One of the things I have often been challenged about by God, and it draws close to me every day in terms of what I worry about or get concerned about, is the issue of WHO IS MY PROVIDER going to be?

Who do I see as responsible for providing for what I need?

Your answer to that will have you living in one of three ways.

You’ll be a BEGGAR, A DIGGER, OR A GIVER.

Jesus told a parable, a story with meaning, in Luke 16:1-13. It’s a bit of a weird one about a man who suddenly finds himself in financial difficulty. The major point, which it’s always safest to go with in parables, is that he thought he’d always have enough, but now the future’s closing him down fast.

And the internal dialogue the guy has with himself there leads me to these three ways to live. Have a read yourself.

He says ‘I’m too proud to beg, and I’m not strong enough to dig,’ so he ends up getting very creative in the area of generosity – with his master’s money.

Before we tell him off too much, we Christians have the perspective that it’s ALL our Master’s money don’t we? We are only ever able to be generous because he gave it to us to be stewards of it in the first place.

And Jesus finishes up commending him, then he says ‘One who is faithful with very little is also faithful with much, and one who is dishonest with very little is also dishonest with much’ (Which has to be worth remembering doesn’t it?).

He’s talking about money there and he says it’s ‘a very little thing.’

God’s not impressed by money. But that very little thing for God is a very big test for us.

It says who your real master is, who and what you’re really living for.

We know that’s the case because then he says, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

3 ways to live… Beggar, Digger, Giver…

• Beggar: Live as if it depends on others (beg beg beg)
• Digger: Live as it depends on me, scraping away (dig dig dig)
• Giver: Live as if I depend on God – he’s my never ending source, my artesian well, my never-ending stream…

How do I show that I’m living like that?

If I do, I won’t be all spend, spend, spend or hurry, hurry, hurry

I won’t beg, beg, beg – or worry, worry, worry,

I won’t dig, dig, dig, or scurry, scurry scurry

I’ll GIVE and I’ll GIVE and I’ll LIVE! Give, Give, Give!