Live and Give Like You Never Have Before.

Rivalries exist in all of our lives. It could be as simple as, “do I work out or eat Blue Bell ice cream”. We have football rivalries and political rivalries. Most of use have had rivalries over a girlfriend or boyfriend.

Jesus makes a unique statement found nowhere else in the New Testament. He lets us know what his chief competitor is by telling us “You can’t serve God and “mammon” in Matthew 6:24. So what is mammon?

Most Bibles use the word “money” but it’s much more than just that. Mammon is a false god that promises how you can trust money/resources to give you what only God can give you. Mammon is huge liar.

See, mammon falsely promises to give you security. You and I think, “If I just had $_____________.00, I’d be set for life.” It lies to us about our significance. “If I had enough money to buy a lot of stuff, people would listen to me and finally believe I’m important.” It gives us a false sense of an ideal marriage. We say, “If we had enough money, we wouldn’t fight anymore and she/he’d be happy.” It promises peace and joy in life.

But the truth is, the only person or thing that can give us security, significance, a great marriage, joy or peace is God Almighty. It’s only in and through him that you and I will ever have all those things.

Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 6:21, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart also.” In other words, your heart follows what you treasure. We end up spending our money on things we don’t need or spending too much money on someone we might need. We spend money on our kids as if that 8 year old needs the latest iPhone. Now, I’m not saying to tell your family no or to sell everything you have.

But God does put a biblical principle in place that will help you release the grip of mammon in your life. The principle of tithing reminds you where your heart belongs and it lets God know you recognize who supplies your daily needs.

The principle is simple: take whatever you bring home for your pay and give God the first ten percent. On your home budget, the first line item should be “giving”, and it’s 10% of what you make. God is the first check that you write. Then you learn to live on the other 90% of your income. God calls us to give sacrificially and in doing so you share your blessings with those around you.

Some of you don’t give at all and you’re wandering, “How could I give anything? Everything I bring home is spoken for.” If that’s you then just start giving something, even if it’s $10 a week. It may not be 10% initially but you’ll start instilling the principle a little at a time. If you've set your giving at some point in the past, my guess is, you’ve received a raise between then and now. It might be time to reevaluate how much you're giving.

Robin (my wife) and I made a commitment when we married to three things concerning giving to God. One, we are always going to give every week back to God. Two, we are going to work hard on becoming debt-free. Finally, we are going to help people whenever the opportunity arises. I challenge you to incorporate that way of thinking into your giving spirit.

I know God promises that he can and will do more with the 90% than you could ever do with the 100% on your own. It takes trust and a heart for God to move in this direction. Don’t you want to live and give like you’ve never done before? Trusting God will allow you to do exactly that. Blessings on the journey.

In and then Through

Most things I purchase that need put together are met with a “jump right in” attitude. In other words, in typical male fashion, I don’t read the instructions. I just start putting things together but then wonder why I have a handful of screws left at the end of the project.

I can be like that too when it comes to what God wants to do through me. But to find my purpose, I first have to let him do something IN ME. I generally don’t want to wait around for God’s work in me because I’m impatient and stubborn. I’d rather just get to the thing he wants me to do.

The disciples needed some coaching in this area because they didn’t seem to get what Jesus was trying to do in them. They were not seeing the people in front of them Jesus wanted to help, teach, heal, move, and grow. The disciples saw those people as a hindrance…an annoyance.

Examples of this attitude are found in Matthew 14, 15 and 19 where Jesus is doing ministry for some needy people but the disciples are oblivious. “Just tell them to go away…” is what the disciples say in a paraphrased version. But God will eventually do something in the disciples so that later he can do something through them.

We need God to do that in us as well but we need to check our hearts. How does our heart line up with the heart of Jesus?

Jesus tells a story in Mark 4 about a farmer who sowed some seed. Some seed fell on the road, some in the gravel, some in the weeds and some on good soil. Good soil is where God wants our heart to be. But it calls us to some self-reflection to discover how we are leaning into the things God wants to do IN us before he can do anything through us.

Some hearts are like the hard road and the minute the seed is planted, Satan removes the seed. Maybe you’ve become hard and cynical toward a spiritual journey and how God has called us to live in his son Jesus. Some symptoms of a hard heart might look like you’re going through the motions just checking off a list. Some might develop spiritual apathy having no prayer life, no time in the Word of God, no community with which to travel. Some might have bitter resentment toward God, blaming him for your current position in life.

Some of the seed falls on rocky hearts. You’ve heard the message of Jesus and are happy about it but you do nothing to cultivate the seed and create deep roots. The minute any “heat” is applied from the world, you’re shaken and lose spiritual momentum.

And some seed falls in weed-infested areas. The seed breaks the surface of the soil but other things in life crowd out its growth. Jesus says things like the worries of this life, the lure of wealth and the desires for other things are what choke out spiritual maturity. We are unwilling to let go of the things that are opposed to God’s will.

So where are you? What does God want to do IN your life to accomplish his work THROUGH your life? God has an extraordinary purpose of you but you and I need to fully surrender to him and allow the seed to change us from the inside out. When we do, God will do something incredible through you. Blessings on the journey.

But I want that...

Did you ever want something so bad you could taste it? I remember as a young guy watching Magnum, P.I. He drove that Ferrari Deno. It was sweet. I even hung a poster of it above my bed when I was at Harding University. I always wanted one of those and it is on my bucket list to at least to “rent” and drive one day.

But there are moments when what we want gets in the way of our relationships with people and God and our health. Jesus warns us in Luke 12:13-21, “Beware. Watch out…” Our selfish desires can sneak up on us. With sexual sin, the Bible tells us to “run”. But greed and selfish desire sneaks up on us. There are some things we learn from the story Jesus tells in the text.

Greed can confuse your self-worth. We have to remember “things” do not define us. Jesus does! We are sons and daughters of the Most High God. Jesus is our King and brother. We are made in his image. Nothing on earth compares to that.

Greed can ruin your relationships. Some of my closest friends and even relatives have ended up focusing on money. Every time we were together, it was always about money. And if I didn’t give them money or what they wanted in the moment, I did not love them. At least, that’s what they told me. So, because of greed, I’ve lost many relationships and some have turned into very shallow interaction.

Greed can harden your heart as well. If you’ve seen The Return of the King in the Lord of Ring series, you saw what happened to Gollum. He was a Hobbit that started out fishing with a friend. Before the day was over, they had found the ring and Gollum’s friend was dead. He lost everything after that because he only cared about himself and the ring. If we aren’t careful and live life with open hands, we’ll end up with a closed heart.

But what if your identity was all about what and how you give in your life, not about what you keep? Jesus says at the end of Luke 12, “Your treasure is where your heart is.” I’m not always good at it but I gave my heart to Jesus a long time ago. He is my treasure. Won’t you make him yours? Learning to let go of stuff is a tough one but as followers of Jesus, we learn to let go in order to hang on to him. Blessings on your journey.