A Thought a Day...
Friday, May 21, 2004
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" Matthew 6:25
Brother / pastor Steve made an excellent point regarding my interpretation on yesterday's verse. Isn't this really about Trust? I believe it is, and reading ahead a bit, it becomes clear that that is the case. Take this verse, where Christ says to us, "Don't worry about your life..." What is worry? Worry is concern over future events and conditions and how those conditions will affect me personally. Worry is evidence of a lack of trust!
I'm not a worrier. I've known people who are. Most of the time the things they worry about don't happen. But sometimes it does. I went to a seminar back in the 70's by Bill Gothard. It was called the "Institute in Basic Youth Conflict"... It was pretty radical at the time. On the passage by Paul where he tells that "In everything give thanks..." He said, "When faced with no food, rather than worry or be angry, we should be praying, 'Thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to fast.'" I'm not easily at that point... But I should be.
The point is clear and simple. I MUST trust God to take care of my life. I must examine my priorities and align them to God's will.
Father, you give us much. I thank you for that. Yet, in spite of the material goods, my Trust meter doesn't always show up as in spec. Tweak my heart. Open up my conduit to You and remind me what it important. Oh, I forgot, You already have, " Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" Point made.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
Matthew 6:24
I've had to work for two bosses before. It's OK if they are consistent with their directions... But it's one of the worst situations I can ever have when their orders are not in alignment. Then it's a situation where it's a no win situation. It creates stress... And eventually I have to make a choice.
Christ is saying that when money becomes a master / boss... The same thing happens. I end up making choices that are based on the love of money rather than what is serving God. Does that mean I can't have money? Absolutely not. It does mean that money has to be kept in the position of being a tool. I remember a blog that my brother wrote regarding greed. In that article, it was correctly stated that the opposite of greed is not poverty but generosity. So, if I'm blessed with the ability to make money, I must be willing to give it as the Lord would direct us.
What happens if I don't have my priorities in line? Well, what would have happened if the little boy on the mountainside had not been willing to give up his lunch? Over 5000 people would not have had lunch! To be honest, I've had more trouble serving God when I didn't have money than when I have. Not having enough to get by has forced me to focus on getting money instead of getting closer to God. The one thing I know... I want to be closer to God, my relationship might be up and down at times... But unlike the stock market, His index is always over 10000!
Father, I'm thankful that you are always there, the same yesterday and forever. Help me be like Job and realize that what material goods I have are immaterial. Help me to remember that it is only my relationship to you that makes the difference. Thank you for giving to me the greatest gift of all, my soul! Now, let me be generous and give me the boldness to share that gift with others.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
"But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" Matthew 6:23
I read yesterday about the eyes being the lamp to the soul. How that there are choices to make every moment about what to look at. And sure enough, it was a rough day spiritually. I've been away from home for a while, and the days have been hot here in DC... And all the college girls were out in full force wearing as little as possible. So, there was plenty of opportunities for outright lust. The fact that there was zero chance of hooking up with one of the babes is not the point... I remember the verse from a while ago that said to just look at a woman and lusting after her is adultery! And as my wife has told my parents (moan) "I'm the [friskiest] man she has ever known." [ed. The word she used was not frisky!] But between the H.S. and the Word, thankfully I made it through the day.
But there are other areas where I have to be cautious. In the last two years, I've been blessed financially. I'm realizing that having a little room financially can be more difficult to handle than being busted. Envy -- or at the least -- the desire to own things I don't need is a temptation. The treasures on earth verses the treasures in heaven thing.
The reality is that I don't want to live in darkness... And it could be so easy.
The reality check for me this week has been that two of my co-workers had their parents die this week. Eric lost his father, and Tammie, my project leader found out at 2:30 this morning that her mother had passed away. We had talked yesterday evening about how she had not heard from her and that was unusual. It seems she had died Sunday evening. To my knowledge they didn't know the Lord. The co-workers are nominal church attenders. They are good people, but in spite of some conversations over the last few months, I'm not sure where they are with the Lord. They are having emotional melt-downs.
I have a major presentation to give today. It's the exit demonstration that goes over everything that I've done for the Pentagon since September with a fine toothed comb. I could very easily become frustrated and lose my cool. I've already told the Deputy Chief of Staff's aid that he was full of crap... So, they very well could be laying in wait for me on this briefing. We'll see. I have to keep the headlights on.
Father, I've been rambling this morning... The point is for me, I've known the darkness and it's a lonely place, a scary place, a Monster's place. So, Lord, I need your Spirit to do His best Tom Bodette impression and to "Keep the lights on" for me. It's a constant struggle. Oh, by the way, while you're at it... Make the wattage on those lights strong enough that I'm able to be a light for those around me, too. OK?
Sunday, May 16, 2004
"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." Matthew 6:22
I never realized until this verse that only one-eyed people can go to heaven... or is that what this verse is saying?
I've got a problem with this verse. The word "light" can also be translated lamp. The word "single" is translated "whole" or "healthy". But when I put that together, it would be "The lamp of the body is the eye and if the eye is healthy, then the whole body is full of light." But that doesn't make sense. The eye doesn't illuminate anything. I know! I walked through the house in the dark a few weeks ago after Marcia had moved the furniture. My toe still hurts.
If I look at that same sentence in reverse, then the eye does provide illumination, but to the soul. Now the whole meaning changes. What it then says is that what passes through the eye provides a light to the soul. It sounds sorta like a projector to me. You know... you have a light that shines behind a strip of cellulose and that image is then projected onto the screen. Depending upon what image is on the film determines what is shows up on the wall. In that light (pun intended), the verse would seem to be admonishing me to control what I look at, because what I choose to look at affects my soul.
I understand that... what if David had chosen to look away when he saw Bathsheba taking her bath on the roof instead of getting out his binoculars? He wouldn't have gone through a lot of grief and embarrasement in his life. And these days it's a lot harder to look at what is good.
I used to believe that porn, for example, was up to the individual if they wanted to look at it. I still believe that to a point. But any industry that would send me e-mail to my business account from a pilfered e-mail account list... who would jeopardize my livelihood by causing me to violate very strict policies against porn in the workplace... any industry who would target children by creating misleading web sites that might be mistyped such as Whitehouse.com instead of whitehouse.gov... I think they should be fines so heavily they could not operate and spend some jail time.
The point of this verse is that I have a choice. I can chose to look at what is good. If I do, then my body will be illuminated with a good and healthy light. Now that makes sense.
Father, today I will be challenged by the enemy as to what is put before my eyes. Help me to discern what is healthy. Give me the strength to look away when I want to get out the binoculars. Thanks.
PS: I just found out that American Idol Finalist, Diane Degarmo is the niece of 80's Christian Rocker, Eddie Degarmo of the group Degarmo and Key. How cool is that? Hope she wins.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matthew 6:21
This verse answers all the questions for me from the previous verses... It's a matter of priority. It doesn't matter whether I have money or not. It does matter whether God is first place in my life or not.
When I pray if I do it for personal edification; that men will hear me and be impressed, then I have my reward. If I do good things so that people will look at me and say, "There is a real philanthropists"; then I have my reward. If I amass wealth so that I can say "I'm successful"; I have my reward. It becomes a sort of double jeopardy... If I've already received my reward from men... Then God is off the hook. However, God is promising that if I do things for him; if my motives are pure; then he will give a reward.
A couple of weeks ago, Marcia and I gave some money to the church for a special need. I didn't know if I would have a job or not, but the need was there. The next day, I got a call indicating that I would have a job. Last week, another need presented itself that required a gift 5 times what we gave a couple weeks ago. Marcia and I decided we would pre-tithe. Give our tithe up front for this year to meet the need and then trust that the money would be there. Silly me! Two days I got an e-mail from the new company telling me I had been given some stock by my old company for staying with the old company during some hard times. That stock would be bought out. I would be getting the funds at the end of this month. The amount? The amount of the gift we offered last week plus 50%.
I'm not a believer in the God doesn't want anyone poor theology. I firmly believe that approach to the Christian life was started as a funding campaign slogan. I don't know that for a fact. I do find that God promises to take care of us... He doesn't promise to make us earthly wealthy. In fact, I believe that financial wealth can be a stumbling block. It leads to decisions that often force me to compromise my service to God; it forces me to worry about my earthly accounting rather than my spiritual accounting; it allows me option to make earthly choices rather than spiritual ones. And I'm not even wealthy by our country's current standards! But I am learning that when I make decisions because of what is right and not based on what makes good financial sense, wonderful things can happen.
Father, I'm realizing it's not all about rules. It's not about my actions for the sake of the physical acts that I perform that matters. It's about where my heart and focus is. Then everything else falls into place: financial, physical and spiritual. Allow me to listen to your Spirit as He guides me to keep you in my sight. Father, continue to impress me with your will. Oh, and by the way... Thanks.
