Giving vs. Paying
Ok, time for an opinion poll. Your thoughtful opinion.
Giving vs. paying. Scripture is more than clear that God’s people are to be marked by a liberal generosity. We should be the most generous givers on the planet. We have been given much, we should give much. And giving is a joy, when done God’s way.
So what about paying? My bottom line question is: Should church events have a cost? Should, for example, a Bible Study or class, that is offered by the church, have a cost?
I’ve always thought yes. Why? Of course there’s the obvious reason which is that stuff costs money and that’s how you pay for stuff, but more importantly because people tend to value what they’ve invested money into. There are no free lunches! Plus, the worker is worthy of his wages. Who’s going to pay for the worker if no one’s paying for the class?
But what of the difference between paying and giving? Is giving a voluntary and joyful overflow of a grateful heart? Is paying more of an obligatory (and at times begrudging) handing over of payment because that is what is required? Are we forced to resort to requiring payment because God’s people do not joyfully give? And, more importantly, is that the correct response?
But again, don’t we value what we’ve paid for ourselves? It’s certainly a necessary lesson for every young person to learn. They treat a car they’ve paid for and are responsible for a whole lot different than a car that Daddy insures and fills with gas. But should that same truth transfer to the church? Or should we operate differently? (I’m really asking this question so I hope you’re really ready to answer!). Or, should we use the gospel as our model? Romans 5 makes it crystal clear that salvation is a free gift. We do not pay for it, and those who thought they could buy it were sharply rebuked (Acts 8:18). God apparently didn’t think that we needed to pay for salvation in order to be invested in it. And yet, He requires, in exchange, the surrender of our life. This is not payment, it is the joyful response of one who has received a free gift. Giving, not payment. Giving is worship. Payment is debt.
So how far does this extend? Does this mean the church hands out the Bible Study books as a free gift, but encourages the recipients to generously give to the church in worshipful response? Can we let people go on free missions trips? Do we become in danger of mis-handling God’s money, and people’s sacred tithes?
What do you think? Please share…
Rotting and Hoarding
I am an obsessively vigilant leftover-eater and refrigerator cleaner. Today my husband asked what I was doing when I pulled out a sharpie and was writing on a bag of frozen chicken. “Use me!” with a smiley face is that I wrote. It’s the oldest bag so we need to eat it next, I explained. He smiled. I’m so glad he loves me as I am.
During my fridge inventory I was very disappointed to find that some of the bargain cheese I’d scored a month back, which was unopened and dated August 28th, had already molded. Gross. More than gross–wrong. A tragedy. Food that rots before it is eaten just seems so wrong to me! That means that we have way too much and that we’re misusing our resources somehow, right? If we buy more food than we can eat something is wrong and the solution is certainly not that we need to eat more. My poor mother patiently endures my lectures every time I’m at her house and I pull out all the expired bottles of half-used salad dressing from the fridge. I know she must shake her head and wonder how her grand lessons on stewardship and frugality have been reduced to my ranting and raving over a wasted pint of ranch.
Ok, I know the cheese thing is not a big deal, but I was studying James 5 today, and it made me think about rotting. Check out the first three verses of this chapter. How’s this for a happy little devotional thought? I’ve never seen this one on a coffee mug:
1Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.
Now, after studying and reading up on some commentaries, it is likely that he is addressing rich unbelievers who are exploiting the poor, glutting themselves with pleasure, abusing their employees, etc. But isn’t the warning applicable to all who are rich? That is the ONE percent of the world who make more than $40,000. Yup, that’s right. We’re all rich.
In the wake of this, I also read an interesting article in the Oregonian. They cited the staggering amount of food waste in our country today. This was interesting: From 1973-2003, the average weight of an American adult went up 20 lbs. TWENTY lbs. In only 30 years. They averaged that out and figured that that equals an extra 300 calories per person, per day, that is in excess. However, check this out. The amount of food purchased in this country increased an average of 800 calories per person per day. That means that we’re eating more than we need and buying WAY more than we need. That means 500 calories a day are thrown in the garbage. Yes, I say that’s better than being thrown onto our waistlines, but still–why do we buy so much?
Because we can. Because we can’t imagine having to go without. Because we love the comfort of well-stocked pantries. And because–hitting closer to home–we love a good deal. And it’s cheaper per unit to buy 100 packages of popcorn. Cheap food is much easier to eat, and much easier to throw away. And now we live in a country where food is cheap and plentiful. Eat until your stomach hurts then throw the rest away!
But back to James. He says, “your wealth has rotted.” Things rot when they sit around unused. Could it be that the cheese in my fridge is just a tiny picture of what our culture is doing on an epidemic scale? I am the first to raise a guilty hand. I never say no to something, especially if it’s cheap, or free. Of course I want it. The more the better, right? And I love a deal. Today I bought 4 packets of salad dressing mix instead of one because it “saved” me a bunch of money, right? But if that mentality rules my thinking, I will simply buy in more and more bulk (imagine Mega-Costco) then the next thing you know we’ll suffocate under our mounds of Kirkland Signature goods, never to surface again. Meanwhile, 24,000 children die every single day, due to poverty. What do we do? I know it isn’t simple, and I know we’ve probably heard this message so much we’re probably deaf to it.
Let’s look back briefly at James. The bottom line indictment is this: “You have hoarded wealth in the last days.” Hoarding is the sin, and it is especially heinous because it is in the last days. A the very time that we should be looking to heaven, anticipating Christ’s return, gearing up and spreading the gospel with all that we have, instead we sit around and buy bigger freezers, bigger garages, bigger closets, and now, it seems, bigger clothes. Not pointing fingers here–I’ve got a garage freezer, a 3-car garage, and a huge walk-in closet. I’m asking myself these questions, first and foremost.
Perhaps let’s start with a simple prayer, “Lord, show me where I’m hoarding.” We do want to be good stewards, and chances are we will use all that cheese and toilet paper and I’m glad to have it on hand. But perhaps there are areas where we are unwittingly allowing our resources to rot, so to speak, because we pile them up around us to insulate us from the world of need and pain and hunger.
Let’s just ask God. I don’t know what it looks like for each of us, and it might be as simple as not grocery shopping until your fridge is actually empty. Maybe it’s stepping up and giving away a larger portion of your income. Maybe it’s just sharing more. Maybe it’s taking a teeny tiny step of going without, just to remember that millions of people do so, by necessity, every single day.
Ok, rant over. Let’s pray. Lord, where am I allowing your resources to rot? Where am I hoarding? Where does my lifestyle not reflect that these are indeed the last days? Show us how to grow in this, God. We need you to show us how, and more importantly, give us the grace to obey.
How to Study the Bible
I just got home from the final session of a 3-week class my husband taught at church, entitled How to Study the Bible. Ahh…it was fabulous on so many levels. As a wife, it was thrilling for me to see my husband doing what he’s passionate about. Teaching God’s Word, and specifically equipping people to study God’s Word on their own, is his foremost passion. Especially tonight, I couldn’t help but fall in love with him all over again. His love for the Savior is what made me attracted to him in the first place. It was great to see it again.
On another level, it was a refreshing reminder of the power of God’s Word. I get absolutely silly with excitement at seeing people “get it”, seeing things click for people in such a way that they feel empowered to read and study the Scriptures on their own. Tonight I could see light in people’s eyes. I could see that that little flicker had begun. Curiosity welled up, interest was piqued. Heads nodding every so slightly, people lost in thought–they’re getting hungry, I thought. Spiritual appetites were whetted. That is a glorious thing,
So how do you study the Bible? When Jeff makes his resources available online I will link to them here. For now, here’s how God got me hooked on His Word:
I grew up in a fabulous Christian home, and prayed to receive Christ when I was 5. I stayed out of trouble, followed God, so on and so forth. But I never read my Bible. I had no idea. It’s sad when I think back. I think I knew the NT had Jesus in it and OT didn’t. I knew the stories and I really did have a relationship with God, I just never read His Word.
Right before I started college, a huge life change made me desperate and I turned to God’s word for help. It wasn’t Bible study, it was just sheer desperation, and I developed a hunger for it, but still not a discipline. I was amazed at its power and loved to spend my evenings just soaking in the Psalms, but still didn’t understand a lifestyle of steeping in God’s Word.
A few months later, I went to a little Bible study that my brother and I and a couple of our friends put together. I still remember the revolutionary moment. The guy leader said, “Ok we’re going to try something. It’s called 30-minutes-a-day-with-God. That means that every day we spend 30 minutes a day with God, reading the Bible and praying. Every day.”
WHOA! This was revolutionary. I had never heard of such a thing. Yes! That made sense. If this Bible thing was so great, I should read it every single day. So I did. It was that simple. I just did it. Every day. We’d check back in each week. People were hit and miss. I just did it. Every day.
Then, a few months later, another revolutionary moment occurred. I was reading a book by Anne Ortland, who said that her habit, for decades, had been to simply read through the Bible every year. Cover to cover. Genesis to Revelation. She just read it, every year. That simple. She figured that if she just did that, slow and steady, that by the end of her life she would have really steeped in it. My response? Of course–I’ll do it. That simple. Right there, in that moment, I realized that if I did that (I was 19 at the time), then if God graciously gave me 75 or 80 years or so on this earth, I could actually have read the Bible like 55 or 60 times!! That just sounded remarkable to me. Why not do it?!
So I did. Just like that. Genesis to Revelation. Slow and steady.
That was almost 12 years ago–and in January it will be 12 times through the Bible. Twelve isn’t a lot, but that’s 12 times more than if I hadn’t made that simple plan! I’m so thankful for her simple challenge to me, in the form of that book, that has literally changed the course of my life. I know I am a different person than I was 11 1/2 years ago, because of that simple commitment.
Now, I add other Bible study on top of it. Sometimes, I’ll admit it does feel like a lot when adding church studies, studying for teaching, and trying to fit in the reading-through-the-Bible thing. But you know what? What a good problem! I don’t think I’ll ever regret having read the Bible too much. You think?
So I share this because perhaps for someone, all you need is a little suggestion. A little “this is what I do” moment, for you to embrace a plan and begin the slow and steady pace of growing with God. That’s all it took for me. One day, one book, reading of one woman’s plan at reading through the Scriptures. Your plan may look different, but do you have one?
I challenge you, today, to ask God what His plan is for you. A chapter a day? (BTW, 4 chapters a day will get you through the whole Bible in a year. It’s actually really easy.) Through the Bible every year? However God leads you, do it. You’ll never regret a moment spent in the Scriptures, mark my words. Or, better yet, mark His.
No Patronizing Nonsense
We are back from a whirlwind three-day road trip of sorts. We’ve traveled to Federal Way, Washington for a Middle School fun day at Wild Waves theme park (with Dutch, which was a blast!), then quick few hours sleep at my parents’ place to pick up Heidi and a truck and trailer, then a 24 hour trip to Bend to help Jeff’s mom get ready to move and haul back some furniture she generously gave us. We arrived back home last night, exhausted and sweaty. Jeff went to straight to work and the kids and I collapsed into bed. Today after church we traveled back out to my parents’ to deliver the truck and trailer and get some rest and playtime before the week begins. It’s been exhausting but so fun to be together. Plus, road trips are the one time Jeff and I actually get to talk, as our children both love to “read” in the car. It was great, but we’re glad to be home.
The only downside of the trip was that we were literally on the go from sun up to sun down, and I went three whole days without opening my Bible. Finally this morning at 6:30am, with Jeff gone and the kids still sleeping, I was able to sit down and just soak in the Scriptures. Anyone else experience that? I crave scripture. I do! Some of you understand this. It’s like a cold glass of water in the midst of this dry desert of life. Just a few psalms this morning and I could almost feel my internal compass set astraight, my eyes back fixed on Jesus, my perspective broadened. Yes, I’ve read those psalms probably a dozen times before. But that’s the wonder of God’s Word–it is living and active. It changes us from within.
Then I got to go to church. The message was certainly nothing new, strictly speaking. It was about
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. – CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, pages 40-41.
Of course those of us who are Christians