Tag: Stuff

Digging in Deeper: 1 Chronicles 29:11-14

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“Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to you. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom, and you are exalted as head over all. Riches and honor come from you, and you are the ruler of everything. Power and might are in your hand, and it is in your hand to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we give you thanks and praise your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? For everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your own hand.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We all want control. We’re willing to fight pretty hard over it too. So many of the cultural fights and political fights we have in this country (and around the world, for that matter), come down to a matter of control. We want to feel like we are the master of our lives. We want to be the master of as many people around us as we can too. What we see here, though, is a reminder that there is another perspective on control that we would be wise to let inform our thinking a whole lot more than we often do. Let’s talk about what it is and how it can help us be rich.

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Use It Well

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In this fourth part of our series, Simplicity: Finding Contentment in a Busy Life, we get practical. What does it actually look like to live with the simplicity and contentment found only in Christ in some specific situations that everyone faces? We start this week with a situation that is powerful tempting for just about everyone to seek their contentment somewhere other than Jesus. Keep reading to find out where.

Use It Well

By a show of hands, how many of you have heard of Benny Hinn? The televangelist is a longtime peddler of the Prosperity Gospel. The Prosperity Gospel is a uniquely American heresy (that we have unfortunately exported around the world) which holds that God rewards faithfulness with material blessings, that worldly success is an obvious sign of God’s favor. It holds that the contrary is true as well: Poor health and financial loss and the like are signs of faithlessness on our part. If we aren’t seeing the life outcomes we want to see, it is because we don’t believe strongly enough. Hinn’s specialty is healing. His services are filled with him waving a hand in someone’s direction and that person falling over backwards as she is “slain by the Spirit.” In practice it’s pretty wild stuff.

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Morning Musing: James 5:2-3

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“Your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I still remember moving from seminary to my first church job in Church Road, VA. We had some good friends help us load a 26-foot Penske to capacity, along with both cars, and we headed east from Denver, CO. Nearly nine years later we did it again, this time to where we are still. Maybe you’ve experienced this. We knew we had accumulated more stuff in that nearly decade span, but we weren’t prepared for how much more.

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Digging in Deeper: James 5:1

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“Come now, you rich people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Do you remember the original House Hunters on HGTV? I do. It caught on because it’s format was unique. I’m certain there were shows about people buying houses before, but something about the visit-three-pick-one approach caught on. Big time. Like, 183 seasons and almost 1,800 episodes caught on. Not to mention more spin-offs than you can probably imagine. And while there’s nothing quite like the original, the most popular spin-offs are the ones that focus on rich people buying big houses. A recent version is even called “My Lottery Dream Home.” What is it about seeing wealthy people buy stuff the rest of us can’t afford that is so addictive to watch?

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Digging in Deeper: Matthew 6:19

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“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,”
– ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:19‬‬ (ESV – Read the chapter)

The other day I was making small talk with an acquaintance. Given that we were only a couple of days past Christmas, we asked each other the obligatory, “How was your Christmas?” question. Both of us assured the other that it had been good and that, more importantly, the kids had had fun. We agreed that if the kids were happy, that was a key ingredient to a fun Christmas morning. Then he said something to which I could only respond politely because I didn’t agree. 

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