Tag: Generosity

Giving God Something Worthwhile

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God is in the business of growing His kingdom. The primary way He does that is through the faithful labors of the people who have committed their lives to Him in Christ in small (and large) communities all over the world that we call churches. God is growing His kingdom through the ministries of First Baptist Oakboro, and we are on the cusp of taking a big step of faith as we follow Him in pursuit of even more. For the next month, I want to share with you a vision for how to experience more of God’s kingdom-growing work in your own life, as well as to invite you into a journey of experiencing that work alongside of us. The first thing experiencing this incredible work takes is a willingness to say no to the things that might prevent it. That is, it takes a commitment to sacrificial living. Let’s talk about it.

Giving God Something Worthwhile

Do you know what it takes to become a world class athlete? Or a world class woodworker? Or a world class singer? Or a world class anything? It takes just two things. I know that sounds a little crazy to say, but it’s true. It takes only two things. If you have these two things, you can be a world class ____________. The first thing it takes is some level of natural talent for whatever it is. Some people are just naturally good at playing the piano, for instance. Some are naturally good artists. I had a friend in high school who could draw anything. He didn’t really do anything to become that good, he just had a natural ability to take what was in his mind and translate it to a page. Some people have a natural talent for doing math. Different people are good at different things. If you don’t have any talent for something at all, you can probably develop an affinity for it, but there’s always going to be a difference between what you can accomplish with regard to that thing, and what someone who does can.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 23:10-12

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“Sow your land for six years and gather its produce. But during the seventh year you are to let it rest and leave it uncultivated, so that the poor among your people may eat from it and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive Grove. Do your work for six days but rest on the seventh day so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave as well as the resident alien may be refreshed.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things we ask God for are blessings. We all want to be blessed by God. We want our nation to be blessed by Him. At a recent community prayer event a member of my church sang a beautiful rendition of “God Bless America.” We want to enjoy His abundance. And, our God is a blessing God, so that’s a good and right thing for us to ask for. But the thing we don’t understand as well both at all and in terms of its implications is that God’s blessings are always directional. God is always thinking about and aiming for the other. We see a pretty good example of this character on display here in a couple of laws that don’t seem to have anything to do with this. Let’s talk about another reason for Sabbath.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 22:29-30

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“You must not hold back offerings from your harvest or your vats. Give me the firstborn of your sons. Do the same with your cattle and your flock. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but on the eighth day you are to give them to me.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There’s an awful scene from the beginning of the movie Braveheart where William Wallace has just gotten married and some English soldiers arrive in town and learn about the wedding. The soldiers demand their rights of jus primae noctis (“the right of the first night”) as extended to them by King Edward “Longshanks” the ruler of the land. This meant they were entitled to sleep with a woman on her wedding night before she and her new husband have the opportunity to come together. The actual history of the practice is a bit murky, but it was basically part of a ruler’s demand of the first and best of his people. Reading this next law, I’m reminded of that scene. God here demands the first and best from His people. How is this any different from what the English soldiers in Braveheart did? Let’s explore that together.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 20:15

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“Do not steal.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When you observe babies as they grow and develop, you will notice there are two beliefs about how the world should work that appear at about the same time. The first is the idea that if you have something that belongs to you, no one should be able to take it from you. Related to that is the idea that whatever you happen to have played with…or touched…or had a stray thought cross your mind about in the last year or so…belongs to you. The second idea is that if you see something that belongs to someone else, you should be able to take it because you want it more than they do. These two beliefs about how the world should work don’t go away as we get older, we simply learn that they aren’t perhaps quite so true…or at least quite so convenient to live by…as we would like them to be. As God was laying a foundation for Israel to live in a relationship with HIm, He gave them some help managing this. Let’s talk about what’s going on in commandment number eight.

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Digging in Deeper: Mark 12:43-44

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“Summoning his disciples, he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had – all she had to live on.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever had a perspective shift? Sometimes we get used to seeing things in one way, and never stop to think that there might be another way to look at them. Seeing things another way can bring a whole new world of understanding. Jesus and the disciples were observing a scene that everyone around them was accustomed to seeing in one way. He invited them to see things in a whole new light. Along the way, He gave us a new way to think about some things as well. Let’s talk about it.

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