that you need them, and he will give them to you if you give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to. So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time. – Matthew 6:31-34, The Living Bible

How often the hearts of believers look like the hearts of pagans! We get concerned about food and clothes and all that we own and provide. We forget (and don’t really trust) that the Father has our provisions in His hands.

Father, help us trust You.

Can you share a story about how God has met your daily needs?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

$103.00

So tonight I earned $103 at the Old Spaghetti Factory, working from 5:15 to 12:00 midnight. 6 hrs 45 minutes. A little over $15 per hour. Better than usual. Why am I writing about it? Because nights like this are the reason people are willing to work at jobs where the pay is inconsistent and depends primarily on people's gracious giving. Also, because I did not feel like I did a very good job tonight. I felt bad for my customers.

And yet they provided. That is, God provided. Through them. And it turned into one of the best nights I've ever had, earnings-wise.

Ironic. And yet another example in this life of grace, and of our inability/failures not determining our course, but God's grace ultimately weighing in as the decisive factor.

Why do we always think we're so great? Why do we think we deserve good things? Somebody remind me, please.