Got Potential?

“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)

We received a lot of comments from last week’s letter, “Forget About Tithing.” You really need to read some of them (just click the “Forget About Tithing.” link).

I figured I’d get some harsh rebuttals from pro-tithing clergy, but not so; apparently the pro-tithing clergy don’t read this letter or they don’t have a good argument in their defense … or they agree with what I said (it’s the Word that says it, I just point it out). A couple of pastors commented, and they agreed that giving, not tithing is where a Christian’s heart should be.

My dear friend Roger, a pastor in the Midwest said:

“Pastors preach on tithing for a variety of reasons – mostly wrong ones. Steve, in regards to giving and tithing, I often think that pastors get the cart before the horse. If we had more church members grounded with sound doctrinal stability, filled with love for their Savior, and driven with child-like enthusiasm for His Word, our churches would discover themselves in a wonderful position to be effectively empowered by God to reach the lost. (Realistically, this is what we are to be about in the first place.) …  Oh how our churches need pastors who will get along with God, hear from God, rightly divide what God has said, apply it to themselves, and then proclaim it to others! Lastly, we need always remember that many ignorant pastors attempt to use their Bibles as toolboxes to brow beat parishioners into conforming into preconceived plans for their pastorate. Some never realize, and may never accept, that many of their parishioners may be walking with the Lord, living in His Word, and discovering that God is leading then differently.”

Linda, also from the Midwest, is the wife of a pastor:

“God so loved that He gave and continues to give, the message of the Scripture from the gitgo is give. Everything we have is a gift from God, perhaps we believe we deserve it but it is only by God’s blessed grace that we have the necessities and luxuries of life. Scripture teaches us to be good stewards of God’s gifts and talents. These gifts came from the Lord and in gratitude we return to Him a portion of what He has given us. Giving for me boils down to one thing that we love and trust God with everything we have.

Rather than being “grudge gifts” our offerings to God are to be joyous expressions of love, faith, trust & gratitude. God desires surrender of everything we are and have to Him. I question if one is unable to give a tenth how in the world will one ever be able to surrender all to Him? In my opinion money is the easiest to give it is the surrender of our hearts and being to Him where the rubber meets the road.

Our family for one is daily discovering the unfathomable love of our Father. We have learned the blessings of giving and we started the journey with Mal. 3:10 and we have been blessed beyond our wildest dreams.

May all your journeys with the Lord be blessed!”

Amen! My kind of clergy.

*****

Last week I told you that when I searched for tithing in the New Testament I was stunned at how little it was mentioned and what was written was either in a negative context or referring to an Old Testament event. My conclusion? There’s nothing Christian about tithing.

Well, I figured that giving was Christian and that I’d see what the New Testament had to say about giving. It happened again … I was stunned. My assumption about giving, like my assumption about tithing was way off base. I figured that giving was about sharing my money, my stuff, and my time with others – those less fortunate, those in need and those who dedicate their lives in ministry to others. I wasn’t wrong, wrong – giving is about that; but it’s not about that.

First of all, remember I said that tithe/tithes/tithing show up only seven times in the New Testament? Give/gives/given/giver/gift show up over 500 times in the New Testament!

The next thing I noticed was that the overwhelming majority of those give/gives/given/giver/gift references are about God giving us something – eternal life, love, spiritual gifts, and earthly necessities.

Then I noticed that there were a lot of references about what we’re to give God – thanks, glory, honor, and praise (and finally an account of our lives).

Finally, there are references about giving to others – to the poor, to those who ask, to our brothers and sisters in Christ, to those who serve in ministry full time, and to other churches.

What struck me was that when I thought about Christian giving it was always in terms giving to my church in the offering, or giving to another ministry or charity, or to a person or family in need. It was always about giving money or stuff or time to someone else. That’s what I assumed Christian giving was all about. But when I looked at what the Bible actually said about giving, it was overwhelmingly about God giving to me, and then a distant second, about me giving to God, and then a far distant third about me giving to others.

Then the light went on. It was so obvious – so in front of my face all the time. Giving isn’t about money or stuff or even time. Giving is a spiritual transaction. It’s initiated by God. He gives to us first. He gives us life and love and every spiritual blessing to nurture us as we grow to become what He has purposed us to be. He gives us every physical blessing we need to survive while we live here on earth. He is our Father in the most intimate, most profound, most original way we can imagine. His gift to us is relationship.

And we are created to respond. Our giving to God – thanks, glory, honor, and praise – is a response to His giving to us. The giving and receiving is what makes us whole; it’s our relationship with He Who gives. It’s intimate and personal; it’s about His love and our response. It’s a spiritual transaction.

Money and stuff and time are physical currencies. And any physical currency we hold, everything we own and our life itself isn’t equal to the gift He first gave us. That’s why our obligatory response is giving him thanks, glory, honor and praise – it’s the only thing we possess that is of any value to Him. God doesn’t take cash and he doesn’t need our stuff.

But He has provided a way to respond to His giving that comes as close as we’re going to get to making a proper gift of our money and our stuff and our time. That’s when we give to others.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I need clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me …. “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:35-36, 40)

He uses our physical gifts to others as a spiritual conduit back to Himself. That’s the only way our money and stuff and time can be turned into something of value to Him.

Giving money and stuff and time isn’t a financial transaction, it’s a spiritual transaction. It’s a response to the inestimable grace and mercy He has given us. Our response to God is to treat others with the same love and mercy and generosity he has given us.

*****

A word about churches and pastors.

God told Moses to take an offering “from each man whose heart prompts him to give” (Exodus 25:2) to build the first tabernacle. The first and second temples in Israel were built with tax money. The tabernacle and the temples were where God’s Spirit dwelt while He was with the people of Israel.

Today God’s Spirit dwells inside His people and we are His tabernacle and His temple. God doesn’t dwell in buildings; He dwells in us. That building you go to on Sundays and Wednesdays isn’t a church; it’s just a building. God doesn’t dwell there … unless you (the church) are inside. The place the church (you again) gathers and worships can have a steeple, or big glass windows, or it can be a gymnasium, or a barn or a living room. The building you worship in doesn’t matter … unless you try to make it matter by committing more honor and resources to it than it’s due. Buildings aren’t monuments to God; they’re monuments to men.

Here’s your responsibility: Whatever building you get together in, it usually has expenses associated with it. Make sure they’re covered. If you can pay for cable and lattés each month, you can afford your share of the upkeep on your place of worship. Pretty simple.

God provided for the support of the tribe of Levi – the priests of Israel. Part of the Old Testament tithes went to cover this expense. As we discovered last week, tithing was a Jewish thing; it’s not a Christian thing. But those who work for God full time have a right to support from those they serve (I Corinthians 9:3-11); that is a Christian thing. If your pastor’s family is the poorest family in the church, shame on you. Honor God by honoring them.

As for other ministers - evangelists, missionaries, street preachers, and the myriad of other God servants that come your way via television, radio, the internet – do what God leads you to do. Just make sure it’s God leading you and not the guy on stage.

Above all, remember that giving what you’ve been given is an act of worship. It’s an intimate personal spiritual transaction between you and the One Who gives all good gifts. It’s not your response to men; it’s your response to Him.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” (Matthew 23:23-24)

Wow.

I was just looking for a scripture on tithing. I wound up in a shouting match with Pharisees. But let me tell you how this all started.

Remember my last letter? We had just finished up an eleven week series on ‘thriving in tough times’ and at the end of the letter I made the comment that I didn’t have a clue on what we should discuss next, but that I’d go ask (Him). A few hours after the letter went out a suggestion came in.

“I have an idea about what to write next about! Tithing! Your thoughts please! If it is that the Lord so leads you.

Given these tough economic times - churches are feeling the pinch and thereby pinching their parishioners. As we have already discussed privately through emails - I find no evidence for tithing 10% in the New Testament at all. Why not share with the rest what you believe the Bible says on the topic? God bless! Carol”

*****

At first I didn’t want to tackle this. Do I really need to poke my thumb in the eye of the establishment? Don’t I do that enough already? I’m not a pastor or an elder or a church accountant. And I’ve never been accused of being an expert on church doctrine. Tithing is a church thing (boy, did I find out how true that statement is). So I really don’t have a horse in this race … do I?

But tithing is also a money thing and I’m always talking about money. The reason I talk about money so much is that we’re so hung up on money; most of our waking thoughts and decisions revolve around it and our obsession with it tends to screw up more important things in our lives.

There’s something more important than money? Yeah, I know it’s a shock, but it’s true. There are things in our lives right now that will last forever and things that won’t. Money is one of the things that won’t. Those things that do last forever should never be at the mercy of those things that don’t.

If tithing is a church thing and a money thing, it’s probably a biblical thing too. So I’d better look into it. For an amateur, I think I have a pretty good idea of what’s in the Bible. Of course, every time I actually look in the Bible I’m disappointed by how little of it I really do know. Tithing was like that.

What I figured I knew about tithing probably isn’t very different from what a lot of folks think they know about tithing. You give 10% of your money (up front – not after expenses) to the church – that’s the part you owe God. Tithing is biblical … it’s got to be, or else we wouldn’t get the tithing sermon when things around the parish are tight. And, as Carol put in her note, now that we’re in tough economic times, “churches are feeling the pinch and thereby pinching their parishioners.”

So, according to the Bible, are we supposed to tithe 10% to the church? Well, tithing is biblical; according to Strong’s Concordance ‘tithe,’ ‘tithes,’ or ‘tithing’ shows up thirty-nine times – thirty-two in the Old Testament and seven in the New. On the other hand, ‘Philistine’ or ‘Philistines’ shows up 285 times - all in the Old Testament. ‘Philistines’ are statistically 7.3 times more biblical than ‘tithing’.

But I can’t remember the last time I heard a really good sermon on Philistines. My father was a preacher and he called me a Philistine when I exhibited less than exemplary table manners, but other than that, I don’t remember a lot of pulpiteering on the subject. The reason that Philistines are so unfairly underrepresented compared to tithing may be that Philistines are more or less irrelevant to church finances.

Another reason that we don’t hear a lot about Philistines in church may be that they’re not mentioned once in the New Testament – they may be more or less irrelevant to the church. A good example of what not to do, maybe, but not a people we deal with on a regular basis like the Israelites did.

It’s unfair to lump Philistines and tithing together in the same basket; I know that. And it’s sure unfair to imply that pastors only preach on tithing for the money. But they do.

Tithing isn’t really as irrelevant as the Philistines, is it? All thirty-two Old Testament mentions are telling the Israelites how and when to tithe and what’s going to happen to them if they don’t. A passage in the third chapter of Malachi is a tithing sermon favorite:

“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me. 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 you will not have room enough for it.” (8-10)

Using the scripture above in a tithing sermon, we church members are supposed to be the Israelites robbing God and the church is supposed to be the storehouse. Problem is, Malachi was talking to real Israelites about bringing real food into a real storehouse. He wasn’t talking to Christians about bringing cash into church. We just apply the passage that way.

What about those seven mentions in the New Testament? We’re New Testament people, that makes it relevant to us right? I checked into that.

Technically, Jesus only mentioned tithing twice; once in Luke 11:42 (Matthew 23:23 is a repeat) and once in Luke 18:12. Neither mention was complimentary - he was beating up the Pharisees for the hypocrisy of their tithing. The balance of tithing mentions (in Hebrews) is part of a short passage recounting Abraham giving a tithe of war spoils to a priest named Melchizedek (which is a pretty interesting story in itself and we can discuss it if you guys want a ‘Tithing Part II’).

The verdict? Bad news. Tithing is not a New Testament teaching. It’s not a church teaching (at least it’s not supposed to be). It’s an Old Testament teaching and it was for the Israelites. It’s as irrelevant to Christians (at least the Gentile ones) today as eating pork and circumcision. My advice to pastors? Never preach another sermon on tithing. My advice to parishioners? Never pay another tithe to the church. You’re not supposed to. Tithing died with the Law.

Before you get all worked up, let me mention one other thing.

Jesus came to fulfill the Law, not do away with it. Jesus didn’t kill the Law, he made it irrelevant. The Law says ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ Jesus said that even if you call your brother ‘empty head’ you’re in danger of the fire of hell. The Law says, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ Jesus said that if you even look at a woman in lust, you’ve already committed adultery in your heart. The Law says bring ten percent of what you own to the priests. Jesus said, ‘go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor.’

Nobody preached about tithing in the early church because it was irrelevant.

“All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” (Acts 2:44-45)

“There were no needy persons among them. From time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he has need.” (Acts 4:34)

We lost that somewhere along the way. The church became The Church instead of you and me. The Catholic Church (which was The Church) reinstituted the tithe back in the seventh century as a way to finance buildings and get people paid. The Baptists (who weren’t around in the seventh century) reinstituted tithing in the 1870’s. Tithing as a church doctrine is a man thing, not a God thing.

But giving as a church doctrine is a God thing (there’s a lot more to be said on that subject).

Tired of tithing sermons? Here’s a cure – give. When you were born again in Christ, you died to this world. You don’t own anything. If you can’t give up one tenth of what you think you possess, you deserve the tithing sermons. And if your pastor actually experienced church members giving away 10% of what they earned, tithing sermons would fall into extinction faster than the Dodo.

*****

One last thing … Don’t sell old Malachi short. The Law requiring tithing may be irrelevant to us but the principle isn’t. I loathe preacher clichés, but this one’s got me backed into a corner. “You can’t out-give God.” What can I say? It’s true.

“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 you will not have room enough for it.”

“… but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:20)

Since this is the last week of our Thriving in Tough Times series, I’ve been reading over the last ten letters (the whole series) in order to review what we’ve covered and come away with the heart of what we’ve learned. The series covered plenty. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve looked at in the last ten weeks:

· Week One: Adopting a Christian Worldview

· Week Two: Putting Spiritual Priorities Ahead of Physical Priorities

· Week Three: Attending to Physical Priorities

· Week Four: Living a Stewardship Lifestyle

· Week Five: Pursuing Your God Ordained Purpose

· Week Six: Living Debt Free

· Week Seven: Tempering Your Faith in World Systems

· Week Eight: Living in Community

· Week Nine: Surviving the Next Three Days

· Week Ten: Light Shines Better in the Dark

The heart of what we’ve learned about thriving in tough times? We are residents of this world, but our citizenship isn’t here.

Why is that so important? Why is understanding that we’re not citizens of this world the key to thriving in this world – especially in tough times? It’s in understanding that our lives here are only a temporary situation – 100 years at best, and most of us don’t make it nearly that far. But that’s just our lives in this world. Our spirits (the important part of us) were made to last forever. Actually, it was originally intended that our bodies lasted forever too, but we broke that part of us a long time ago.

That brings up my other reason why, in order to thrive during tough times in this world, we need to consider ourselves residents, but not citizens. Like our bodies, originally intended to live forever, this world is broken too. It began dying when sin came into the creation.

It’s important to understand the difference between ‘the world’ as a system - a way of seeing things and a way of behaving – and ‘the world’ as this earth, part of God’s creation, just like our bodies are part of God’s creation – even though they’re both broken right now.

Our bodies and the earth itself suffer from living under the world’s system – sin. Sin can be defined as exerting your own purpose and will above the purpose and will of your Creator. It started with an angel named Lucifer and he conned our great-great grandparents Adam and Eve into the same sin. That’s the system we all live under now – if we’re citizens of this world.

Before Jesus provided a way out of the broken condition we and this planet live under by paying for what we broke, there wasn’t any way not to be a citizen of this world’s system – we didn’t have a choice. But he came here from heaven to be born and live as a man in the midst of this world’s system and then gave himself as the only possible sacrifice that would pay the price required to eventually restore, in us and on the earth, what had been broken.

His death and resurrection opened up a path for us to die spiritually, renouncing our citizenship in this world’s system and be reborn into God’s kingdom, taking on the citizenship of that world. For the time being our bodies are stuck here, residents of this world, but not citizens of its system. We’re waiting patiently for things to be restored to their intended state when Jesus comes back to this planet to rightfully claim what he paid for 2,000 years ago. Not only will this earth undergo a restoration that will take it through the next thousand years, our old dead bodies will be swapped for new bodies that, according to their original intent, will never die.

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:22-23)

That’s why treating this world as your home is like putting up drapes and hanging pictures on the walls of a ratty old bus station and forgetting that you’re only there to wait for your bus. Wake up! It’s a ratty old bus station; it’s not your home. You’re not a citizen of the bus station; you’re just here waiting for a ride. Don’t cling to the plastic bench and call it home.

Thriving in tough times – down here at the bus station – begins by remembering it’s just a bus station. Remember too, that the One who has you at this station has promised to provide for you while you’re here. Sure, the bus station has its own way of doing things, but you’re not a citizen of the bus station; while you’re here, live under the laws of the country you belong to.

By considering your work here and everything you possess as a stewardship to the One who really owns it, your time spent here will be far superior to living under the rules of the station. And stay away from the station’s easy credit policy; the last thing you need is to be indebted to a ratty old bus station.

And don’t think for a minute that spending time waiting at the bus station is some sort of cosmic accident. You’re here for a purpose; make use of your time. There’s a pretty good chance that the person picking out curtains and pillow shams on the bench next to you isn’t aware that this isn’t her home. You might want to share with her that there’s a bus coming and this is just a waypoint.

“So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household …” (Ephesians 2:19)

*****

What we’ll cover next week? I have no idea. But I’ll go ask.

Until then, remember your citizenship.

Thriving in Tough Times Part 10

“For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.” (James 1:11)

There’s nothing pleasant about tough times. Employment is better than unemployment. Paying your mortgage is better then being kicked out of your home by foreclosure. Repairing your old car isn’t as fun as buying a new one. Tough times are just that. Nobody likes going through them, but here they are.

We retool our thoughts and habits to survive through the tough times and wait for better times to return. But I don’t know anyone that actually looks forward to tough times. That would be kind of sick wouldn’t it? I mean, what good do tough times do us? Wouldn’t it be better if we were all fully employed, fully mortgaged, fully transported and fully funded? That’s the American dream. What’s wrong with that?

Everybody deserves to own their own home. Everyone deserves a new car – that’s why they make new models every year. Everyone deserves new furniture, new clothes, and every Friday night out at Applebee’s. Right? That’s what the TV says – and since we’ve fully bought into the idea that everyone deserves their own TV (or two) and 200 channels filled with spokesmen telling us what everyone deserves, we’re all well informed.

When dark days come along and everyone doesn’t get everything everyone tells us everyone deserves we call it ‘tough times.’ Like what we’re in now. Surely, nothing good can come of it.

Or can it? Could there be any positive purpose behind living through tough times? You should have asked my Grandpa. Here’s not here anymore, he’s in heaven. Most of his generation is gone now too. Grandpa and his generation lived through a time in this country’s history called the Great Depression, and that experience profoundly affected the rest of their lives.

You’d be surprised at the similarities between life just before the stock market crash of 1929 and the stock market crash of 2008. Never in America’s history had consumerism, easy credit and market speculation taken hold of citizens as it did in the Roaring Twenties.

By 1914, Ford had produced just half a million automobiles. But by 1929 there were 26 million registered in the United States. Henry Ford put owning an automobile within the reach of every American. At the same time another great development hit the public – electrification. Electric power in American homes meant new appliances to be made and bought. By 1929 over one million refrigerators, one million washing machines and millions of radios had been purchased. American factories, thanks to Henry Ford, had developed assembly line systems, which meant they could make more products cheaper and faster than before, which meant the manufacturers had to find more consumers, which led to a few more inventions – mass advertising and easy credit. For the first time, Americans were told “you need more stuff” and “take it home today but pay for it later.”

Of course, the companies making the stuff were booming so ordinary citizens were putting more and more of their cash into the companies’ stock. Finally, we were smothered in stuff, smothered in easy credit and the companies whose stock we owned were smothered in inventory. Then the credit stopped. Then the buying stopped. Then the jobs went away. On top of the economic devastation, the weather seemed to turn against them as well; a year’s long drought turned America’s farming heart into a great Dustbowl. It wasn’t a good time.

Sound familiar yet?

Did any good come out of the Great Depression? Any positive outcome for a time of such economic devastation? We know that the Depression generation developed habits that defined our society for years - thrift, hard work, saving for a rainy day, aversion to credit, a unique combination of self-reliance and community, and a shared faith.

As the Depression generation aged and began to pass from society, the lesson learned seemed to pass with them. Less than eighty years after the greatest economic disaster this country has ever faced, we’re repeating it because we’re repeating what caused it. Only this time we’re doing it to the tenth power.

Did you know that we (the USA) are over 11 trillion dollars in debt right now? We owe China $1.8 trillion. If we paid them a million dollars an hour (just principle, no interest), it would take more than 200 years to pay them back. What if they want their money tomorrow?

We’re in this folks and we’re going to be in it for a while. So let’s look for positive purpose behind what we’re going through; what are the lessons we can take away from this experience, and what opportunities do tough times hold for us as followers of Christ?

Fat times breed fat bellies (I’m talking physically and spiritually). The positive purpose behind tough times is that they burn fat. They burn away the laziness, selfishness, and complacency that comes along with the feeling that we’re secure with all the stuff piled around us. When all our stuff and prestige and activity melt down with the economy we’re forced to answer the question, “where does my security really lay?” Is it in the stuff or in something else? When a person’s sense of security goes away one of two things happen: he sets out in search of a new source of security, or he loses hope.

That’s why I started this series ten weeks ago with “Adopting a Christian Worldview.” You’ve got to know who you are and where you stand in the universe before you can understand the ultimate source of your security.

Good times are easier to cope with than bad times, but here we are. What lessons are we going to take away from this experience? That’s what weeks 2 – 9 were all about – teaching us to live like we weren’t madly in love with the false sense of security all this stuff seduces into (visit http://gotpotential.org for a review). We’re not citizens of this world. We’re not supposed to buy into all the baubles it tries to sell us. When we do, and when the baubles go away, we’re laid bare by their false promise. If you don’t live for the promise of worldly goodies when times are good, you won’t be devastated because they didn’t keep their promise when times are bad.

The most important purpose of tough times? Light shines brighter in the dark.

I’m appalled at all the stories of suicide that have been reported lately due to financial collapse. These people were your next door neighbors (if you live in a really nice neighborhood). These folks were walking advertisements for the American Dream. And they killed themselves over bad mortgages. It’s not just a tragedy, it’s obscene. It makes me angry and it should make you angry too.

The world’s success system is a lie. When people buy into it and it goes bad, the ground they stand on vanishes beneath their feet.

But tragedy brings opportunity. There wouldn’t be any heroes without a war. No rescuers without a disaster. I believe we’d all be better off without wars and disasters, but that’s not our reality. We’re in a spiritual war right now. All tough times do is expose the victims.

But you’re not a victim; you’re a hero, a rescuer. You’re not devastated when this world collapses around you because you belong to another world. A better one. The reason you’re still here is to be a light for folks who haven’t figured that out yet. If they’re sinking in a world that’s collapsing all around them and you’re standing on a rock and offer them a hand, what do you think they’re going to do?

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house.” (Matthew 5:14-15)

How’s your shine?

Thriving in Tough Times Part 9

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.” (Mark 13:8)

I saw on the morning news that we’ll be into hurricane season next week. We live in the Southeast so hurricanes are an issue. In the Midwest tornadoes are on the menu for this time of year, although we get our share of those down here as well. I also saw on this morning’s local broadcast that Los Angeles suffered another aftershock from Sunday night’s 4.7 earthquake. I guess that no matter where you live, there’s a natural disaster of some sort right around the corner.

Last night I watched a documentary about just how America’s financial meltdown started on Wall Street and spread to Main Street. And how, if you can imagine it, it could have been much, much worse. I guess if a natural disaster doesn’t get us, we’ll create a man-made one to do the job.

Scary stuff.

For the last eight weeks I’ve been writing about ‘Thriving in Tough Times’. I began discussing the issue at 30,000 feet, trying to give you the big picture before we got down to details. I figure that we’re so adept at creating our own personal ‘natural disasters’ in daily life that we’ll do ourselves in before the next hurricane, tornado or financial meltdown has the opportunity.

Solving any problem, for me, begins with a look inside and then focusing on the big picture. Once I have those two squared away, I can move on to the details. That’s why I put this series in the following order (just click the link to these previous week at the top of this post to scroll back), covering the big stuff first, and then working my way down to the details.

Week 1: Adopting a truly Christian worldview

Week 2: Putting spiritual priorities ahead of physical priorities

Week 3: Attending to Physical Priorities

Week 4: Living a stewardship lifestyle

Week 5: Pursuing your God ordained purpose

Week 6: Getting out of debt

Week 7: Tempering your faith in world systems

Week 8: Living in community

The turmoil this world is going through isn’t going to be over tomorrow. Jesus will return one day and set things right, but he told us himself that great trouble would befall the world before he returns (read Matthew 24 and Mark 13). The only way we’re going to survive the tough times we’re in now and the tougher times to come is by having our priorities right – big stuff first.

This week, however, we’re going to be looking at the short term. In all of our preparation for eternity and for long term spiritual and financial welfare in tough times, I don’t want us to lose sight of being able to survive the next three days. In the same way some folks have never prepared to survive eternity or even their retirement (whatever that means these days) a lot of folks aren’t even prepared to survive three days in the event that their umbilical cord to the grid is temporarily severed.

Natural disasters do that; sometimes man made disasters do it too. Should a disaster, sudden and short, befall you, would you be able to carry on for three days without Starbuck’s, the ATM, Edison Electric or the Dish Network? Or would you be praying for the Red Cross truck to set up shop on the curb outside?

Short term disasters happen all the time. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, got caught with their pants down after hurricane Katrina. More than 1,400 people in Louisiana died and hundreds of thousands lost access to their homes or jobs and were separated from family members. For the folks who went through the storm and its aftermath, it wasn’t what they would define as a ‘short term’ disaster.

FEMA knows now that a Katrina-like disaster can happen at any time, and they know that it will; they just don’t know when and where. So they’re prepared – as prepared as they’re going to get, anyway. You know their first line of defense? Convincing you to be prepared. What they’re saying is, “we’ll do what we can folks, but if you want to survive, you’re chances are better if you take care of yourselves.” That’s comforting.

So when and where is the next natural or man made disaster going to take place? FEMA doesn’t know; neither do I. But they’re more regular and widespread than you might think. The president of the United States declared a state of disaster or emergency 377 times between 2000 and 2007. There were 92 declared last year – that’s almost twice a week; they’re getting more frequent. And they’re spread pretty evenly across the country; unless you live in western Colorado or parts of Nevada (of course your chances of freezing in the Rockies or getting lost in the desert go way up), there’s a pretty good chance your home will show up on a FEMA map one day.

What to do? Well, the first (and the least) you can do is to prepare yourself and your family for a short term disaster. That means having a plan for where to go (and what to bring and how to pay for it) if you have to leave your home for a short time (evacuate). If evacuation isn’t possible or it’s not called for, do you have a plan for living through that same period of time without the benefit of electric or water utilities? Can’t make coffee without water – got a few gallons stashed in the closet? Can’t watch the news on TV or listen to the radio without electricity – got batteries? How about groceries? Do you really think the time to stock up is after a natural disaster? If you can get to a grocery store and, by some miracle of grace, it’s open and there’s something on the shelf, you’re not counting on the ATM to spit out twenties when you put your card in, are you? What makes you think that service is going to be up and running – got some cash just in case?

I’m not talking about the end of the world (yet), I’m talking about something bad that happens somewhere in this country almost twice a week.

I write about being prepared for eternity. I write about being prepared for long term tough times. Are you even prepared for 72 hours without power, water or the grocery store? If your life will be turned upside down by a few days without this world’s life support pumping into your veins, what does that say about what or Who you’re counting on in the long term? The neighbor you’ve been trying to convince that peace and hope can only be found in a personal relationship and trust in a God who cares for you and takes care of all of your needs is sure going to be impressed when you run from your house screaming in panic because your Mr. Coffee won’t work.

Preparation for the long term is essential. You can be captain of Fort Survival and still spend eternity in hell. But preparing for the short term is a part of wisdom. There are always plenty of panicked, lost, hurting people during and after a disaster. If you’re one of them, how can you be of any help? In good times people aren’t interested in why they’re lost; in bad times they start listening. It would be a tragedy if all it took was a glass of water to open an opportunity for you to share living water with a thirsty soul and you were fresh out.

Three days. Is that too much to ask?

*****

There are plenty of websites with lists detailing what you should have on hand in case of a short term disaster. FEMA’s is a good one, and you paid for it so you might as well take a look. Here’s a link to the FEMA site: http://www.fema.gov/plan/index.shtm. Make a plan, make a list and start checking it off. In the event of a disaster, when FEMA does finally show up, offer them a cup of coffee.

Next week we’re going to talk about the purpose behind tough times. Light shines brighter in the dark.

Until then, keep your batteries charged.

Steve Spillman

Living in Community

“If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” (Ecclesiastes 4:10)

When I left home on Friday morning the grass needed cutting; when I returned home that night it was cut. It’s my job to cut the grass … unless Elaine does it. But Elaine didn’t do it this time; Angie did. Angie is our neighbor (also our daughter) she borrowed our lawnmower to cut her grass; on the way home (or on the way back) she cut ours. That was nice.

I started up the Suburban a few weeks back and it sputtered and shook and a warning light came on. I’m afraid of warning lights – I know they’re trying to tell me something, but I’m not sure what it is they’re saying. Wes knows all about warning lights; he’s a mechanical savant. I took the car to Wes; he connected a computer to something under the dash, told me I had an injector problem, looked under the hood, found a wire that had been chewed in half (squirrels), patched it together and presto – no sputter, no shake, no light.

While I was there I told Wes’s wife Sherry (also our daughter) and their two boys that I’d be back on Saturday to till their garden. Wes knows a lot about cars, but not much about gardens, and I’m the guy with the tiller.

Billy came up yesterday (no relation, just a neighbor). Stripey bugs were eating his potato plants. I told Billy that they were Colorado Potato Beetles and how to get rid of them. This is his first year growing potatoes; he just needed a little advice. Billy keeps an eye on the neighborhood while we’re gone, and he’s not shy about inquiring into the business of a stranger cruising through.

Things like that happen around here. We look out for one another. It’s not a formal system – more of a natural outcome of relationship. Some of us are family, but some of us aren’t. We don’t call it anything, but if we did, we’d call it community.

There was another word for it among believers in the early church – it was ‘fellowship’. Well, it wasn’t ‘fellowship’; that’s an English word. They called it ‘koinonia’; we call ‘koinonia’ ‘fellowship’.

But ‘fellowship’ in our affluent American Christianity has been watered down. It’s more reminiscent of doughnuts and coffee before church than it is of the true meaning of ‘koinonia’ - ‘sharing of life through relationship’.

I’m guessing that the watering down of koinonia came from our lack of desire to really share our lives with others, and it came from our lack of need. We are, without a doubt, the most affluent society in the history of man. And with that affluence comes a sense of independence, privacy and insulation. We don’t need to ‘share our life through relationship.’ We’re fine on our own. If the grass needs cutting, hire a landscaper. Send the car to the mechanic – better yet, buy a new one. And why bother with a garden anyway? Shop at Whole Foods and spend your Saturdays on the golf course or at the mall.

And ‘sharing of life through relationship’ can get sticky. With people come messes … and messes need cleaning up. It’s a lot easier to complain about your neighbor’s grass than to go cut it. And, most of the time, when a neighbor shows up with something that requires ‘sharing of life through relationship’, it’s in the middle of your schedule. You have to put your agenda on hold to help him. That’s not convenient.

It’s more convenient for me to mind my own business and you mind yours. You keep your grass cut and I’ll keep mine cut. Don’t let your life spill over into mine and I won’t let mine spill over into yours. That’s the convenience affluence buys.

The problem with that kind of convenience is that one day someone else’s life will spill over into yours, or your life will spill over into theirs.

*****

Remember the story of the traveler who was robbed and left half-dead in the ditch? A priest came by but quickly moved on. A Levite came by next, but he moved on too. Both of these guys were upstanding citizens – both supposedly involved in service to God and man.

It was a pity about the poor man in the ditch, but involving themselves in his problem could be, well … problematic. Besides, helping him meant ruining their schedules, and it could be dangerous. The man shouldn’t have let himself get into that fix in the first place. Justifying not allowing themselves to get involved in that man’s life was easy – easier than involving themselves.

A Samaritan came by, someone without standing, even disdained, in the community; but he stopped to help the man in the ditch, bound his wounds and paid for a safe place for him to recover. Funny, that the one least regarded in the community was the first to help … but that’s a story for another day.

*****

Community, fellowship, koinonia is about ‘sharing of life through relationship’. If you wait until you’re lying bleeding in a ditch to start thinking about it, you may be too late.

Affluence suffocates community – it’s not ‘convenient.’ Tough times remind us that we’re not all that independent or self-sufficient and that ‘one’ can be a pretty lonely number. “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

Community provides a hand up when you fall down. And being a part of community, being the one who provides the hand up when another falls down, is a meaningful part of life.

Whenever I ponder what we should be or how we should act as the Body of Christ, I go back to see how the first church acted. When it came to community, those guys had it down.

“Now all the believers were together and had everything in common. So they sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as anyone had a need. And every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to them those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:44-47)

Well … let’s just start where we can. I’d better go check on Billy’s potatoes.

Until next week,

Steve Spillman

Tempering Your Faith in World Systems

“What he trusts in is fragile; what he relies on is a spider’s web.” (Job 8:14)

I was eating lunch at a restaurant in Orlando one summer day a few years back when a thunderstorm knocked out the electricity. Power outages from lightning aren’t uncommon in the Southeast in the summer – thunderstorms come with the season and lightning comes with the storms. Power is usually restored in a minute or two; sometimes an hour or two – but eventually the lights come back on.

This particular power-out lasted longer than a minute or two. The restaurant was a fairly big place; I’m guessing there were over a hundred diners inside – including me, Elaine and our granddaughter, Chelsey. Enough light came in from the outside windows that we weren’t in the dark, but it was Orlando in the summer and after twenty minutes without the a/c running the air inside was getting a bit dense.

Our problem – everyone’s problem – was that we were all in a bit of a stalemate. The cooks in the kitchen couldn’t see to work (no windows in the kitchen), but that wasn’t an issue because the waiters couldn’t enter orders on the restaurant’s computerized system. The folks who hadn’t ordered yet had it easiest; they could simply walk out of the restaurant.

Those of us who had already eaten were in a fix. Our meals were finished – or half finished, but we couldn’t pay the check and leave because we didn’t have a check to pay. That was part of the restaurant’s computer system too. But if we did have a check to pay, we couldn’t – unless we paid cash and didn’t need change. Most of us were planning on paying by credit card. We couldn’t do that; the transaction had to be run on the same system as the orders and the checks. The restaurant’s nervous system was shut down.

All we could do was look at each other and wait for the power to come back on.

Oh, we could have just left without paying the bill, and become food service criminals by default. We might have even gotten away with it. It wasn’t our fault the power went out; what did the court system expect us to do? Wait until power is restored? My guess is that’s exactly what the court system would expect us to do. Walking out of a restaurant without paying because they can’t print you a bill or process your transaction can lead to anarchy. And courts just hate anarchy.

As I was sitting there in the semi-dark, breathing used air, fantasizing about our getaway, the only thing that held me back was the fear that we’d get just to the door when the power was suddenly restored. The lights on, the computerized ordering system buzzing to life, the receipt printer spitting out tickets – and the three of us, my hand on the door … busted; trying to leave the scene of the crime, under the guilty stare of all those patient citizens who stayed in their seats until power and order was restored. I’d better just stay put.

Then the power came back on, the lights lit, the computerized LCD screens blinked to life and the receipt printers started spitting out tickets. Whew! That was a close one.

*****

These days we’re connected - more than ever before. Paychecks (if you’ve got one) go in direct deposit. The power, phone and cable companies draft their fees out of your account automatically. When was the last time you bought gas for the car by actually giving cash to a human being standing behind the counter inside a building? Swipe and go. It works for gas and parking; last week I ordered breakfast in a hotel by pressing the picture of an egg burrito on a touch screen and swiping my room key. Yup – we’re connected. Not to each other, of course – but to the System.

Almost fifteen years ago Bill Gates, of Microsoft fame, wrote a revolutionary book titled The Road Ahead. In it he laid out his vision of a future where people and systems were connected to make life easier - what he called ‘friction free’. His book featured futuristic tools that would speed us along the ‘information highway.’ Page 70 pictured a ‘personal computer based interactive media center.’ It came complete with a 14” CRT (the bulky computer monitor that used to take up two-thirds of our desks before we all switched over to flat screens) and pullout keyboard drawer; the ‘interactive media center’ looked to take up most of a living room wall. But what this machine of the future would do was really quite fantastic. It would store all of your music and allow you to listen to new music, transmitted over the ‘information highway.’ The ‘personal computer based interactive media center’ could even be connected to control your home television! Imagine that - integrated audio and video from a single device that could easily fit into a largish living room!

Bill Gates dream came true, ironically by the hand of his rival Steve Jobs at Apple. Today we call Gates’ ‘personal computer based interactive media center’ an IPod – and it doesn’t take up as much wall space as Gates imagined.

Gates dreamed of a future tool he called a ‘wallet PC’. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, this space age device would take the place of your car keys, credit cards, cash and identification; it would send and receive e-mails and faxes (?), remind you of appointment times and even guide you through traffic using something the army called a ‘Global Positioning System.’ Of all the great things Gates imagined his ‘wallet PC’ could do, it never occurred to him that it might be used as a telephone too. Gate’s ‘wallet PC’ is today’s IPhone - Steve Jobs got him again. I think that’s why Bill quit writing books.

Well, the future is here and we’re living in it. We’ve succeeded so well in connecting ourselves to the System that, looking back on The Road Ahead, Gates’ revolutionary ideas in 1995, seem as quaint as the antique soft-drink signs at the local Cracker Barrel.

It’s not just our day to day that’s connected either. Our future is connected. Retirement savings and 401K money go (without us ever seeing it) into mutual funds and money markets that we don’t really understand but are supposed to earn interest and provide for the day when we’ll be too old or too tired to go into work and we’ll have to live off of the money we’ve socked away but never seen because it’s never existed outside the System we’re connected to.

The System makes our life easier to the degree that we’re connected to it. That is, assuming it works. We’ve found out lately that the System we’re so connected to fails occasionally. And because each part is inextricably connected to every other part of the System, when one part fails, it tends to drag other parts down with it. Of course, we’re connected to the System – where do you think that puts us? Millions of people have put their faith in the System only to have their life savings go down in the same big flush with the failed parts.

And the System includes all those connected folks who have forgotten how to live outside of it for five minutes at a time. Think I’m exaggerating? Shut down all the ATM’s and credit card terminals for twenty-four hours. We’d blow a hundred years worth of civilization in a day.

Don’t get me wrong. I like electricity. I like my Blackberry. I like paying at the pump. I even liked the breakfast burrito I ‘swiped’ last week. As much as I use the System I temper how much faith I put in it.

I’m not advocating going back to barter – trading home grown chicken eggs for a Starbuck’s Mocha Latte. I am advocating having a small plan in case parts of the system go haywire for a while. Cash still works as a financial transaction medium in most establishments. Got any? Bottled water is an excellent substitute for tap water in an emergency; but don’t count on picking up a case at Wal-Mart after the faucet stops working. A flashlight can be used as a temporary source of artificial illumination if, God forbid, the power grid shuts down for thirty minutes – assuming you have a flashlight … oh yeah, and batteries.

That we have such a term as ‘tough times’ indicates that the System doesn’t always work as planned. Thriving in tough times means having a clue what to do in the event the system doesn’t work as planned. Right now we’re experiencing the System not working as planned.

Even though I’m connected to the System, I temper how much faith I put in it. Firstly because I know it doesn’t always work and I like to have contingencies available should a part fall off. Secondly because I know, long term, the system is going to fail and not come back. That’s because it’s broken at its core. There’s a new system coming one day that I do put my faith in.

Until then I’ll keep swiping at the pump. When that fails, I’ll pay cash. When that fails, I guess I’ll walk. But what I won’t do is blindly put my faith in a doomed system. My faith rests in the new system; I can see it coming, even though it’s not quite here.

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (I John 2:15-17)

Living Debt Free

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except for the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8)

I changed the oil in the Suburban this morning. I’ll do the same for the Nissan this evening. Both cars work fine, even if they’re getting a little age on them. The Suburban is a 2003 and the Nissan is a 1993, but like I said, they work fine – and they’re paid for. That’s my favorite kind of car.

It’s tempting to think about getting a new car. There’s never been a better time to buy – the car companies are desperate. The banks may not be lending money for other things, but financing a new car is a piece of cake. But that’s the problem – financing. Borrowing money means owing money. And that shiny new car looses a little luster each month when the payment comes due.

We really like our Suburban. It’s like a truck with nice seats; we live in the country and we’re always packing it with stuff. It’s not our first one either – this is our fourth Suburban. Back in the day of our conspicuous consumption we had two. I wouldn’t hold my breath about that day coming around again – the world has changed.

If we did want to trade in our six year old SUV for a shiny new one, the nice man at the dealership might give us about $8,000 on trade for old Betsy. A new Suburban is just over $44,000, but we could haggle the desperate dealer down to $42,000. We’d have to get a car loan for $34,000; at 9% that’s about $613 per month. At the end of six years we would have paid the loan company just over $44,000. Of course, by that time we’d have a six year old Suburban – and that’s what we have now.

Unless I find a Cuban mechanic, I’ll have to buy another car eventually. But the idea of buying a new car for $52,000 ($8,000 for old Betsy + $44,000 for the financed balance) only to own another $8,000 six year old car once I’m finished making payments, makes me queasy. Not to mention the minor detail of locating a bottomless money bag from which to draw $613 each month for the next six years.

Whatever you want to call this thing we’re living in – recession, depression, financial crisis – bottomless money bags, unless you’re the president of the United States, are no longer available. And even if I had $52,000 to spend on a car that would be worth $8,000 the day I made the last payment, the idea of it is completely ridiculous.

But what to do? How about putting the $613 away each month for three years and then buying a three year old Suburban (the same one the dealer is itching to sell me today) for $22,000? That way I’d be buying a $22,000 car for $22,000 and then I’d drive new Betsy for another six years until I did it again; but by that time I’d only be stashing away a little over $300 per month because I’ve got six years before it was time to buy new, new Betsy. As a bonus, I could give away my old Betsy every six years to someone who needs a truck with nice seats.

By driving old Betsy until I can pay cash for a three year old new Betsy I figure I’ll save about $5,000 a year … forever. But the real incentive for driving the older car is that the $613 I’d be paying the loan company each month for a new car is called debt. The $613 I’d be putting away each month in the next three years for new old Betsy is called savings.

The down side to this whole plan is that I’d have to suffer the social shame of driving a really nice three to nine year old vehicle instead of driving a really nice one to six year old vehicle. My family and friends don’t care about the age of my car but total strangers might think less of me.

Same thing goes for my clothes, my furniture, my boat (if I had one), even my house. Too often, what I’m willing to buy has more to do with what strangers might think of me than it has to do with what I need or what I can afford. That’s pretty dumb. Going into debt for it is dumber.

In good times being in debt isn’t a good idea. In tough times it can be tragic. Debt is a lot more complicated than just a way to get stuff now without paying for it now. It involves pledging yourself to pay in the future for what you owe now; and you don’t know what the future holds. That means you don’t have complete control over fulfilling the promises you make. And that means the possibility of damaging your reputation as one who keeps his or her promises. And if you consider yourself a steward, that reflects poorly on the One you serve.

Debt also affects your decisions about life. Instead of doing what you know God has called you to do; you do what pays the bills - “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.” That’s a conflict of interests. Jesus puts it a little more bluntly. “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24)

Did you notice how ‘Money’ in the passage above is capitalized? That’s what debt does – it capitalizes money. My world only has room for one capital letter – ‘G’. Total strangers will just have to think less of me and old Betsy.

*****

I hope this letter is completely irrelevant to you. I hope the only debt you have is ‘the continuing debt to love one another.’ I hope you spell money with a little ‘m’.

But if you are in debt – for a car, a sofa, the kid’s teeth or even your house; make a plan to get out. No one can serve two masters. Getting out of debt may seem impossible from where you’re at right now, but it’s not. You can start with baby steps. Elaine and I are big Dave Ramsey fans. Dave Ramsey, if you haven’t heard of him, is the best guy around for helping people get out of debt – one baby step at a time. More importantly, Dave serves one Master, and he’s not afraid to tell people about Him. You can find out about Dave at www.daveramsey.com.

For me, it’s not about the money – it’s about who I owe. Who I owe is who I serve – and I’m already spoken for.

“The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” (Proverbs 22:7)

Pursuing Your God Ordained Purpose

“… Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart …” (Jeremiah 1:5)

“… for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world …” (John 18:37)

Sometimes I feel kind of adrift – like I don’t know what comes next. I’m sure it’s a common feeling, but still, it’s a pretty big confession coming from a guy who writes a weekly letter that’s supposed to be all about purpose. If I’m the purpose guy and I feel adrift at times, I can imagine that other folks must feel unmoored every now and then too.

Of course, it’s just a feeling. I’m not adrift. Not in any sort of cosmic way. The universe has its act together a lot more than you may think. It operates according to God’s plan and purpose. That’s more than I can say for my own life at times. Any time I feel adrift, I’ll bet it’s because I’ve cut a few ropes.

Remember last week I talked about being a steward of our little piece of God’s big plan? As much as the priests of academia want us to believe that the universe is an accident - it’s not. It was created on purpose and with purpose. Every galaxy, every planet, every living thing, every atom – all on purpose and all with purpose. The universe shouts purpose; it’s impossible not to hear it. Unless of course … you’ve set yourself not to listen.

That means we were created on purpose and with a purpose too. And I’m not just talking about ‘mankind’ in general. I’m talking about you and me, individually. You have a specific reason for being here. Me too. Each of us is an integral part of God’s plan and purpose in the universe.

Statements like that usually go over the heads or their audience. Who can blame the audience? My life, little ol’ me – an integral part of God’s plan for the universe? How am I supposed to comprehend something like that? I’m not even sure my vote for President counted, and now you want me to believe I’m part of God’s master-plan for the universe?’

Yup.

That’s what the book says. Over and over again. Exodus 9:16; 1 Chronicles 23:5; Job 36:5; Psalm 57:2; Psalm 138:8; Proverbs 19:21; Isaiah 10:7; Isaiah 46:10; Isaiah 46:11; Isaiah 55:11; Jeremiah 15:11; Luke 7:30; Acts 2:23; Acts 13:36; Romans 8:28; Romans 9:11; Romans 9:17; 1 Corinthians 3:8; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:11; Ephesians 2:15; Ephesians 3:11; Philippians 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; 1 Timothy 2:7; Revelation 17:17; Hebrews 6:17; 2 Timothy 1:9. It’s not a complete list, but go ahead and look them up – you’ll get the idea.

So, in light of ‘Thriving in Tough Times’ how does me being a part of God’s plan for the universe relate? Ummm … you’re part of God’s plan for the universe.

Let that sink in for a second. What exactly are you worried about? Things going wrong? Understanding that God had you in mind before He spoke the first atom into existence kind of puts problems like paying the rent and buying groceries into perspective.

Sure, you still have to pay rent and buy groceries, but that’s not what your life is about. That’s why Jesus cleared up the details about rent and groceries early on:

“… do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? “Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:22-32)

God knows you need to pay the rent and buy groceries, but the purpose He planned for you is bigger than rent and groceries. When you focus on fulfilling His purpose for you (“seek his kingdom”) first - rent and groceries come as part of the package.

But what about the rent and groceries? What if the landlord is at the door and the butter on your bread is getting a little thin? How do you deal with meeting your daily needs while you’re fulfilling God’s purpose for your life? What if you don’t know what God had in mind when He thought you up? How do you find out what’s next?

“Ask and it will be given unto you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Mathew 7:7-8)

Thriving in tough times isn’t hard if you’re well connected. And believe me, you are.

Worried about the rent and groceries? Don’t – that’s what pagans do. Ask – that’s what heirs to God’s kingdom do. Can’t figure out your purpose in life? General Motors and Bank of America can’t help you there. Seek – God’s been waiting since the Big Bang for you to get started on what He’s got planned for you. The door to your future seem too big to budge? Knock – it’ll open right up.

*****

Here’s one hint I can give you from experience. Your life’s purpose is doled out in days. You may not think you’re embarked on some great cosmic purpose – the thing God chose you to do. But you’d be surprised; each day is preparation for the next. Whatever today holds for you, whatever the circumstance, there are three things you can do now to find and fulfill your purpose – ask, seek, and knock.

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Living a Stewardship Lifestyle

“You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (Luke 12:20)

Last week I promised I’d give you a 100% guaranteed way to achieve economic success. I’ve got to warn you in advance this is top secret stuff. Well … not really top secret, but it’s so rarely used it’s just as good as top secret. And the success strategy I’m about to give you comes highly recommended – right from the top. It’s pretty radical stuff, but it’s guaranteed for life. Got a pencil? Ready for it? Here you go:

“Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” (Luke 12:3 and Matthew 19:2)

“Sell everything you have and give to the poor.” (Luke 18:22)

“Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” (Acts 2:45)

“From time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he has need.” (Acts 4:34)

Oh …

Not what you were expecting?

I know it’s not what you’re used to hearing from all those great ‘success’ seminars you’ve attended. Those guys usually side-step this particular strategy. But like I said, it comes highly recommended. Jesus gave this success talk a couple of times and he’s the King of kings and the ruler of the universe – can’t get much higher than that. And this strategy seemed to be standard operating procedure for Jesus’ first followers - you know, those folks in Acts who started the church.

And, I know, this particular success strategy has kind of fallen out of style in the last 1,800 years or so; but you’d think with Jesus recommending it and those first believers practicing it, the idea has to have at least a little validity. I wonder why people aren’t so keen to incorporate it into their financial planning anymore?

Maybe it’s because we like to own stuff. Owning stuff is neater than sharing and it gives us a real sense of accomplishment. I can keep score of how good I’m doing by tallying up the stuff I own. I also get a great sense of security from the stuff I own. That’s why I save for retirement – if I get enough stuff saved up now, everything will be hunky dory later. I’ll be able to sit back and relax; just me and my pile of stuff.

I remember a story about a guy who had made it big in agriculture – I mean big. He had so much stuff that his most pressing problem was where to keep it all. This guy actually had to tear down his old warehouses and build bigger warehouses to fit all of his stuff in. After the new warehouses were finished and all the stuff was inside he decided that he could finally relax. Unfortunately, the guy fell over dead the night after he finished filling his last warehouse.

Bummer.

That’s the tricky thing about stuff. You think it’s going to take away your worries about life and then you drop dead anyway. And then what happens to your stuff?

I went shopping at Sam’s Wholesale Club yesterday. That’s like Stuff Disneyworld. If you like stuff, Sam’s is your place. I always gravitate toward the book aisle – funny that. Anyway, I found a book titled, The Boomer Burden: Dealing with your Parents’ Lifetime Accumulation of Stuff. We’ve come a long way – from “sell your possessions and give to the poor” to the burden of “Dealing with your Parents’ Lifetime Accumulation of Stuff.” I guess the moral to this story is, “You can’t take it with you and your kids don’t want it either.”

So, my whacky success advice, “sell your possessions and give to the poor,” might not be so whacky after all, huh? But let’s not get ahead of ourselves; we’ll cover, “sell your possessions and give to the poor,” some day in the advanced success class. This is the beginner success class, so I’ll give you an easy one to get started with: “practice a stewardship lifestyle.” What that means in American is, “treat every asset (all your stuff, all your money, all your talent, all your time, all your etc.) as if someone else owns it and you’ve been hired to manage it and turn a profit.”

There’s a good reason for treating everything you have as if someone else owns it. Someone else owns it. The Bible is a book about stewardship – about taking care of something for Someone else. It’s been that way since the beginning. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Genesis 2:15)

The Bible is full of stewardship stories. Here’s one of my favorites.

A rich man was going on a trip so he called his business managers together for instructions while he was gone. He gave his top manager $5,000, his middle manager $2,000 and a lower level manager $1,000. He told them to put the money to work while he was gone. The first two managers went to work right away; the third manager, a bit freaked out over the responsibility he had just been given, buried the money to keep it safe.

The rich man returned from his trip and called his managers together to find out what had become of his money. The first two managers reported that they had doubled their boss’s investment giving him back twice what he had originally given them.

The rich man was tickled over how well his two employees had done; he told them, “Look, the money I gave you guys was just a test to see how you would treat something I entrusted you with. The reason I left town was to make a deal for two new companies. You two have done so well and proven to me that I can trust you. I’d like each of you to run one of the new companies. And keep the money I gave you earlier as a signing bonus. It was never about that anyway.”

When the third manager showed up with just the original $1,000 he had been given, he said, “Look boss, I know you play hardball and you expect to profit from other people’s efforts. I kept your money safe and here it is.”

He was right about the boss playing hardball. “You wicked and lazy manager!” the boss yelled. “You could at least put my money in the bank to draw interest!” The boss called security, had the third manager thrown into the street, and gave his $1,000 to the first manager.

Here’s the point: What you think you own, you don’t. It’s entrusted to you to make a profit. You’re a manager of His assets – a steward. Being a steward and managing stuff is way better than being an owner. Here are few reasons why:

1. Thinking you own anything anyway is just a delusion. A flood or a fire or an economic downturn could sweep it all away tomorrow. And if you manage to keep your stuff until your die, you’re still dead; your stuff doesn’t travel with you and your kids don’t want it.
2. If you take ownership you also take responsibility for the outcome – who are you going to turn to after the flood, the fire or the economic downturn? You’re the big Kahuna, the owner, there’s nobody to look after you but you. If you’re a steward, you work for the Boss. He’s volunteered to make sure you get paid no matter what, as long as you’re working for him.
3. You’re better at being a manager than you are at being an owner. You’ll do better with His assets than you’d do with your own - you were built that way. Besides, He’s going to hold you responsible for how well you’ve managed His assets – something to keep in mind.
4. God created the universe according to His plan and purpose, being a steward of your little piece of that means that you’re on the same business plan as the rest of the universe. The whole company is pulling for you because you’re part of the same plan. That can be handy.
5. God keeps his promises and has an awesome bonus plan. As long as you’re working for Him, He’s promised to meet your daily needs; food, drink, clothing, etc. If you turn a profit, He’s promised to add to it and put you in charge of even bigger things.
6. As His steward you really can take it with you. The plan is bigger than just the stuff we’ve got or haven’t got today. Today we’re stewards managing His property while He’s gone. There’ll come a day when He returns and on that day something pretty incredible happens. We go from stewards to heirs - from servants to sons and daughters. This earth – the one God gave Adam to manage? It becomes our inheritance. Sweet.

*****

This week we’ve covered how not owning anything is the only way you’re ever going to achieve 100% guaranteed success. Next week we’re going to talk about how to go from ownership to stewardship.

Until then, remember the end game:

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come you who are blessed of my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.’” (Matthew 25:34)

Attending to Physical Priorities

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” (Luke 12:25-26)

I read the paper yesterday. It’s something I try not to do too often. The news ain’t so good. GM is talking bankruptcy, all major economic indicators say things are bleak, getting bleaker and won’t change any time soon, and the governor of Michigan says the state has lost three times more jobs (760,000) than were lost in the hurricane Katrina disaster.

But I’m not worried. Aware … but not worried. I’m as affected as anyone else by the world’s current ‘economic downturn.’ I haven’t had a ‘job’ in almost four years. Our neighbors think we’re retired … they don’t know that we’re just happily unemployed.

I’m kidding about the ‘unemployed’ part. We’re in the book business. It’s just not one of those businesses the neighbors can see easily (unless a delivery truck is blocking the road – but then it’s just a truck blocking the road, not Steve and Elaine’s business in action). It’s not like we have a restaurant or a gas station or an automobile factory – those things you can see – everybody knows you’re working for a living.

Most of what I do happens between my ears and the raw materials inventory is stored on hard drives. The only ‘evidence’ that we work for a living is the line of pallets stacked with boxes, filled with books, stashed in the barn, in the garage or at the printer’s. The neighbors don’t see me go to work in the morning – they do see me go to the barn occasionally – that’s why they think I’m retired.

Outside of fooling the neighbors, our book business is like any other small business. We make stuff and sell it; hopefully for more than it cost us to make. We’re pretty good at making stuff – now we’re trying to get good at selling stuff. I’ve heard that’s a very important part of any small business.

Which (finally) brings us back to my point: when the economy hits the dumpster, people generally stop buying stuff. That’s problematic. Businesses and people who work in them rely on other people to buy their stuff so that they can get paid and, in turn, go buy other people’s stuff. It’s a cycle. When people stop buying stuff, other people don’t get paid. The other people then stop buying stuff and still other people don’t get paid; all of a sudden we’re in an ‘economic downturn.’ I tend to agree with the governor of Michigan; we’re really in a financial disaster. But ‘financial disaster’ sounds too depressing to put on TV.

Our current president believes that if he gives everybody a lot of money we’ll start buying stuff again and we’ll all get back to normal. I’m not an economist so I haven’t figured out his logic yet, and I don’t know anybody who would give him all that money to give to us; but he knows more people than I do, so he’s probably got it all worked out. But that’s not my point either, so let’s get back on track.

Each of us has our own personal economy to look after. When our personal economy suffers from ‘economic downturns’ or ‘financial disasters’ in the big economy we call it ‘tough times.’ Hearing about lay-offs on the television news is one thing; getting laid off is another. It’s like the old joke, “What’s the difference between minor surgery and major surgery?” Major surgery is when they’re doing it on me!

So what do we do when troubles in the big economy affect our personal economies? How do we survive the tough times we’re in now and learn to thrive in tough times ahead? We began this series with the two most important steps: 1) know who you are and who God is – “Adopting a Christian Worldview”. 2) know the difference between the source and the mechanism – “Putting Spiritual Priorities Ahead of Physical Priorities.”

This week I’m going to give you a few tips about attending to physical priorities. Namely what you can do for your own personal economy to help you thrive in tough times. Here we go:

1. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics says that unemployment rose to 8.1% in February (numbers for March aren’t in yet, but let’s assume they’re higher). Some estimates put the actual unemployment rate at 11%. If you take the highest number the employment rate is still at 89%. That’s not much comfort if you’re one of the 11%; your personal unemployment rate is 100%. But the fact remains that there are jobs for nearly nine out of ten people. Companies need employees to operate. I’ve been an employee and I’ve been an employer. As an employer I was always aware of the employees that were absolutely crucial to our operations and those the company could live without. As an employee I always strove to be one of those crucial to the operation (that’s how I became an employer). Here’s the key to being the last employee let go and the first one hired: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men …” (Colossians 3:23)
2. If you own a small business, the advice above works just as well. Here’s the best way I know to grow a small business, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31) In the Bible, this is called the Golden Rule. In business, this is called the Golden Rule. Some things translate perfectly. Your expectations as a customer aren’t any different than your customers’ expectations as customers. Pretend you’re your own customer; what would the perfect customer experience be to you? That’s your target. “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
3. There’s a reason for everything; you just may have not received the memo. Tough circumstances push us into new opportunities. When it looks like a change is coming your way, don’t ask, “Why am I being pushed out?” Ask “What am I being pushed in to?” The most successful business I’ve ever started came from not being able to work another day in the most miserable job I ever had. The most meaningful business I’ve ever been in (this one) came as a result of being miserable in the most successful business I ever started. Almost every new start or huge step forward is birthed out of a traumatic exit. That’s because we won’t go otherwise. Why do you think mama eagle tosses baby eagle out of the nest? If Joseph hadn’t been sold into slavery and tossed into prison he would never have become the prime minister of Egypt. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20).
4. More important than any of these is what I said last week. Know the difference between the source and the mechanism. Your job, your business, your income, your savings account are all just mechanisms through which your physical needs are met. They’re not your source. God promised that He would meet all your needs. “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

Next week I’m going to give you a 100% guaranteed way to achieve success in everything you do – actually it’s the only 100% guaranteed way to achieve success. Until then:

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” (I Thessalonians 4:11)

Putting Spiritual Priorities Ahead of Physical Priorities

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” (Matthew 6:25)

There was a time I lived in the corporate world. Early on in that career I attended my first upper management staff meeting. Our company president began the meeting by stating that the company’s mission and single priority was to make money. In the ignorance and idealism of my youth I spoke up that there were some things more important than money.

The room fell into a stunned silence; like I had just untied the string that held the universe in place.

“What is more important than money?” he asked. There wasn’t any sarcasm in his voice; he really wanted to know. It was like I had introduced a radical new concept. The other managers had already retreated into their fox holes; I wasn’t going to get any help from them.

“Well,” I started, “There’s keeping our promises to customers and employees and suppliers.” I kept going for a minute, but the didactic fizzled. I quit talking. There was a silent pause. Then we went back to our mission and single priority of making money. Boy, did I have a lot to learn.

*****

When things get tough in the ‘real’ world our survival mechanism kicks in. When our source of income, security or safety is threatened, all auxiliary systems shut down. Our mission and single priority is to deal with the threat – protect our source.

We become preoccupied with the threat – preoccupied with the need … or the idea that there might be a need. That’s what happens when our source is threatened.

But wait a minute …

What happened to, “… seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”? What’s the source we’re so worried about being threatened?

Remember last week I was talking about being reborn into a new spirit world and how that rebirth included dying to the old ‘spirit’ world our first birth landed us in? Remember I said that our bodies, for the time being, were still stuck in and affected by the old world? Well that’s true. But even though physical needs are met by the mechanisms of this world, those mechanisms are not our source.

A benefit to being reborn into a new spirit world – God’s kingdom – is that He promises to meet not just our spiritual needs, but our physical needs right here and now too. He becomes our source.

Jobs and savings accounts are great mechanisms for getting our physical needs met. In most cases I’m pretty safe telling you that your job and/or your savings account are the mechanisms God has given you for meeting your physical needs. They’re the mechanisms; God is the source.

If all that sounds more like a spiritual platitude to you than solid financial advice, let’s dig into the idea a little.

During the three years Jesus ministered on earth, he was continually providing for the physical needs of people. His first miracle was at a wedding. The party had run out of wine. Running out of wine at a wedding was a big deal. It was embarrassing to the hosts and could ruin the whole occasion. Jesus’ mom, already having an inkling of who he really was, instructed the servers, “Go get my son and do whatever he tells you.” Jesus told the servers to fill six stone jars nearby with water and bring them to the host of the party. The water the servers put into the jars turned into wine when the host dipped it out. Not just wine – really good wine; better wine than the wedding host had bought and run out of in the first place.

These jars were the kind Jews used for ceremonial washing; each jar held between twenty and thirty gallons. Think about that for a second. Six jars at twenty to thirty gallons each; that’s 120 – 180 gallons of wine – really good wine. I don’t know how many people were at that party, but my guess is that they were happy when they left.

Having to deal with his mother and the wedding servers at this point was more of a nuisance than a ministry. But he did what she asked, and all it took was a simple instruction to the servers. It wasn’t really a big deal to Jesus. Making 120 gallons of wine wasn’t any harder than making a gallon. Making really good wine wasn’t any harder than making cheap wine.

The stone jars weren’t anything special and the water was just well water – they weren’t the source – just the mechanism. I wonder how many times after that wedding party the host had those stone jars filled with water again and how many times he dipped it out hoping maybe …. just maybe ….

Twice Jesus fed thousands of people from a few fish and a few loaves of bread. Nothing special about the fish or the bread; they weren’t the source.

Trusting in your job or your savings account, whether times are good or times are tough, is taking your eyes off the source. Do you really think you were solely responsible for getting that job or putting that money in your account in the first place?

“He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45) God provides for you even when you think that it’s you providing for you. The problem comes when you get the mechanism and the source mixed up. The job and the savings account you treasure so much – the one you’re so worried about losing – are just a mechanism, not the source.

*****

There was man lived who lived in a little cottage in the woods. Everyday he took his wooden cup off the shelf in his cottage and walked down to a spring of water nearby and dipped his wooden cup into spring and drank his fill of water. But what the man didn’t know was that there was a flaw in the grain of his wooden cup. One morning he woke up and went to the shelf to retrieve his cup, but alas, sometime in the night the cup had split in half! The man was devastated! His cup was split in half! How would he drink without the wooden cup! All day and all night he sat in his cottage and stared at the wooden cup that had split in half and grieved. The next day was no better, the cup was still split and the man remained in his cottage and grieved. “My cup, my cup! It has been split in half and I shall never drink from it again!” The poor man never recovered from the loss of his cup. He stayed in the cottage and grieved over his cup until eventually he died from thirst, when all he had to do was walk down to the spring and dip his hand into the water and drink.

*****

It’s not much of a parable, I know. I mean, how many of us would be so foolish as that man; mistaking mechanism for the source.

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength … And my God shall meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:12-13, 19)

Part 1: Adopting a Christian Worldview

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

At one point I was a child of this world – a citizen of its system.

To understand what I mean by ‘world’ and ‘system’ all you’ve got to do is watch a little TV or read the ads in a few magazines. The secular media is the voice of this world’s system. It tells you what’s good, what’s bad, where to eat, what to wear, and how bright your teeth should be. It even tells you what you should be worried about and the plan to make it all better. The media reflects the world – the one you and I were born into.

Not every aspect of the world’s system is sinful in itself, as we’ve come to define ‘sinful’. But the world’s system is inherently sinful in that it stands against God’s. The world system is a kingdom in and of itself – a usurper in God’s universe. Earth is a region in rebellion; a rebellion that will one day be put down when God’s kingdom restored on this planet.

So that’s the world we live in. Looking at it this way we can begin to see why the idea of a ‘Christian worldview’ might be important.

Because we carry the DNA of our great-grandparents Adam and Eve we were born into a world that is in rebellion to its Maker, a world that’s dying.

But even before the world fell into rebellion, its Maker had a plan for restoring it to the kingdom. Just like we got born into this world’s system, we have to undergo a new birth to be reconciled to God’s kingdom. We have to be born again. That second birth isn’t a physical birth; it’s a spiritual one. Our bodies stay the way they are but our spirits are reborn. Our newborn spirits live in the reality of a new world even though our bodies are stuck in the old one.

Experiencing this second, spiritual birth involves dying to the spiritual side of our old first birth; that sin and rebellion DNA we inherited from Adam and Eve (Galatians 6:14). That means that even though our bodies look like the same old baggage, our spirits died to the world’s system and were reborn into God’s kingdom.

As citizens of God’s kingdom, we live in this world, but we’re not of this world. Even though our bodies still reside here, our spirits are no longer a part of this world’s system. We live by the laws of our citizenship in God’s kingdom while we’re living in the world’s system.

What this means is that when the world goes through tough times, we as physical residents are affected, we go through tough times too; but as spiritual aliens are not ultimately affected. Spiritual citizens of this world are sold out to its system. They are ultimately affected by what in happens in the world.

At least once in our lives we’ve heard or read a story about a man who had everything - money, prestige and power - committing suicide. It doesn’t make sense to us. Why would someone with, apparently so much going for him take his own life. And then later we find out that this man’s life had been a house of cards and it had all fallen down. He had lost everything in this world he considered valuable – his money, prestige and power – and because he was truly a citizen of this world, sold out to its system and he had nothing left, he took his own life. He was ultimately affected by the system of this world.

A few months ago I wrote about a young man who, according to the world’s system, had everything – a trust fund, fully furnished mortgage-free home, Mercedes, Rolex, exciting career and social possibilities – and he gave it all away to become a kitchen worker in a Christian guest house in Israel. Because he had died to this world’s system and been reborn into a new spiritual world all the things he owned he no longer considered everything (I John 2:15-17).

We are residents of this world but not citizens. We have been reborn into the kingdom of God. We live in this world and so we are affected by what happens here; but, because we live here as ‘strangers’ (I Peter 2:11), what happens here does not affect us ultimately.

Only our current bodies – the remnant of our physical birth into this world and our past citizenship – can be affected by what happens in this world. Our spirits are freed from this world’s system when we die to it and are reborn into God’s kingdom. Our minds are renewed as we exercise our new spiritual freedom from this world’s system. And one day we will have new bodies to match our new spirit – immune to pain and death.

Until then, what can this world do to us? It can exert its influence over our current bodies, but not our spirits or our minds. The worst thing the world can do to us is to kill our bodies, and since in their present form they’re already given over to death, and we know that our spirits have already been reborn and can’t be touched by anything in this world’s system, and that we’re guaranteed to one day receive new indestructible bodies to match our eternal spirits, the worst that can happen to us in this world is only temporary and it’s eventual anyway. Not much of a threat when you consider it in the big picture.

When the world’s system swings from good to bad, or for that matter, from bad to good; our reaction as ‘strangers’ should be tempered by the fact that whatever happens here doesn’t ultimately affect our fate.

We live here; our bodies are earthly vessels even if our spirits live forever. We’re affected by what happens here. We get hungry when there’s no food. We can’t pay our power bills when there’s no income. We may be living in a world system that’s in crisis right now, but we don’t have to be in crisis. We have our citizenship in another kingdom. As songwriter Larry Norman said, “We’re only visiting this planet.”

But what about right now? How do we cope with the needs of our current bodies while we’re visiting this planet, and the planet ain’t doing so well? There are advantages to having our citizenship in another kingdom. The King himself promises us his own economic security program while we’re here.

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:31-33)

*****

Having a ‘Christian worldview’ means viewing the world from Christ’s perspective. It’s a perspective that understands that as citizens of His kingdom we can’t be ultimately affected by anything that happens here. And even while we’re here, He personally promises to meet our needs. The starting point for living and thriving in this world, even in the toughest times, is knowing which world you really belong to.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)

I used to work for a company that made sponges from foamed polyurethane plastic. In the days before plastic came on the scene, sponges were made from … well … sponges.

A natural sponge is a simple sea animal that filters water through its porous body to take in oxygen and nutrients and expel wastes. Most of them have hard calcified bodies but a few have soft bodies.  For thousands of years, fishermen have been retrieving these soft guys and selling them for use as cleaning tools, padding, drinking instruments and pretty much anything we use sponges for today.

Fritz Nauer, the man who founded the company I worked for, began his business in the early part of the 20^th century by collecting sea sponges from fishermen, cleaning, grading and reselling them.

I learned something very important from him about sea sponges. The easiest sponges to harvest were from the bays and waters where the land protected the sea from rough weather and wind that caused waves and turbulence. Rough seas made it more difficult for the fishermen to retrieve sponges so sponges from calm water areas were plentiful and cheap because they were easy for the fishermen to get to and sponges from open water and turbulent areas were not as plentiful and they were more expensive.

But young Fritz noticed something about the cheap, plentiful sponges harvested from smooth water - they didn’t hold up as well as the ‘rough-water’ sponges. It seems the sponges growing in rough water, because of the currents and turbulence, had built up thicker and stronger cell walls to adapt to their conditions. Those raised in smooth water didn’t need to; they survived their easy environment just fine without the added internal strength and toughness.

The rough water sponges were more expensive, but they were a superior product, so Fritz focused his business on these tough, long lasting, sponges and developed a reputation as the highest quality sponge supplier in Europe - the rest is sponge history.

*****

We’ve been through some pretty rough waters lately. The US economy is in free fall, and since the US is the world’s biggest customer, most other world economies are as bad off or worse. Political times are interesting to say the least. We’ve got a new President who has promised change … well, we got change. Even with a new ‘world-friendly’ President our enemies are still bound and determined to bring us to our knees and our friends are waiting to see if we’ll become more like them so we really can be friends. But I’m not so sure becoming more like them is going to do us any good or make us better friends.

Any way you shake it, where we are today is a more turbulent place than where we’ve been in a while. And from the looks of it, the seas are going to be rough for a while yet. But that’s the good news. Rough water makes the best sponges and we’re living in rough water. Yippee!

We’ve lived in a pretty fat world for a long time. Most folks have adopted the idea that success is all about getting fatter. But you and I know different. Success is about finishing the race, and fat people make poor racers. I know the water is rough right now. Ease is easier and pain hurts, whether it’s good for us in the long term or not. But here is where we are, so we’re going to use here to its fullest potential.

“Count it pure joy.” Trial creates perseverance; perseverance creates maturity, completeness and fulfillment … and that’s what success is all about, isn’t it?

*****

For the next several weeks we’re going to talk about thriving in tough times. I was going to call this series ‘Surviving the Times,’ but that’s a cop out. “Surviving” implies coming out of this weak, under-nourished and scrawny - having ’survived’ the times. We’re going to “Thrive”; using this time to practice the true principles of success and come out the other end stronger, tougher and more ‘complete’ than we ever could have been without the blessing of living through rough waters. We’ll make Fritz Nauer proud.

If you think Purpose Weekly tends to be a little too ’spiritual’ or ‘cerebral’ and not ‘practical,’ the weeks ahead are for you. It’s all meat and potatoes - a “How-To Guide” for success in tough times. You know how people say about rich folks, “you can’t take it with you”? This kind of success you can. Here are some of the principles we’re going to cover in the weeks ahead:

1. Adopting a truly Christian worldview.
2. Putting spiritual priorities ahead of physical priorities.
3. Attending to physical priorities.
4. Living a stewardship lifestyle
5. Pursuing your God ordained purpose.
6. Getting out of debt.
7. Tempering your faith in world systems.
8. Living in community
9. Preparing for tough times
10. Purpose behind tough times - there’s a line at the door and you’ve got the key.
11. Remembering your citizenship

Don’t miss the weeks ahead, they may be the best we’ve seen yet.

Until next week, enjoy the waves.

Steve Spillman

“‘Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘Tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ he said.” (Matthew 14:28-29)

You’ve got to admit, walking on water is a pretty neat trick. Only two people in history are reported to have done it and one of them was the Son of God. Peter, Jesus’ disciple, was the only other one, and that was touch and go. You’d think something like walking on water would require a lot of faith. A miracle like that isn’t something we’d expect to see pulled off these days. More of a ‘biblical epic’ story.

There are stories in the Bible about miracles; the Red Sea parting, the walls of Jericho falling down, Jesus feeding thousands with a few loaves of bread and a few fishes, Jesus and Peter walking on water.

Some of us, of course, don’t really believe the miracles in the Bible happened. They’re just stories; written to teach a moral lesson, or they’re symbolic of God’s power or Jesus’ ministry, or they’re hyperbole - acts of nature that, over the telling, grew into bonafide miracles.

Even if we do believe the miracles in the Bible really happened, we don’t believe they could happen to us, right here and now. Believing the Bible story about Jesus and Peter walking on water is one thing, taking a stroll on lake Michigan is another.

The problem I have with relegating miracles to ‘biblical epic’ status is that it builds a double standard in our belief system - ‘I believe it was possible then, but I don’t believe it’s possible now.’ By the way, I don’t like the term ‘belief system’ for the same reason. Either you believe something or you don’t; why have a ‘belief system’ unless you’re having problems believing your belief?

So where do you stand on this walking on water thing? Depending on your ‘belief system’ you’ve got a couple of choices.

It didn’t really happen; it’s just a Bible story.

Miracles don’t occur - they’re not a part of reality. Reality is governed by the laws of nature. The laws of nature say that man can’t walk on water unless it’s frozen. Bible stories are nice, but this is the real world.

If you’re in this group I’ve got some advice that will save you a lot of time and effort. Quit reading this letter, quit worrying about any of this stuff. Don’t waste another minute going to church, reading the Bible, praying or thinking about God. Don’t waste any time or effort trying to live up to any moral standard. Lie, cheat and steal if you think you can get away with it. Live for today, for yourself, for your own pleasure. Your life will be over too soon and after that … you said it yourself … it’s all just Bible stories. The laws of nature say that when you quit breathing you’ll rot and then turn to dust. If you don’t believe walking on water is a reality, then there’s no sense in believing anything else the Bible says.

It happened, but only because Jesus was there. Walking on water is the stuff of Bible times; things like that don’t happen today.

You’ve got a point; miracles surrounded Jesus. The wind and the waves obeyed him. And if Jesus hadn’t come out walking on the water that night, and if he didn’t say to Peter, “Come.” Peter would have never gotten out of the boat. Jesus being there was key to Peter walking on water. But Jesus left this earth 2,000 years ago; that was it for the miraculous stuff. Stories like Jesus and Peter walking on the water are in the Bible to build our faith, kind of get our ‘belief system’ jump started. Stuff like that doesn’t happen any more. Today we’ve got those great stories and our ‘faith’ to see us through.

Of course, saying that miracles aren’t for today does make Jesus a liar. “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will even do greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.” (John 14:12-14)

Either you believe him or you don’t. If walking on water was possible then, it’s possible now.

Peter was an apostle, a special guy - the Clark Kent of Christianity.Jesus called him the ‘rock’. A guy like Peter, with Jesus beside him, could walk on water. Stuff like that is impossible for an ordinary Joe (Josephine) like me.

Are we talking about the same Peter? Peter was no spiritual superman. Jesus rebuked Peter more than he praised him. Peter encouraged Jesus to run away from the cross, he bragged about sticking by Jesus no matter what the cost and within twenty-four hours denied he even knew him … three times. Peter was embarrassed over his relationship with Gentile believers when his Jewish friends were around.

Peter was no pillar of faith … at least not naturally. Peter acted without thinking and it got him into trouble plenty. That’s how he got out of the boat in the first place that night.He jumped without thinking through his circumstances. If he’d reasoned things out he would have said, “Lord, if it’s really you, walk over here and we’ll pull you into the boat.” Peter took stock of his situation after he jumped out of the boat; that got him in trouble too.

Peter was an ordinary guy. He said and did things without thinking them through. He shot from the hip. But when the Master said “Come”; he went. It led to a very different Peter than we read about in the Gospels. At the end of his life, Peter the “rock” writes to a newborn church:

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (II Peter 1:5-8)

Sounds like a guy who learned from experience.

*****

You may not consider yourself a spiritual superstar or a pillar of faith. You may have said or done some dumb things. The same mouth that says, “I’ll follow you forever Jesus” denies even knowing him when the world says, “Aren’t you one of his followers?”

I don’t think Jesus chose Peter to be the ‘rock’ on which he built his church because Peter was a superstar. It may have been just the opposite. He may have chosen Peter because he had a tendency to screw things up on a regular basis - somebody you and I could relate to easily.

But Peter knew how to walk on water. All he had to do was get out of the boat when the Master said “Come.” All the circumstances surrounding him - the waves, the wind, the fact that it was 3:00 AM and he was miles from shore - that told him walking on water was impossible, were irrelevant when the Master said, “Come.” They were just circumstances, and circumstances can change in a moment, at the voice of the One who has power over the wind and waves.

In Him,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

I was on the phone with my buddy John last week and he mentioned something Jesus said in 2 Corinthians. Being the red letter expert I am, I informed him that Jesus didn’t say anything in 2 Corinthians; Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, long after Jesus returned to heaven. As the words came out of my mouth I heard a hint of arrogance. I’m sure he did too.

When I came into my office the next morning, my Bible was open to 2 Corinthians 12. The Bible I keep on my desk is a large print edition Zondervan NIV Study Bible. It’s got a hard cardboard cover, like a book; not leather or ‘leatherette’. It came with a college class - ‘Old Testament Survey.’ That was a long time ago. The spine broke loose from the binding a while back, then the front cover fell off, but the Bible stuck to me.

I like the NIV fine. Yeah, I know it may have a few problems, but I’m not really a translation worshiper. I like the NIV. I like the ESV, I like the KJV; there’s not really a translation I have that I hate (I don’t have the ‘one-world-gender-neutral-universalist’ translation - I’d probably hate that one.). When it comes to brass tacks, I go back to Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic. I figure that the most reliable way to understand the word a guy put down when he first wrote it is to understand the word the guy first wrote.

Anyway, the NIV sits on my desk because it’s been there a while, and I’ve got lots and lots of underlines and highlights and little notes scribbled in the margins. And it’s large print - that, somehow, became more relevant over the last twenty years.

Back to my story - My old coverless Bible is open to 2 Corinthians 12. How did my Bible come to be open to 2 Corinthians 12 and sitting in the middle of my desk that morning? Beats me. I’m not really surprised at that kind of stuff any more. God keeps me on a short leash.

Verse 9 is highlighted with a yellow marker. Well, I’ll be … red letters. Sorry John, my bad. Arrogance and stupidity are a poor mix, but a combination for which I have a knack.

So what do the red letters in 2 Corinthians say? “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” If I ever decide to get a tattoo, that’ll be a candidate.

I beat myself up a lot. But there’s good reason for that. Things don’t happen as quickly as I expect them to. I don’t get enough work done. The day is over and I’m whipped before I’ve finished half the things on my list. The work I do get done takes too long and doesn’t pay off fast enough. Forward progress isn’t that forward or that progressive. I’m not as good as I think I should be. I know I could do better. God knows how ill-equipped I am for this job. I’ve gone over this a few times with Him.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

“… my power is made perfect in weakness.”

*****

Each of us has been given his (or her) own pack to carry. Each pack has its own unique contents. There are some pretty cool things in there: talents, abilities, insights, gifts. The pack also has a few rocks slipped inside.

The apostle Paul had substantial talent and he’d been given some remarkable gifts; he’d been allowed to ‘peek behind the scenes’ - see some things mortal man wasn’t privy to.  He had a super-human task in front of him and he needed equipping, but all of this talent and all these gifts and insights weren’t allowed him so he could be God’s superman. It was just part of the pack he was given.

Paul’s pack also had a few rocks slipped inside - a ‘thorn in his flesh.’ We don’t exactly know what that means; most people believe it was a disease or physical handicap like malaria or poor eyesight. Whatever it was, it kept Paul from performing at 100% at times. It was the toe to the heel that tripped him up.

Paul didn’t kid around; he was serious about performing his mission. This ‘thorn in his flesh’ was slowing him down. “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.”

What was Christ’s answer? “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Here’s a paradox. We’re equipped to perform the mission God has set aside for us. We’re also equipped to sometimes fail.

Why is that?

The problem with me living inside of me is that when I look out I see everything from my own perspective.

Here’s a little experiment: go outside, stand in an open space and close your eyes. Then open your eyes and slowly turn to your right, keep going until you’ve turned 360 degrees and you’re back facing the direction you started in. Standing in one place and turning in a circle, watching the world go round as you turn almost makes you feel like you’re at the center of it all, doesn’t it?

You’re not. You just think you are because you’re looking out from behind your own skull as the world passes by.

You have a mission, a purpose in life, a destiny to fulfill. It’s yours and yours alone. Not ‘yours’ as in ‘you own it,’ or ‘you created it’ or ‘you chose it’. It’s ‘yours’ as in ‘it was given to you to fulfill’. Same goes for your talents, gifts, abilities and situation in life. All those goodies weren’t bestowed on you to make you feel special about yourself. They’re just tools - stuff you’ll need to fulfill your purpose.

God’s power isn’t perfected in our strengths; it’s perfected in our weaknesses. Lest we or anyone else should get the wrong idea about where that power comes from.

After a long week of beating myself up, Paul helped me with my perspective. “That’s why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10)

Boy, do I have a lot to learn about success.

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves…. Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:15, 21)

We’re still in the red letters. If you haven’t been keeping up you can go to http://gotpotential.org to catch the last couple Purpose Weekly posts.

We have a passion for celebrity. Entire industries are built on feeding the public the whereabouts and whatabouts of every private and public moment of an actor’s life. Who married whom? Who divorced whom? Who was spotted on Rodeo Drive wearing a t-shirt? Who was spotted not wearing a t-shirt? Who’s put on a few pounds? Who’s lost a few pounds?

What qualifies these folks for our constant attention? Do we know these people? Have we met them? Will we ever? Are our lives so devoid of meaning that we have to keep track of every moment of theirs? This mass fascination with every celebrity breath and burp isn’t just weird, it’s sick.

And it’s not just actors; we make paparazzi gods out of athletes, politicians, anybody in the ‘public eye’ - even preachers. Why the fascination?

Maybe part of it is because we want to be like them. They’re in the spotlight - they’re significant. It must be glorious up there in the stratosphere.  Not like down here in the dust where mortal men are doomed to live their days. We watch them because we want to be like them - because they’re not like us.

But maybe there’s something more to our fascination. We like to watch famous people in their glory; but we love to watch famous people when they fall. Nothing’s more tantalizing than the tale of a fallen star. Confirmation that he’s not a god after all; but only a flawed lump of clay - just like us.

So how should we regard those people in the public eye?

First, we’ve got to see people for who they really are. When we look at a celebrity, whether he’s a movie star, an athlete, a politician or a preacher, it isn’t really the person we see - it’s the façade in front of the person. An elaborate structure that has been erected to represent the person in light of the role he is playing. We see the structure, the façade - not the person. Jesus said that if we wanted to ‘recognize’ a person for who he really is, we have to look past the façade.

Jesus always saw behind the structure to the man. That’s why he warned people about ‘false prophets.’ These are people who purport to be God’s mouthpiece, but are really just dressing up their own words as the words of God to achieve their own selfish purposes. They build big facades around their roles to make people think their voice counts for more than it really does.

Remember “The Wizard of Oz”? Dorothy and company finally reached the hall of the ‘GREAT AND TERRIBLE WIZARD!” They approach the monumental, smoke breathing, thunder clapping visage of the TERRIBLE WIZARD OF OZ and they’re shaken by his power and authority. Dorothy’s dog Toto, however, draws their attention to the curtain behind which the real wizard of Oz sits, pulling the levers of the GREAT AND TERRIBLE machine. All the smoke and thunder was just a show, just a façade. The real wizard of Oz was just a man behind a curtain pulling levers.

By the way, the smoke and thunder don’t mean much.  Jesus doesn’t necessarily count all that in favor of the prophet. “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles.’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me you evil doers!’” (22-23)

Jesus said “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:15-16) “Look past the façade; look behind the curtain. Look at what the man produces.” Steve translation)

So when it comes ‘prophets’; those people, who through the roles they play, we’ve come to regard as celebrities, how do we tell a bad apple from a good apple? Test the fruit.

Go back to the red letters. Make a list of everything Jesus said was right and another list of everything he said was wrong. Jesus made this easy because the whole time he was talking, his focus was on two groups of people - the regular folks and the Pharisees. When he spoke about what was right, he was talking to the regular folks. For what not to do, he always implied something that the Pharisees had either taught them or provided the example for.

He said. ‘don’t pass judgment on your brother’ (regular folks, not representing themselves as God’s mouthpiece) but do ‘beware of false prophets’ (people representing themselves as God’s mouthpiece for their own ends).

Am I saying that regular folks are all okay and religious leaders are all rotten? Nope. There’s plenty of rotten to go around amongst the ranks and the majority of religious leaders don’t choose that career path for the money or prestige.

But Jesus did want people to know that they would be judged by the same measuring cup with which they judged others, and that those who claimed to represent God were going to be judged by what they produced, not by the great façade they erected - and we’re supposed to know the difference before we start following instructions from someone who says he represents God.

So, how do you trust what anybody has to say?

There’s a bright side. It’s all in the red letters. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the wind blew and beat against the house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24-25)

Build your house on the rock - everything else is shifting sand.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

As I said last week, I’ve been studying the ‘red letters’ - the words Jesus spoke in the Bible. The first big patch of red letters is in Matthew 5-7. That’s where Jesus was speaking to a crowd gathered on a hillside overlooking the Galilee. Jesus’ teaching completely turned everyone’s notion of what was good and what was bad on its head.

They always figured that things like pride, self-sufficiency, assertiveness, happiness, nice things, authority, respect, admiration and wealth were good. That hasn’t changed much. All those things are still on today’s top ten hit parade of good stuff. Like the tee-shirt says “Life is Good”; and what makes it good today, apparently is the same stuff that made it good back when Jesus spoke to the crowd on the shores of Galilee.

But that’s the problem - Jesus said, “blessed are the poor in spirit”; “blessed are those who mourn”; “blessed are the meek”; “blessed are you when you are persecuted”; “don’t store up worldly wealth.” Everything Jesus told them was good, was the opposite of what they assumed was good.

Humility, meekness, mourning, persecution, poverty - that’s the good stuff? Not a very pretty picture; I’m surprised anybody followed him. It seems like he was against every good thing this world has to offer. If he was trying to sell a crowd, he sure was going about it the wrong way. He should have been more positive, more up-beat, given them a little more of what they wanted to hear. You know - make being his follower a little easier, a little more popular.

I don’t think popularity was at the top of Jesus’ agenda. If he was working on building the first mega-church, he sure wasn’t following any of the proven strategies. Even the membership drive was depressing. “Enter through the narrow gate ….” “But, small is the gate and narrow (that’s ‘thlibo’ in Greek - it means compressed, hard, full of affliction, tribulation and distressed) is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Pretty discouraging. You’re never going to get people to show up on Sunday if you keep talking like that. You need a program that’s a little more inclusive. For one thing, you need wider gate … can’t have all those folks jammed up on Sunday morning trying to get in through some tiny little restricted access. And once they’re in, make ‘em comfortable - they didn’t come here to be depressed. Broaden the way a little so everybody can participate, and don’t go out of your way to offend people, loosen up, try to just accept folks where and how they are. Create an environment they’re going to want to come back to next Sunday. That’s how you build a mega-church.

But that’s not what Jesus said. “Small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

But how do you reconcile that with “Seeker Friendly”? How do you fit “Your Best Life Now” into that program? How can you make Christianity acceptable and accessible to everyone if the gate is small and the road is narrow and only a few find it?

Maybe you don’t.

The red letters are tough. Jesus really does stand all of our assumptions on their heads. One thing you can’t get past though - in the end, what are you going to believe in? Your assumptions or his words?

By the way, Jesus did ad a P.S. to his words to the crowd that day.

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” (Matthew 7:15)

*****

The red letters speak of a new country, a better land. This world’s currency doesn’t trade in that economy. This world’s assumptions don’t work in the world Jesus was talking about. The kingdom of heaven is offensive to those who are in love with the kingdom of earth. Light is offensive to those who have become accustomed to the dark.

The road to life is narrow; it’s compressed, hard, and full of affliction; there are few who find it. The way of destruction is broad, it’s easy, it goes along with the crowd; it’s popular. Problem is, only one road leads to that better land. And not everyone with a fish on his car will enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Where you end up all depends on which road you take to get there.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23)

Some Bibles print the words of Jesus in red letters. I’m studying the ‘red letters’ now. I started in Matthew - seemed to make sense - it’s the first book of the New Testament and it looks like it has the most red letters.

The first big chunk of red letters I came across in Matthew is in chapters 5, 6 and 7. Jesus’ words are pretty straight forward, but I got stumped in the last half of chapter 6.

“The eye is the lamp of the body.” Okay … I get that. Light comes into my eyes and makes the world around me visible. I’m tracking so far.

“If your eyes are good your whole body will be full of light.” This is where I started to lose the track. What does ‘good’ mean?

The next verse presents the converse; “But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (6:23)

Now I’m totally lost. I’d better start taking this whole thing apart.

What do I see that would make my eyes ‘good’; that would make my body ‘full of light’? What could my eyes see that would make them ‘bad’ and my whole body ‘full of darkness’?

Remember the Sunday school song, “Be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little eyes what you see; there’s a Father up above and He’s looking down in love, so be careful little eyes what you see.” (We won’t get into the traumatic images that little ditty conjures up in a six-year-old mind.) But maybe that’s what Jesus meant - I need to be careful about what I read in books and magazines, what kind of movies I watch and the paths Google leads me down.

That’s a plausible explanation for this passage - Jesus is telling me that looking at good things will make me good and looking at bad things will make me bad. Be careful little eyes what you see.

Or maybe, he wasn’t talking about what I see, but how I see. How do I interpret the world around me? Do I see the guy standing at the off-ramp with a cardboard sign as a public nuisance, or do I see him as someone in need; someone Jesus died for, just like me? Maybe that’s what Jesus meant - how I see things makes my whole body full of light or full of darkness.

*****

My friend David Pawson taught me to always look at the context of the passage I’m studying. This may shock you, but Jesus didn’t divide what he said into verses and chapters; neither did Matthew or Mark or John or Moses or any of the other guys who wrote down the words of scripture. The verses and chapters came much later; somebody’s swell idea to make looking things up easier.

So if you’re stuck on what a particular verse means, read the book (or at least the chapter) from the beginning, and then read past the verse to make sure you’ve got the whole picture. I know it takes longer than just looking up a verse, but the Bible is God’s Word, not a fortune cookie. It’s worth the effort.

Anyway, this verse about having ‘good’ or ‘bad’ eyes is part of a long lesson Jesus shared with a crowd on the shores of Galilee. Jesus was teaching his listeners how to behave toward one another, how to regard the Law that was passed down from Moses and how to follow a higher law; he was teaching them how to ‘see’ things from his perspective.

Just before and just after he mentioned the thing about your eyes being ‘good’ or ‘bad’ he talked about money and the stuff money buys. So, whether my eyes are good or bad depends on what I think about money and the stuff money buys? That seems to be the context in which Jesus was speaking.

Well I would have never guessed that!

But it’s true. Just before the eye verses Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven …. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (That’s trying to store up enough money and stuff so you don’t worry about tomorrow.)

Right after the eye verses he says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”  (That’s worrying about not having enough money and stuff for tomorrow.)

Jesus also said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”  (John 8:12)

The gospels record Jesus healing the eyes of blind men; but he really came to heal men of their spiritual blindness. He came to make our eyes ‘good’; make us see as he sees.

The Law, ‘eye for eye, and tooth for tooth,’ was made for a dark world full of blind men. Putting on shows of self-righteousness to gain the approval of men is a sign of eyes being darkened. And putting your trust in the treasures of this world and your worries in wants of this world is a sign of a spiritual eye disease. Jesus came to heal that disease and give light to the eyes of men.

*****

I come down hard on people who fall in love with money and the stuff it buys a lot in this letter. For the record, I’ve got no problem with money or the stuff it buys … there’s a place for money and stuff. But, in this culture, we’ve come to equate success in life with money and the stuff it buys. For the most part, those of us who go by the name Christian aren’t any better. We suck up to rich people and envy their stuff. We want more for ourselves and equate our blessedness with our pocketbooks. Don’t do that. That’s what blind men do.

Purpose Weekly is about success. But it’s about a success that far transcends all the garbage we’ve been taught about what success is supposed to look like. True success is way bigger than collecting the goodies this world offers. Not once does the New Testament speak of worldly wealth being a good thing. Measuring our success by all that stuff is the product of a dark world inhabited by blind men. Jesus came to give us light, to heal our blindness so we could see garbage for what it is and recognize treasure that doesn’t crumble into dust.

Besides, our Father in heaven knows what we need. His son promised that if we seek His kingdom and righteousness first - He’d give us all the stuff as well.

Not a bad deal.

“Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.” (Mathew 13:7)

Remember reading the Iliad and the Odyssey in high school? Maybe not. Homer’s ancient epic poems have been made into movies several times. We’re better at remembering movies these days than literature.

Anyway, both the Iliad and the Odyssey are about a character named Odysseus, king of Ithaca. At the beginning of the story Odysseus is called to the war at Troy and is forced to leave his home, his wife Penelope and baby son Telemachus (heck of a name for a baby). Fighting the war takes ten years, but finally it’s over and Odysseus is anxious to return to his wife and son. He sets sail with his men, but the trip takes another ten years; filled with adventures and imprisonments designed, by the gods, to keep Odysseus from ever reaching his home.

One of his many stops was a pleasant island populated by a peaceful people whose diet consisted of lotus flowers. Odysseus and his crew beached their ship on the island to take on fresh water. After they had filled their stores and had lunch on the beach, he sent out a few of his men to find out what sort of people the Lotus-eaters were.

Odysseus’ men found the island’s inhabitants friendly and peaceful … way peaceful. The islanders shared some of their lotus flower food with Odysseus’ men, who discovered the root of  their peace. Eating the lotus flower caused men to forget all of their cares.

Here’s Odysseus’ recount of what happened:

“They started at once and went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate of it left off all caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching lotus with the Lotus-eaters without thinking further of their return; nevertheless, though they wept bitterly I forced them back to the ships and made them fast under the benches. Then I told the rest to go on board at once, lest any of them should taste of the lotus and leave off wanting to get home, so they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars.”

The taste of the lotus flower was so exquisite and its narcotic so powerful that Odysseus’ men lost all thought of going home. Can you imagine a flower so enticing that just by tasting it you would lose the desire to ever return home?

Jesus warned his disciples of such a plant. He called it a thorn after its true nature, rather than a flower, which it disguises itself as in the eyes of men.

“The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:22)

Falling in love with what this world has to offer is like eating the mythical lotus flower. The taste of it can make you forget that this place is just a rest stop - not your final destination.

Those who haven’t tasted all the goodies this world promises, but hunger after them are like the horse with a carrot on a stick, hanging just in front of its nose; always in sight, but never in reach. The horse just keeps going and going, always following the carrot. It doesn’t even need to taste the carrot to become mesmerized by it; just the desire for it is enough to make the horse forget everything else.

The lucky horse that actually does get a taste stops in its tracks to munch; like Odysseus’ men among the Lotus-eaters, losing all care of ever going home.

The desire for worldly wealth can be just as narcotic as the taste of it; making a man forget that he is just a visitor to this island. The man deceived by all the good things this world offers loses his vision of home. He’s sedated, content to stay amongst the Lotus-eaters.

Odysseus’ mission was to return home and to bring his men back to their families. On his journey, in every stop along the way, some danger lurked to keep him from returning home. The land of the Lotus-eaters seemed pleasant and its people hospitable, but Odysseus and his men found out that even the most gracious and hospitable land can prevent you from ever getting home.

It’s natural to want good stuff rather than bad stuff. And the nice things this world offers can make life here a whole lot easier. But remember this, making life here easier, isn’t what our mission is all about. This island isn’t our home. It may seem attractive at times. The fruit that grows here may even taste sweet enough to make you forget your real home. But don’t be deceived by the produce it offers. They’re not lotus flowers; they’re thorns. If you allow them to grow up around you they will choke out your remembrance of your real home and make your time here fruitless.

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2: 15-17)