i ain't got nothing...but GOD

Somedays you find yourself so spent up, beat down and wrung out that you ain't got nothing.  I’ve sat by a raging beast of a wood kiln for 3 days guarding my students from harm and this morning feel like that old Johnny Cash song, Bird on a Wire…

“But I swear by this song

And by all that I’ve done wrong

I’ll make it all up to thee.”

Praise God All Mighty Maker of Heaven and Earth He will never leave us like a “Bird on a Wire.”

“For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.”  II Chronicles 16:9

2400 degrees and Holy

The Generosity of a Wood Kiln

Luke 16:13-31

So I can wrap this up very quickly.  The theme is to help us be generous and unselfish with our money.  Here is the wrap up for me.  Make my attitude about money a reflection of my relationship with God who is always generous with me.   I am writing this as I sit by a roaring wood kiln, deep in the dark woods of night.  Like I said, He’s always generous to me.  

my students at the wood kiln, paige nichole, cassandra
megan and casey, mr. larry sanderson in background

2000 degrees and climbing

Recovering ADDICT

Luke 16:13-31

Recovering Materialists.  I once read that phrase and thought how that aptly describes most Americans who have chosen to faithfully follow the teaching of Christ.  It certainly describes me.  The rich man in this passage is described as “Habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor everyday.”  As I write this I am wrapped in an LL Bean terry cloth robe, wearing LB Evans leather slippers, drinking Gavalia Coffee sitting on a 19’/30’ screened in back porch typing on an Apple MacBook Pro laptop.  By American standards I would be categorized as middle class, by God, “habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor everyday.”

I am not fully recovered!!!

My Daddy's Love

Luke 16: 27-31

The last subtitle in our lesson encouraging us to be generous and unselfish with our money is “Do I Need to Repent?”   The passages tell of the rich man in Hades asking Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth to convince his five brothers to repent and be spared from the torment he finds himself in. 

Repentance is a funny term in that it supposes that I have offended someone.  However, I often give money to the poor and needy.  In a fit of self-righteousness this entire week I have congratulated myself on my willingness to give to the poor, but I have missed the point.  The point is not, have I given to the poor, but do I see the poor as Christ sees them…dearly loved children of God?  Giving money to a man on the street corner may alleviate my guilt toward him, but if I do not see him as a child of God my greater guilt remains.  I have offended God.  That’s why God always looks at my heart.  Giving to the poor may be an act of self-righteousness or a learning tool for my children, but unless my redeemed heart animates my life to act in love toward that man, my guilt remains.

The question then becomes, do I love the poor and needy and an expression of that love is giving?

My dad was such a good teacher in that lesson.  

Heaven Hell, Take Your Pick

Luke 16:22-26

This passage is the telling of the afterlife of the rich man and Lazarus. 

No one can read the Bible with attention and not realize that it clearly develops the theme “there’s hell to pay!”  More importantly Jesus is the one who develops the theme.  We may not like it, but there it is.  Each of us must make a clear decision based on what we believe… either Jesus is truly mad and often talks out of his head and therefore is to be dismissed, or Jesus is who He claims Himself to be and we must devote our lives and money (in this case) to Him.   Jesus allows for no middle ground. 

The truth of this passage is not that the rich man went to hell because he was rich and the poor man went to heaven because he was poor.  The truth is that they both ended up in eternity based solely on their relationship with God.  Money was just an outward sign of an inward condition. 

Although the theme of “there’s hell to pay” is true, the good news is that THERE’S HEAVEN TO BE GAINED.   The decision rests squarely on our shoulders.  

Don’t Send a Dog To Do A Christian’s Job

Luke 16:19-21

The point of our lesson on money is to help us to be generous and unselfish with our money.

The second subtitle of our lesson is “How do you use your money?”  The text is Christ’s familiar telling of Lazarus outside the rich man’s gates longing for table scraps while dogs lick his sores.  All the while, the rich man is inside living the highlife. 

I stopped and meditated on the question of how I use my money.  Most of it I spend on me and mine.  I so readily condemned the “rich man” because Lazarus was right there in his doorway. However, because of technology and media most of the poor of the world reside not outside my door, but inside my living room.  I see them, but do I respond in generosity; do I use my money to help elevate the hunger and sickness that afflict the world’s poor?

Post Script: I often see beggars on street corners with dogs.  Why waste resources feeding and watering a dog?  It was only after reading today’s passage that I realized a great truth.  The dogs were serving as the church to Lazarus.  They provided his only aid and comfort, companionship and acceptance. 

Don’t send a dog to do a Christian’s job!

1/8 th of Me

Luke 16:13-15

The title of the Sunday school lesson is “Manage Money Well.”   The first subtitle that we study is “What do you think about money?”  Money is a faith-based instrument.  Our currency hasn’t any real value other than the faith the world places in us to keep working and producing which in turn endows the currency with value.  Let’s look at it this way.  In 1974, when I started driving I could buy two gallons of gas with one dollar.  Today it takes me four dollars to buy one gallon.  If I had a dollar printed in 1974 and took it to Exxon today, they would not give me two gallons of gas for it because it has no real value.  The value is assigned to it by the world’s faith and is now worth about 1/8 of what it was worth then. 

We always need to keep this upper most in our minds when thinking of God and our money.  Here’s why.  In this passage Jesus speaks to the wealthy, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of others…” Jesus knows that humans are often susceptible to the temptations of wealth.  One of those is basing our value or “justification” on the amount of money we or someone else have.  But remember, if that is the case, I’m only 1/8^th as valuable as I was in 1974. 

Money is not very faithful!!!