The Keys to the Treasury

Dozens of people with various needs come through my life each week. Yesterday it was a woman who needed $301 to keep from being evicted. Last week it was a man whose heart was shattered by his son’s untimely death. I want to help! Sometimes I slip into a daydream about having so much money I could just write a check to help out. I am rich! A story in the book of Acts reminds me that my resources are not just measured with a bank account balance.

Peter and John were going into the Temple to pray at 3 in the afternoon when a beggar called out to them for money. The man had been in that spot near the gate for years, crippled and dependent on the kindness of those who passed by. "Help me, show some kindness!" he yelled, holding out his hand pathetically. Peter stopped; looked right at him and said, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." (Acts 3:6, KJV) The crippled man "stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God." (Acts 3:8, KJV)

Spirit-filled Christians are given amazing grace, infinite love, abundant mercy, astonishing kindness... need I go on? People need to be gifted with those things, more than money! Do you have a generous spirit? Giving is not a first impulse for most people. Naturally we tend to think about caring for ourselves; making certain that we have secured our place, our future, provision for our perceived needs. But, where the Spirit is in charge, He secures us and teaches us to give ourselves away; just like Jesus did.

How generous are you? 

• When you tip a server, do you carefully calculate 15% or throw in an extra couple of dollars?
• When you tithe (10% for God's work) do you divide it down to the penny, or do you round it up with joy?
• When you're in line do you carefully guard your position or let the guy with a couple of items cut in front of you? Are you impatient with drivers who go too slowly in your lane, or cheerfully share the road?

When we possess the riches of God, not just in word but in our hearts, we are freed from the need to grasp tightly what we perceive belongs to us. We will gain a liberal heart, a generous spirit that overflows. We will take notice of the hurts, the sorrows, the pain of those around us and give them from the store of love that we have received from the Lord. We will readily absorb the insensitivities and insecurities that cause others to slight us without the least care because we are so rich in the Father's love!

The Word observes the principle of reciprocity -

"It is possible to give freely and become more wealthy, but those who are stingy will lose everything. The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed." (Proverbs 11:24-25, NLT) Jesus states it simply - "Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”" (Luke 6:38, The Message)

Before you rush on to take on life, take a few moments to thank God for the riches you have been given in Christ Jesus. Meditate on this statement: "God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:8, NIV)  Yes, we are rich in Him.  So, let’s and give it away! Let’s have find joy today by blessing people with love, kindness, mercy, goodness - from the rich storehouse to which God has given us the key!

__________________

Who Am I

When I think of how He came

So far from glory,

Came and dwelt among the lowly

Such as I,

To suffer shame and such disgrace,

On Mount Calv'ry take my place.

Then I ask myself a question,

Who am I?

Who am I that a King,

Would bleed and die for?

Who am I that He would pray,

“Not my will Thine” for?

The answer I may never know,

Why He ever loved me so,

That to an old rugged cross He'd go,

For who am I?

Rusty Goodman

© 1965 Playin' TAG Music. Renewed 1993. (Admin. by Integrated Copyright Group, Inc.)

CCLI License # 810055

The Resurrection Scheme of Things

Bedtime stories for our children generally end like this; “and so they lived happily ever after”  and for good reason.  Who wants to send a child off to sleep in despair?  When you watch a movie, do you, like me, want the plot to resolve with the triumph of good over evil, with the two who are in love finding each other again?  I pull for the good guys to win. I eagerly wait for the villains to get what they have coming to them.  But, is life like that?

In the moment, we don’t always find ourselves with a joyful outcome, do we? I find myself praying this Psalm. "My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long? Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love." (Psalm 6:3-4, NIV)  Moses spoke of the "heaven that is over thy head shall be brass." (Deuteronomy 28:23, KJV) which was a way of saying that prayers seemed to go nowhere, that they were unheard, unanswered.  Every Christian will go through seasons of life when sorrows out number joys, when disappointments tumble one upon another. Adding to the pain, there will be those well-meaning, but ill-informed friends who are Job’s comforters. They will suggest that the suffering saint has not prayed well enough or that his sins have shut off the blessings of his God.

While it could be true that we find ourselves in the mire because we walk far from the paths the Lord calls us to or because we do not listen for His voice, there is ample evidence in the Scripture that saints suffer within the permitted will of the Lord, too.  Like it or not, God allows all of us to experience trials. In them, He refines our character,  strips away superficiality, and draws us to a singular love.  But, we must remember  His promise that He will triumph!  The resolution of all things may not come on Friday or at the end of the month! 

After preaching terrible judgment, Amos hears this from the Lord:  “In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name,” declares the LORD, who will do these things. “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills." (Amos 9:11-13, NIV)  The kingdom line restored, the destroyed cities rebuilt, famines replaced with abundant harvests!  God says, “and they will live happily ever after!”

The New Testament focuses one a event as proof positive of the ultimate triumph of good – the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I you are struggling with suffering, if you feel that your faith is slipping away, spend time in the 15^th chapter of 1 Corinthians.  There we find the plot line resolving.  The wrong will be made right, the evil will be judged, the good and godly find their reward. Death will be swallowed up with eternal life.  It is a grand chapter that helps us to make sense of this present world.  It is no fairy tale. The chapter opens with a defense of the historicity of Christ’s triumph return from the grave.  Then, we read "On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power.

But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God! With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort." (1 Corinthians 15:52-58, The Message)

It is not a fairy tale. It is not wishful thinking. It is the decree of the Almighty God - "He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." (Revelation 22:20, NIV)

Cussin' and fightin' - full of peace? You choose.

Anxiety – it’s a curse,  a misuse of our ability to anticipate and plan. Some nights my eyes refuse to close in restful sleep while my mind does calculations about some personal challenge. What makes you anxious? Money, health, children, the future, sin?  Sometimes I excuse my anxiety, which usually surfaces in my life as short-temperedness or lack of faith, with a dismissive 'that is just who I am.' I have given myself a pass by pointing to the fact that I am wired as a "type A" do-er, a man who is action-oriented.  Thankfully, the Holy Spirit draws me towards a better choice. “Do the right thing, Jerry, and submit that situation to Jesus, the Master and Lord,” He whispers. What peace can be found in obedience, believe me.

The late Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, a ministry that became a major force in the work of the Lord in the last 40 years, had many reasons to be stressed. He was head of an organization that was huge, that was always in need of funds, and that had thousands of associates on hundreds of campuses around the world. But, Dr. Bright was consistently a man of cheerful temperament, relaxed, and apparently beyond worry. His son reports on the moment when he came to understand why his Dad was this way, even under pressure. It was an interview with a reporter from a Christian magazine.
"Dr. Bright," the reporter asked, "share with us a problem from your life that the average Christian could relate to."
"I don't have any problems" Bright replied.
The reporter pressed, "Don't over-spiritualize this. We all have problems."

"Young man," Bright replied, "you need to understand that I understand that I am a slave of Jesus. A slave doesn't have any problems. The only thing a slave has to do is what his master tells him to do. He doesn't have to be successful. When you really understand that, all the of the sudden, you don't have any problems anymore. All you have are opportunities to see God work."

 - quoted in REV. Magazine, July/August, 2007

Anxiety is an expression of ego.  When it appears it reveals our assumption of being 'in charge.' Faith that is deep and wide, causes us to surrender our illusions of mastery of our lives and to live at peace in the Presence of God. I’m not excusing us from action, or inviting us to become passively lazy. We make choices that are consistent with faith.  We refuse to run ahead of the Lord. When we do, making decisions in our own wisdom: creating debt, taking on too much responsibility, etc. – we will become stressed.  We are very irresponsible if we decide, only after we are mired in our mess,  to throw it all on the Lord and expect that He should painlessly lead us out of the problems that we created for ourselves! Dr. Bright’s serenity was born in faith that preceded action. Does that mean we can't ask the Lord to help us with situations we created in ignorance or through willful expression of ego? No. He loves us even when we act in ways that are silly or sinful, however, it is so much better to trust Him.

As we wrap us this week, let’s give ourselves to the Lord. Pray out loud - "Lord God, I am your servant. I exist to do Your will. There is nothing I face today that will surprise You. Help me to listen and act, to fulfill your expectations, to carry out your purposes."

Sum up the things that are making you impatient, that are keeping you awake at night, that make you weary from worry, take a cue from Hezekiah. Write your worries down and take your letter to the Lord and pray - "Lord, these are my concerns. I want to meet them in the way that You desire, for You know all my tomorrows, and You know what is best for me in the light of eternity." And then, leave them there.

Here's a word from the Word to take with you today.
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:4-7, NIV)

____________________

Slow me down, Oh Lord, slow me down,

Help my heart to hear Your sound.

Speak into my life Lord, speak now,

Slow me down, Oh Lord, slow me down.

Clear my mind, Oh Lord, clear my mind.

Bring me peace that I cannot find.

Take my worldly thoughts, break my pride.

Clear my mind, Oh Lord, clear my mind.

Wake my soul, Oh Lord, wake my soul.

With this mess I’ve made make me whole.

Of this life called mine take control,

Wake my soul, Oh Lord, wake my soul.

Robbie Seay

Puttin' on a show

Puttin’ on a show

“Oh, Ga’wd … Hallleeeluuujaah.  Thank you, Jeeesuss.” No, I am not mocking, nor do I mean to be irreverent.  But, I have attended prayer meetings where I heard people praying in clichés, repeating stock phrase. It appears to be mindless exercise of religious motions, a kind of theatre.  The prophet Amos saw the people of Israel going through the motions of worship. He heard the Spirit’s response and it wasn’t very pleasant. “I hate all your show and pretense—the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your hymns of praise! They are only noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is." (Amos 5:21-23, NLT)  Arresting, isn’t it?

Do you go through the motions of daily worship, only to offend God because your heart is not in it?  If the Spirit took the microphone at your church this Sunday, might He say, “Stop. You’re just making noise!”? What did the Lord God want from His people and from us?  He wants our worship wedded to our way of life.  "Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry." (Amos 5:24, NLT)  God saw the injustice in Israel, the exploitation of the poor by the rich, the oppression of the powerless by the privileged.  He called on them to use their times of prayer to reflect on the way they were living; and to change.  

Puttin on a show, falling into religious ritual that is divorced from daily life, was not a sin unique to Israel. Isaiah saw the same sin in Judah. “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”  (29:13)  Jesus warned about “babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”  (Matthew 6:7)  His prescription for the sickness of heartless religion is still offered. "The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.”  (Mark 12:29-31, The Message)

Perhaps your conscience is hurting as you read this. (Mine was as I wrote it!)  You’re realizing how often you just slip into the ‘religion show.’  You sing songs you don’t understand or mean. You write a tithe check to your church without praying for the ministries you support. You open your Bible and read words you can’t remember even a minute after you put it away. You pray prayers that fall from your lips out of habit but leave the basic issues of your heart untouched.  The cure is not to try harder!   Curiously that is what we think we ought to do.  The real answer is to let the Spirit have access to all of you.  Just stop!  Jesus offers Himself to us. For those who are stuck in heartless religion, He says - "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20, NIV)

Get honest and tell Him you’re sick of saying the same old words.  Tell Him about the resentment you’re hiding inside, the habits that are hanging on. Confess your lack of desire for godly things, that you would rather go fishing than to church, rather serve yourself than serve others, that Heaven seems far away- earth’s pleasures immediate and alluring.  “Jerry, I can’t admit to those things.”  Why not?  He knows the real you and me better than you or I do.  If we own up to it, start telling ourselves the truth instead of covering it all over with religious noise, we will find Him present to comfort, faithful to forgive, and changing us from the inside out.  Loving Jesus is not a matter of doing religion better; it’s about loving Jesus, focusing on Him.

He’s waiting, knocking on door.  Will you invite Him in?

Carried away on gentle winds

When I was a teenager, I learned to fly airplanes.  Just after my 16^th birthday, one July morning, the flight instructor stepped out of the airplane and said, "Take it around the pattern three times while I observe from the ground!" It was solo flight time. A few weeks later, he sent me on my first “cross-country” flight.  No, not to California! For the first time, I would fly outside of the immediate area of my home airport. George and I plotted my course from Pittstown, NJ to Annville, PA, about an hour's flight time.

What a thrill when I pointed that little Cessna down the runway. As the ground fell away, I could see our farm off to the right. A moment later, I flew over my high school on the left;  then over the Delaware River. Caught up in the experience, I set my charts aside and flew on. I neglected a couple of checkpoints, feeling that as long as I kept my compass set to the heading that the chart indicated I would fine. After about 30 minutes, I realized that what I was seeing on the ground did not match the flight chart. I was flying over a city and that wasn't indicated along my flight path. I was lost!  In just a few moments with the help of radio vectors (remember this is pre-GPS!) I found that I was miles south of my planned flight course!   My adventure was a lesson in the effect of winds aloft! A light wind blowing out of the northwest had pushed my little airplane southerly, off course, with steady, but invisible force. I learned that even if my compass read my planned course heading it didn't necessarily mean that I was going to arrive at my destination. I had to correct my course against the prevailing winds.

Are you ‘on course’ in life, or have you drifted and lost your way?  Just because we set off in pursuit of a good goal and seem to be moving along in the right direction does not mean we will get there. Every day we need to do course correction. Prevailing winds of peer pressure, cultural influences, or economic issues can gently and certainly divert us from pursuit of our heavenly home.   When powerful winds blow- spiritual attack, failure of health, a spouse's infidelity - we feel the buffeting and realize the need for greater vigilance. However,  when the sun is shining and life is good the ‘winds aloft’ can carry us away.

The Bible tells us that “So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it." (Hebrews 2:1, NLT) Drifting away, pushed by the prevailing winds of life far off course from a godly way, is the greater danger.  A devoted disciple of Jesus does not just wake up one Monday morning and decide that he is done with the Christian life.  But, millions wake up and find their passion for Jesus has cooled as they tolerated 'little' disobediences in their life, or as they neglected spiritual disciplines for an extended season.  Over time that person loses their way because the ungodly influences move them almost imperceptibly from Christ and His love.

Don’t think I am telling you that you can save yourself by self-determination or self-reliance. Christ saves us and His Spirit guides us. We pray, today and each day – “Lord Jesus Christ, You are my Savior. Keep me on course. Help me to respond quickly to Your leading, to keep my heart attuned to your whispers.”  Like my onboard radio that brought me home that fateful day in 1971, the Spirit is a Beacon that draws us to our home.

Here's a word from the Word for you to think on today. Forgive me for the edits that make it fit my illustration of flight. “So watch your step,(flight path) friends. Make sure there's no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and (prevailing winds blowing through your life without your awareness to) throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. For as long as it's still God's Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn't slow down your reflexes. If we can only keep our grip on (stay on course towards) the sure thing we started out with, we're in this with Christ for the long haul."  (Hebrews 3:12-14, The Message)