Money Talks

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. Matthew 13:22 (ESV) 

This morning when I read this scripture, I was struck by the word "deceitfulness". The verse mentions worrying, for sure, but it's not specifically worrying about money. The money is actually deceiving this person. What is the deception? The scripture passage doesn't really say in Matthew or Mark. The parallel passage in Luke gives a slightly different perspective:

And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. Luke 8:14 (ESV)

This version of the story makes it even clearer that there are "cares" or worries or stresses that can be a problem, but there is another category of "thorns" - riches and pleasures. It's not just bad things that can choke the Word; things that we normally see as "good" things can do so as well.

So how are we "deceived" by our own money? I think the biggest deception may be that we think more money can make us happy. We've all seen the now-famous Jim Carrey quote “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.” And I think everyone who is not as wealthy as Jim Carrey is (most of us!) will tend to have a "sopur grapes" reaction, something like "That's right, Jim! You found out that just because you're a zillionaire famous actor, you're miserable just like us regular folks!" But then we fall into the same trap: "Man, it's four days to payday. If I just had twenty bucks I could get that thing I just saw at the store..." or "...I could order pizza tonight and I wouldn't have to cook..." or "...I could go see a movie and relax..." and we think that whatever thing it is will make use feel happier. And it's true in one way: it might make us feel happier in the moment.

That's why it's so easy for our riches to lie to us.

Because after you eat the pizza, you're going to get heartburn. That thing from the store was actually not that well made, and it fell apart a week later. The movie turned out to be a stinker. Or maybe none of those things happened, but in this world, the luster eventually wears off on everything. There is only one thing that goes against that trend, and that is because it doesn't originate in this world. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that "Man's chief End is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." I've found in my life that there are always high points and low points, but when my focus is centered on the Lord, the high points are higher, and the low points are actually higher too. When you are wrapped up in Jesus, things are better than when you are wrapped up in anything else.

Your money is a liar. Also, the money you don't have is a liar. They both tell you they can make you happy, but they cannot. When you don't let those "thorns" choke out what the Word of God wants to speak into your heart, this is what happens:

As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. Luke 8:15 (ESV)

Your Name, Making Kids' Lives Harder, and the Church Says Yes

photo © 2008 David Hopkins | more info (via: Wylio)This morning we sang a Paul Baloche song in church that goes "As morning dawns and evening fades, You inspire songs of praise that rise from earth to touch Your heart and glorify Your Name." I think the imagery of the song rising up from Earth to Heaven is beautiful, but this morning it made me think about how God causes all kinds of things to rise from the Earth toward Heaven. Trees, plants, animals... and His Son from the grave and us with Him. It struck me that God's will always tends toward things rising up from Earth and moving toward Him. Maybe that's part of the reason that many Christians like to stretch out their arms and hands toward Heaven when they sing worship!

After the music portion of the service, we had what we call "baby dedications." Basically those are just a time for new parents (or even not quite as new parents... one of the children we prayed over today is in the toddler class!) to kind of present their children to the church, pray for a safe and Godly upbringing for them, that sort of thing. For some reason I started thinking about my own two kids and how sometimes I'm pretty sure they think my wife and I get great mirth and joy from making their lives miserable. That is of course not the truth of the situation, but I was a kid once... I remember feeling that way sometimes! I realized today, though, that my job as a parent is to make my kids' lives harder... if they are not doing the right thing. My job is to make sin as difficult and unpleasant as I can, but when they are doing the right thing, my job is to grease the rails for them and empower them to succeed. I never thought of myself as a standing-in-the-way kind of parent, but if I'm standing in the way of my kids getting hurt or messing up their lives, I'll stand in the way of a speeding train if I have to!

Later in the service our associate pastor was talking about some of the things we are doing as a church to help needy people in the community, and I was thinking about how I usually feel sort of disconnected from those kinds of church ministries. After all, nobody asked me if we should help that person pay his rent or give him groceries or whatever. But then I realized that just because I don't make the actual decision to help that particular individual person, it doesn't mean I'm not a part of the decision... because if someone had asked me my opinion about it, I'm fairly certain I would have said "yes." In fact, I think it's safe to say, based on what I know about the people in my church (and I've spent time visiting with quite a lot of them), that we would as a body say "yes" if we were asked whether we should help someone who needed our help. When there's unity in a church body, the pastor knows that when he says "yes," the church says "yes." Come to think of it, the reason the pastor says "yes" and the reason the church says "yes" is because when someone calls out to Christ Jesus for help, His answer is "always yes" — within constraints of the church's budget, helping hurting people is always a top priority. That's how I feel, I know that's how my fellow church members feel, and I know it's how my pastor and his staff and board feel... so if Jesus says "yes" and leadership says "yes," and the church is of one mind with leadership, then the church also says "yes!"

While They Sleep

It was the end of the semester. Finals were ending, and summer vacation was coming up. And I was still short some of the funds I needed, and had no idea what to do.

This happened many years ago when I was a student at Oral Roberts University. I was in a choir that had been planning and preparing for a short tour/missions trip in Europe for the whole year. I had done what I was supposed to do to raise the money to pay my way, but fundraising is not a sport for the faint of heart. I had sent out support letters, and I had prayed, and some money had come in, but it just wasn't quite enough. My parents didn't have resources to make up the difference, and I sure didn't have anything squirreled away to throw into the pot. I had no idea what to do, and essentially I gave up and decided to take a nap. But before I did, I ran into my friend Dave. I won't give Dave's last name here, because he and others who know him may see this and he might be embarrassed to have people know what happened, but Dave was in choir with me when I told him I didn't have the money to go, he was very upset; I think he didn't want to see me miss out on an amazing opportunity. I don't remember the exact conversation, but I remember Dave being very agitated, not at me but at the situation. I went to my room and laid down, resigned to the idea that the mission trip wasn't going to happen for me.

Dave, however, did not take a nap. This was the extreme end of the semester, and Dave knew that guys all over the dorm were packing up their stuff to go home for the summer. He also knew that some of those guys would be finding money they had lost in their rooms months ago. Dave took a can or something and walked around the dorm, looking for doors that were open and guys who were packing up their things, and asked them for donations to help a student go on a missions trip. And you know what? Dave managed to raise all of the money I still needed! When I went to sleep, I wasn't going on missions; when I woke up, I was. I wasn't involved at all. I didn't even actually ask for help! What a friend, to help me out when I had given up on helping myself! That trip was a defining couple of weeks for me. I still think back to that trip sometimes. Missions doesn't only benefit the people you go to see, you know. A missions trip changes the missionary, I think, maybe even more than it changes those who receive his ministry.

So, last night I was reading what is known as the "songs of ascent," which you will find in your Bible from Psalm 120-Psalm 134, and I saw this verse (which I've read many times before):

In vain you rise early
      and stay up late,
      toiling for food to eat—
      for he grants sleep to those he loves. (Psalm 127:2 NIV)

It's a great verse to meditate on when you have insomnia, for sure. In fact, it's in my list of sleep scripture verses on ScriptureMenu.com. But the thing that caught my eye this time was an NIV footnote attached to the verse. If you use the alternate reading, the verse says:

In vain you rise early
      and stay up late,
      toiling for food to eat—
      for while they sleep he provides for those he loves.

What an amazing picture of what happened to me that day! I worked and toiled, but it didn't work out for me... but when I came to the end of myself, God provided for me in my sleep. I hope Dave does read this, because I hope he understands how much I appreciated then and appreciate now what he did that day. The money didn't appear by magic; I believe God gave Dave an amazingly good idea, and directed him in what to do, but Dave got up and did the work, and I was and still am extremely grateful for that. I want to publicly thank him for being obedient to the Holy Spirit, and I want to publicly thank God for caring enough about my missions trip to provide for me "while I slept."



Guess what? I realized that something very similar happened in the Bible! Check out this post for details.



* I'd like to add this: don't sit around waiting for God javascript:void(0)to magically fund your missions trip. Follow the instructions of experienced folks. Write your fundraising letters and emails. Work a few hours extra per week at your job. Wash cars; have bake sales. Do what you know. Pray that God will inspire people to give, and that He will inspire you with clever ideas to earn. But when you've come to the end of your rope and you don't know what else to do, trust God to be in your corner. If he's put missions in your heart, He will also put the money in your hands to do what he's inspired you to do.

Time for a new refrigerator

Saturday my refrigerator died.

But wait a second... let me back up in time a little bit. The refrigerator had been making death rattles for a couple of days, but we hadn't had time to go out looking for one. In addition, we didn't have the $1,500-$2,000 that most new refrigerators will cost you. In fact, we didn't even have the $300-$500 that most used refrigerators will set you back. We've been struggling financially for a few months because of some bookkeeping errors on my part, and at the time I was under the impression that when I paid all of the bills that needed paying, I would have something in the neighborhood of $0 left over to buy refrigerators with. That is not enough to buy a refrigerator, at least nowhere I know of in Tulsa. So anyway, at the time that we started hearing the loud unnerving sounds coming from our 35-year-old refrigerator, Cathy and I both prayed that it would last until we had time to go shopping for a new one.

So apparently, that time occurred Saturday morning. Cathy discovered that the stuff in the freezer had defrosted, so we took everything out that absolutely needed keeping cool and I shuttled all of it over to my mom and dad's house for temporary storage.

When I got home, Cathy was watching a program called Time on The Science Channel. It struck me as being kind of theoretical for her... she generally tends to be a very concrete-minded person and this show was all physics-y and space/time-y and I was honestly surprised she was putting up with it... apparently she likes science a lot more than I realized. When I got there and started watching, they were showing these white rats that had been trained to push a button. They gave one rat saline solution for a control group. He pushed the button in the normal amount of time. Then they gave another rat cocaine, and he pushed the button REALLY fast, and they gave another rat marijuana, and he pushed the button REEEEALLY slowly.

The new fridge, appropriately decorated

They went on to explain that it appears that different chemicals seem to be able to slow down or speed up our perception of time, and that time appears to be largely something that exists in our minds. Then why, they asked, does time only move forward and never backward? The reason they came up with is that it is possible for time to move in a reverse direction, but that we never see it happen because it is highly improbable... so improbable that there is virtually no chance that it will ever happen in the lifetime of our universe.

(Don't worry, by the way, because I actually am getting to a spiritual point here. We're real close... hang on for a little more time and I'll get you there. I'll get you back to the refrigerator too, you just watch!)

So I was thinking... this physicist on my TV who just spilled and un-spilled a cup of coffee (cool camera trick, there, Galileo!) is coming this close to saying that time is essentially an invention of our own minds and does not actually exist at all. And then it occurred to me that most Christians believe basically that God exists outside of time and that human beings are placed within time by Him... essentially that time was created for our benefit.

Strange how science always seems to loop back to Theology somehow.

So anyway, by that time we had to leave for my 7-year-51-week-old Mikey's soccer game, so we went to that and then dropped him and his infant sister off with grandparents so we could go fridge-shopping. We decided to take our time and head to a handy Lowe's and the Home Depot next door to it to see what might be available. On the way Cathy was like, I really want one with see-through trays, and this and that, and I was like, OK. We're in a financial bind right now, so my first reaction to that is to say, we'll take what we can get because we don't have the money to be choosy. But instead, let's go with my second reaction, which is to pray for God to lead us to just what we want at a price we can afford. So I asked her to pray, and she did. And so we progressed on to Home Depot.

Before we got to Home Depot we spotted a Maytag Outlet Store, and decided to look there if we didn't see anything else good. So we looked at Home Depot... nothing we liked. Nothing good in our range at Lowe's, either. So on we went to the Maytag Store, where we found two identical refrigerators in their "blemished" area. Now, appliances that are considered "blemished" sometimes have visible damage, usually minor, but in this case, there was no visible damage at all. And these refrigerators had the see-through trays Cathy wanted. And they were not smaller than the dead one, which was a concern of mine. And they were marked down from nearly $900 to under $600! Wow!

So we wanted to buy, but because of our financial struggles I was afraid that financing wouldn't happen this time. The most cash I could come up with immediately was about $150, and I didn't think they would knock that much off for me! I grabbed a credit app off their "90 days same as cash" display anyway and filled it out and gave it to our salesman... I figured in a pinch, I should be able to squeeze blood out of a turnip for three months and get that $200 each month somehow and pay it off in time so I didn't have to pay that 22+% interest. So the guy submitted our credit application, and not only did it come back approved (for a much higher credit line than we needed!), but it was approved for TWELVE MONTHS same as cash! And I KNOW I can come up with $50 per month for twelve months!

So one borrowed pickup truck and one helpful dad later, I had a brand new refrigerator at my house, all set up and ready to go. It was exactly what we needed, and probably a slight bit larger than the one it was replacing, especially in the freezer part. An answer to prayer? Clearly! God knew better than we did what we needed, and He provided it.

Here's the rub, though. When we prayed, that fridge was already at the store. It was already marked down to the price we bought it for. Our credit score was presumably the same before we prayed as after. So if God provided it, He must have provided it days or even weeks before our old refrigerator went out, timing everything exactly right so that those fridges would be in that store, our credit would be in a certain state, maybe that specific salesman would be on duty to help us out, we would happen to spot the Maytag store on the way to the other stores... everything would be just right. If God lives outside of time, it doesn't matter if we pray today and the answer requires six months to happen... God knows what we will pray for, when we will pray it, and when we will need the answer.

(Bonus points: read the post again and see how many times you can spot the word "time!")

All Your Needs

At 4am I was staring into the face of a baby. To all appearances, about 30% of the baby's face was open mouth. Out of the mouth came a very loud sound. This sound can best be described as "screaming." This screaming was, have I mentioned, very loud?

The mouth wanted milk in it. Or at least baby formula. I was the man for the job. I was the one who would provide the milk or at least formula. The baby was looking at me, and screaming for formula.

The formula was in the kitchen. So was the bottle, the delivery mechanism for the formula. The baby and I were headed toward the kitchen. Once I arrived in the kitchen, I would get the bottle, mix the formula with water, and then apply the formula to the mouth, which I may have mentioned, was screaming. Very loud. In my face.

Did the mouth stop screaming because I was on my way to the kitchen? The formula was available, and just needed to be properly prepared and placed into the bottle. The perfect person to prepare it and deliver it to the screaming mouth was actually on the way into the room where this would occur.

The mouth did not stop screaming. Because this is a BABY. And babies don't always understand these things, or sometimes they just get all freaked out and don't calm down until what they need is completely in their possession.

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Have you done any screaming today?

"The Prosperity Gospel"

I wanted to comment on this news article, but the entry was getting long so I decided to journal it here instead. Here goes:

I found this interesting:

The Book of Job is a case study in piety unrewarded...

I guess Mr. Palmer forgot to read all the way to the end of the book of Job. I'm sure he can find a better example than that!

Lack of balance on the part of some doesn't mean that the whole thing is incorrect. As I journaled recently, just because someone is mistaken about the nature of the sun doesn't mean there's no sun. To me there is so much evidence that God wants His people to be well-supplied (I won't go into multimillionaire territory here... I just mean not destitute and scrambling for funds) that it's hardly worth arguing, but here are a few things to think about. God calls us an army. Who sends their army out without provisions? God calls us his children. Who willingly sends their children to school hungry? Jesus called us "friends." Who sees his friends in need and doesn't try to help out? We just had a new baby; friends of ours from church brought us dinner for a week. Jesus said the Church is his "bride." You wouldn't marry someone and then lock them in the basement to starve, would you?

All of those terms are terms of endearment, of love. The world around us is partially constructed in such a way that it teaches us things about God... which is why we have fatherhood (to show us fathers how God feels about us) and marriage (to show us how Jesus feels about us) and all those other things. If you think God wants you dirt-poor or sick or any of those other negative things, you're not paying close enough attention to your own attitudes toward the ones you love.

Now, I think some people live lives of poverty because of a call of God. If you are one of those people, you know it and have peace about that; if you don't have peace about that, you're likely not that person. Some people's lives end in martyrdom; those are casualties of war, not some kind of Holy Corpse Brigade. Sometimes things don't seem to fit the mold, but the concept remains: God loves us and His best, in general, is not for His beloved to suffer.

The problem here is thinking that you can do something and make something else happen. Thinking that I can put a $10 bill in a collection plate and then, based on the "hundredfold return" principle, assume that God is obligated to send me $1,000 right away. That, my friend, is not "faith" but "magic." Witches and magicians think they can cast spells and control nature. Christians know that only God can control nature. Nothing I can do can force God to do anything.

So, my thinking is this: we need to follow the teachings of the Bible as best we can, including the ones about giving and tithing. Doing these things Scripturally means that you are doing them out of a giving, generous heart, not with an attitude of trying to get something back. When we do so, we satisfy something in the system of just cause and effect which God has set up, and it allows us to receive from God whatever He, in his sovereignty, has decided to provide for us.

We're not making things happen. A better way to look at it is that we are being obedient to God in an effort to not stand in the way of the blessings which we believe He is sending our way.

MY God

"My God."

"MY God."

"MY God."

Yesterday evening during the worship service at church, I began thanking God that He had made it so He could be my God. I wasn't specifically thinking about Hebrews 8:8-12 at the time, but that's the vibe. God is mine. My God. Not just my church's God. Not just my family's God or my parents' God. Not necessarily my nation's God, like the children of Israel to whom this prophecy was originally given... my God. It's what was being spoken into my heart as I was communing with God.

Last night I went home and worked on my checkbook. Let's just say that it's not how I would like it to be, especially right before Christmas. Unless something changes, I'm going to need to call some people and have some uncomfortable conversations. This is occurring immediately after we began giving toward our church's new debt reduction/building project. I'll be honest... it makes me feel anxious that I don't know when God will come through for me. After all, He's not the one that has to make those phone calls.

This morning it started to come to me again... my God. My God. He's MY God. And then, unexpectedly, the phrase completed itself out to a familiar Scripture verse about a group of people who had been giving of their finances to God:

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

(Philippians 4:19 ESV)

parent gifting

I've many times heard ministers talking about how when their son or daughter approaches them with a heart of gratitude and love and asks them for something, the child can get whatever he or she wants. This is used to illustrate how God provides us what we need when we ask Him in faith. The whole metaphor seems sort of flawed to me, though... if I had unlimited funds, would I give my son anything he asked me for? If I did, he would wind up spoiled and with no appreciation for any of it! And then again... does God give me anything at all that I ask for? Of course not. If I ask to be president of the moon, it's not likely to happen, at least not until someone LIVES on the moon. If I ask to be the owner of Microsoft... well, someone already owns Microsoft. And then there are the times when we feel we have made perfectly reasonable requests of God, and yet He does not seem to come through. What about those?

So what's my point? I don't exactly know. The Word specifically tells us that God will supply all of our needs... but I don't know that it says He will supply everything we want. I would never withhold food or clothing or shelter or love from my child, but I might withhold candy or a toy in certain situations. Maybe God, as our loving Father, works things out in a similar way. Maybe there's some sort of God-logic to when He answers "want" prayers. But I guess it doesn't hurt to ask, right? "You have not because you ask not" it says!

(I don't really want to be president of the moon, though.)

Why You Aren't Receiving (Even Though You Are Asking)

In the circles I frequent, this is a very familiar verse (all boldface in this post is mine, not the ESV's):

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. - John 15:7 (ESV)

According to just that verse, there are three requirements to getting your prayers answered:

1. Abide in Jesus
2. Have His Word in you
3. Ask in prayer

Of course, the context does a lot to define what it means to "abide in Jesus," so you can read that on your own, but in a nutsheel that's kind of it. At least, I always thought that was it, until last night when I read the passage to my son. Check out verse 16:

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. - John 15:16 (ESV)

That presents another requirement: you must be BEARING FRUIT. If you really need proof that bearing fruit is part of the scenario, read verse 7 in context:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. - John 15:1-8 (ESV)

You can't expect to follow some magic formula and somehow make God give you something, of course; sometimes God does things for reasons we don't understand. But it does make sense to live your life in such a way that you are not the cause of something you pray for not happening. If you re-read verse 16 above, it almost sounds like God is really wanting to fulfill your request, if you would just BEAR SOME FRUIT so He could do it! "...so that... he MAY give it to you." Of course, it could be argued that "bearing fruit" is part of "abiding in Me" (see verses 4-6), so really it's all present in verse 7, but it's illuminating how well it is summed up a few verses later.