Digging in Deeper: 2 Corinthians 8:12-15

“For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.  For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness.  As it is written, ‘Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Tithing is a big issue in most churches.  While our power and sustaining comes from God, His provision most often comes via the money our members give.  Sometimes that giving is generous.  Sometimes it isn’t.  (And the amount of the giving has little to do with the level of generosity it reflects.)

What all this means, is that churches need money to make ministry happen.  That doesn’t sound terribly holy, but it’s no less true for that.  That’s the nature of the world we live in, and while God isn’t limited to that, He tends to work within it more often than not.  What this means further is that talking about giving is something all churches have to do on occasion. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Ecclesiastes 4:6

“Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

We live in a culture in which money is everything.  Being rich is the chief end of man.  For indeed, when you are rich you are freed from the worries and burdens of the world.  You can enjoy the pleasures of life more freely and fully.  You need not fear when storms rise up.  Right???

Not even close, but the illusion here is of the most potent power there is and so we strive and toil and chase after the wind, hoping after a life most of us will never obtain.  And for what?  In the end, we are too tired to enjoy what we do have and we look on it with contempt anyway because it is not more.

This is vanity and futility and ultimately worthless.  Solomon is right.  It is better to have less and enjoy it more, than to have two hands full while yet never being able to enjoy it.  Find contentment in what you have and the life that you are living with Jesus and you will always have enough.  Serve the Lord faithfully in your present circumstances and they will always leave you satisfied.  Receive with gladness what He gives and use it faithfully, but make the getting an aim secondary to the faithfulness.

Morning Musings: Proverbs 19:17

“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.”  (ESV)

Have you ever wasted money and you knew it?  That’s a frustrating feeling.  Maybe it isn’t at the time (or else you probably wouldn’t have done it!), but eventually that little nagging sense of regret develops and you have to decide you’ll ignore it or else find a way to make amends.   Read the rest…