God’s wisdom is easy to understand – but hard to APPLY. Biblical money management, God-honouring stewardship, is about wisdom and character more than income or education. It has to do with old-fashioned discipline. It’s more than 80% about choices. It’s not just hearing, it’s doing. I’ve begun to realise I really can be an encouragement to others, really honour God with this really important area of my finances, I can even give increasingly, joyfully and freely, more and more and more – if I can just get to control this idiot I shave with! When people in church tomorrow hear the word stewardship, many of them may switch off and just think I’m going to say, ‘Give the church more money!’ But stewardship, what the Bible says about that, is that stewardship is basically all about how you look after what belonged to another. It involves money, but encompasses much more – and I don’t want to talk about amount so much as attitude. The word comes out of KJV – written in the times of the feudal system.// Everyone […]
Stewards R Us
No possessions?
This coming Sunday I’ll be speaking on the line in Lennon’s Imagine when he said, “Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can, nothing to kill or die for, a brotherhood of man.” Is money the root of all evil (as the Bible is often misquoted as saying?). Are poor people in some sense better off? Would the world be better if they just gave everyone the same, whether a little or a lot? How long would that system last? One of my readings is the famous story of the ‘Rich Young Ruler.’ He appears in all three of the Synoptic gospels, went away from Jesus sad, because he had a lot of money. Does more make you miserable? Your thoughts and ideas appreciated, as I try to gather mine.
Catalyst 2007 Francis Chan
I was at this conference. That’s me at the back somewhere. Why do I go all that way across the pond? Because of the fantastic teaching. Here’s one of the best bits from this year. It’s longish, but worth a watch. Thanks to http://floatingaxhead.com
A Baby New Year
Why is a baby the symbol for the New Year? Why will we very soon say goodbye to the OLD year, and welcome a new baby 2008? Well if there’s one thing you can say about babies that you can’t say as we get older – it’s that babies (especially in nappies) like changes! Someone said to me the other day they think 2008 will be a bad year. I think you get what you believe for. I think the new year is like that baby who’s just entered the world and I want to be ready to celebrate and live life anew. A New Year presents another chance to grow, to develop, to learn:How do feel as you look toward 2008? Will next year be better? What about you? Will you be a better version of you in 2008 than 2007?Sometimes adult children of God can think we’ve grown enough. Like when they measure Mary Poppins and it says, “Practically perfect in every way!” And we can make all kinds of excuses for stagnating…. An old man of 100 […]
Rubbish, Christmas and kids
The Daily Mail says we Britons will chuck out 736,571 tonnes of refuse – just because of Christmas. Or, according to official sources, 3 tons (someone’s talking rubbish). Anyway – it’s a lot. Just look at my drive this morning. A family of 5 with relatives stopping over can generate a lot of junk. I’m glad we can recycle a lot, but it makes me ashamed to be putting out so much empty wrapping/ bottles/ food containers to celebrate that God came to a stable. This, in a world where more than 58 million kids are suffering acute malnutrition and 146 million are malnourished (a nice way to say they’re slowly starving to death). Starvation is the leading cause of child death in the world at the beginning of the (21st. Many of those who don’t actually die in the first couple of years will instead grow up stunted and deformed because of the deprivation of their early years. In 2000, our government and other world leaders promised to halve child poverty by 2015, back then it was at 29%. […]
Why buy?
Books. I spend too much money on books. I love them. Especially new ones. The promise of learning something new. I wish I had the patience to get them from the library (or the discipline to take them back on time when I do). Yesterday I was thinking I either: 1) Buy less books 2) Buy a new bookcase. I think option 2 will prevail. Why can’t I just go (locally) somewhere like those Barnes & Nobles in the USA / Canada where I’ve happily spent half a day reading books I’ll probably not buy while drinking coffee? I’m marginally interested in Russell Brand’s ‘Booky Wook,’ mainly because I can’t understand why so many people are buying it (whether they actually read it is, of course, another thing entirely). I won’t buy it – unless it’s in 3 or 4 years in a charity shop for 50p, but I’d like to read it.
Best of Intentions
I want to be faithful to God. I want to go closer to him in prayer and obedience. I can’t do this in my own strength. This Sunday I stand before His people to speak about the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge (Lk 18:1-8). My questions – in what way am I like/ not like the widow? In what way is God like/ not like the judge? Is it saying I have to hammer on at God to get an answer? Why should this story encourage me to pray?