The Importance of Giving During a Financial Drought

Perhaps your state, like mine, has issued some sort of "stay at home order". Ours was issued about a week ago, and throughout this past week I have been hearing of more and more of my family, friends, and acquaintances who have had their income cut off or significantly diminished. This has even touched my own household, and has made me more thankful than ever for the blessing of my little income!

The truth is, we are in exactly the right position for our giving to accomplish what God intends it to. I know this topic is one that is annoying or offensive to many, but it is an important one, and the Bible has some greatly encouraging things to say about God's provision when we are using our money as He desires.

Now, I'm going to be totally honest with you: I'm terrible at remembering to put my tithe in the offering each month. It is a struggle to remember, and sometimes, --like this month-- it is nearly the end of the month before I finally get that check written and put in the offering. Part of that is because, as organist, I am often up front during the offering, but that's really no excuse. It's something I'm working on, but it takes intentional effort to remember. --So I understand that forgetting happens, especially during times like these where we are not meeting physically at church to be reminded by seeing the ushers walk to the front to take the offering. But that it why it is more important now than ever to remain faithful and make that extra effort to remember and follow through.

There are just two things I want to address here about giving: our responsibility and our faith.

Our Responsibility:

 Each one of us has a responsibility to do our part in supporting the local church. It's a bit like the offerings in the Old Testament. The offerings brought in were not all to be burnt to ashes. Many were meant to be used, at least in part, for the maintenance of the tabernacle or temple as well as for the sustenance of the priests. Nowadays, we don't have the same system, but giving in order to support both the work and the workers of the ministry is a New Testament principle as well.

Do you like meeting in a warm building? Do you appreciate having lights on and a sound system making it easier to hear the preaching? How about water so you can use the restroom or wash your hands or get a drink when you have a coughing fit? Are these things you enjoy? They are also things that cost money.

Does your church support missionaries? They are relying on God's people to be faithful in giving during this time so that they can continue to work for the furtherance of the gospel in countries that are being touched by this same crisis that we are facing. In a sense, your church is their "employer". Will you and your brothers and sisters in Christ be faithful, or will your missionaries face being laid off like so many in the secular workforce?

If everyone in a church were to do the bare minimum God requires and give just ten percent of their income, churches would be well provided for, and have the wherewithal to function and meet the needs they were designed to.

Has it ever occurred to you that God has a specific plan for the funds He desires you to give? Part of the joy of giving is the fact that none of it goes to waste: God has planned to use the money you give to meet specific needs. He is a God of detail and order, and knows exactly what He plans to do with your tithes and offerings.

But, you might be thinking, how can I give right now when there is such a strain on my finances? 

That brings us to faith.


Our Faith:
 
Not only do we have a responsibility to keep giving through whatever hardships God allows, we also have an opportunity to see the loving, gracious, generous hand of God that has already promised to meet our needs as we obey Him.

I read in my time with God this morning Luke chapter 5:1-16. It is the account of Peter and his fellow fisherman taking Jesus into their boat while he preached to a large crowd. When He had finished preaching, He told Peter to take the boat out into deep water and let down the nets. Peter's reply was

"Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net". 

 As I read, it struck me that Peter and the others had done all that they could do, to no avail. They had been utterly unsuccessful. I'm no expert on the fishing industry in Bible times, but it seems to me that for the fishermen back in Jesus' day, the formula looked something like:  no fish = no income.

Sound familiar? These fisherman had toiled, had worked their hardest all night long, but were faced with returning home empty handed. Yet, Peter did as Jesus said. Perhaps it was out of politeness or respect, perhaps it was to prove Jesus' plan would not work, perhaps it was with the smallest glimmer of hope that maybe there was some chance a fish might wander into the net --whatever his reason, Peter obeyed.  --And the result?


Fish.

Lots of fish.

So many fish that boat began to sink.


And Peter was brought face to face with the reality that God was standing before him. Struck by the consciousness of his own sin, Peter dropped to his knees, saying, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord". But Jesus told him not to be afraid, and commissioned him for a new calling.

I know this account isn't necessarily about giving, but it is about obedience, and obedience is at the heart of why we give. --And when we obey, God blesses.

This account of God's abundant provision in response to Peter's obedience reminds me of Malachi 3:10. Here, God literally tells the Israelites, "prove Me", that is, to try Him and see if He would do as He had always said He would if they were to obey.

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

God is saying that if Israel obeys and brings in all their tithes, He will provide so much that there will not be enough room for it all! (Remind you of Peter?)

Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that if you give lots, you will become a billionaire, but it does mean that God is faithful, and often uses our times of financial dearth as an opportunity for us to build our faith by "proving" that He really can and will provide as we obey.

Those of us who have made a "faith promise" commitment, this is where the "faith" part comes into play. If God prompted you to make the commitment in the first place, surely He has a plan to provide for you to be faithful now, when it matters most!

So, be faithful, whatever financial stresses you may face, because God is always faithful, and His resources are unlimited!

Keeping Sunday the Lord's Day When Stuck at Home

We live in unusual days. The Coronavirus has caused several states to put their residents under a "shelter in place" order, and the states that haven't gone that far have at least issued a ban on meeting in groups. Across America, Christians are faced with the prospect of Sunday at home, whether for the short term or for an indeterminable "month of Sundays" as the saying goes.

 This is a challenge for us, because God has always intended for Christians to fellowship with other Christians. His plan for the church hasn't been that we each spend Sundays in our separate houses, reading our Bibles in solitude, so it is naturally  difficult to keep the Lord's Day feeling like the Lord's Day when we cannot be with other Christians. 

So, what's a house-bound Christian to do? 

Whether we stay home because of illness, cancellation, weather, quarantine, or whatever other uncontrollable circumstance might keep us from gathering with other believers on a given Sunday, we are still to take a day to rest and to focus on Him.

As I've thought through for myself how to keep Sunday the Lord's Day without the option of going to church, I settled on a few ideas that I think will help me accomplish this. Perhaps they will help you, as well!

1. Start the day with God.

This is something I try to do anyway, but it can be easy to fall into the rut of habit and not really pay attention to one's time with God. It can become just one more thing to check off one's list. A Sunday at home presents a reminder to bring the heart back into your time with God. It also (hopefully) is a time when you might have some extra time in the morning which you could use to prolong your time with God.

Time with God can, in fact, include nearly all the elements of an ordinary church service: worship in song, prayer, Scripture reading, and perhaps a sermon or commentary on the passage you have read.

 Our time with God on Sundays should be at least as precious and refreshing as on any other day, and while at home, with nowhere to go, we should be better able to keep what we have learned in our time with God with us all day long, thinking and meditating on it throughout the day.

2. Gather together (as you can).

For those who are housebound or under quarantine, this might seem to be a silly thing to say, but in our age of technology, it is easy to reach out to others and fellowship verbally when we cannot be physically present with them. There are lots of possible applications to this idea.

For those, like myself, who live in a house with other family members, it is quite easy to gather together on a Sunday and have one's own "church service". After all, Jesus did say that "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20).

I have warm memories of the few Sundays we were unable to go out to church during my childhood, whether because of weather or illness. If all of us were to stay home, Mommy and Daddy would cheer us up by bringing the "Sunday School box" down out of the attic. This was a box full of interesting items left over from the days when they had taught Sunday School before we were born. Because this box was reserved for churchless Sundays, we did not get it out very often, which made it quite a treat. We would pull each item out of the box, one by one, and then my parents would lead us in our own at-home Sunday School class. Honestly, I remember the box better than the lessons, but the principle still holds that Christians stuck at home together can still have their own "church service".

From what I have read, this was a common daily practice in Christian homes during the Victorian era. Now, I won't say that the Victorians were perfect, or that we should all try to make society go back to what it was then, but as with any time in history, there were some good things going on. One of these was the concept of the "family altar", where the whole family, and often the whole household, servants and all, would gather together to sing, read Scripture, and pray. There would often be a short lesson for the children to learn or recite, and the head of the household would often give some explanation of the text of Scripture read.

In modern times, we would call this family devotions, and Sunday is the perfect day to make sure this happens. If family devotions are already part of your family's daily life, Sunday could be a day in which you add something to it to make it special. Does your family like to sing? Have a special time of singing together. Do they like to memorize? Have a time for reciting all the verses each family member has memorized. Does your family have a flair for the dramatic? Have some of the family act out a portion of Scripture. Each family is different, so each family's devotion time will be a bit different as well. But as long as it draws the family's focus to the Lord, it will be time well-spent.

For those who find themselves alone, gathering together may mean reaching out to others over phone or text or email or even a video call like FaceTime or Skype. Mommy has a couple friends who regularly "meet" with her over the phone to pray together. Just because you aren't able to be present with other Christians physically doesn't mean you can't still have fellowship with them. --And it doesn't have to be a whole "church service", either. It can be as simple as texting a verse to a friend or telling them you're praying for them.

I'm told that during the 1918 outbreak of the Spanish Flu, many churches had to close for a time, similarly to what we're seeing today. One pastor I read about, Rev. W.B. Hinson, kept in touch with his congregation with the weekly church bulletin, which he sent out at his own expense. In these bulletins, he wrote to his church, encouraging them to keep focused on God while they were unable to meet, as well as bringing to their attention the preciousness of having a church to gather with at all. The result? The very first time the church was again allowed to gather, their congregation had increased "almost two-fold"! You can read about it here.

Many pastors are doing similarly, either through emails, podcasts, or live-streamed sermons. These are meant not only to teach and encourage those in the congregation who cannot meet together, but also to give the sense of fellowship as well as to keep the congregation on common ground, ready to move forward in unison when we can again meet together. After all, part of what unifies a local church is the common teaching we hear each week. It points us all in the same direction and gives us a Biblical foundation upon which to base our interactions with each other. 

3.  Choose activities that draw your focus towards God, and choose to refrain from activities that draw your focus away from Him. 

For many centuries of Christian history, Sunday was considered to be a day only for spiritual pursuits. One problem that arose from this was a cultural expectation that certain things were for "Sunday" but not for the rest of the week. The current attitude of Christianity towards this concept of a day set apart only for spiritual things is largely one of disapproval, citing the fact that we should be focused on spiritual things every day, or that it is "legalistic" to spend a day only doing that which is spiritual in nature, but I think we can learn a lot from those devoted Christians who made one day set apart, choosing to focus only on God and choosing not to focus on worldly things. 

Yes, this should be a daily focus, but that just means that every other day should be like Sunday, not that Sunday should be like every other day.

Obviously reading one's Bible and spending time in prayer are activities which should draw the Christian's focus toward God, but there are other things we can do that will keep our minds focused on the Lord throughout our day. For example, I have a number of Christian biographies I could read, as well as shelf upon shelf of commentaries, studies, and other Christian literature. Perhaps now is the time to get that big concordance off the shelf and do a good, old-fashioned word study.

 Studying the Scriptures is not a dry, boring task. You never know what God might do in your heart through the simple act of choosing a word from a passage you've read and looking up all the other references that use that word. Not only is it a good mental task that will keep your mind sharp, it is a task that the Holy Spirit can use to keep you spiritually sharp as well.

Sometimes, I find myself having to do something "mindless" on Sundays, like putting away laundry or doing dishes, and I have recently been enjoying listening to sermons or Bible study podcasts while I do these things. Another way to focus my mind on the Lord while my hands are busy with "earthly" necessities is to listen to some good Christian music.

Another activity that comes to mind is transcribing Scripture. There are lots of "Scripture writing plans" on Pinterest and other sites, and taking the time to write out verses on a specific topic or even to write out a whole chapter or book by hand can be a good way to spend a portion of your Sunday. Writing the verses out by hand makes us slow down and pay attention to every word, every phrase, even every punctuation mark! It is a good way to train our minds to notice small details as we read God's Word and to think more deeply about specific portions of Scripture.

4. Remember to rest

God is clear throughout Scripture that the "Sabbath" (which Christians began to celebrate on Sunday to commemorate Christ's resurrection) was to be a day of rest.

My church has a running joke about the Sunday afternoon nap being "the third ordinance of the church", but it is true that Sunday is to be spent not only in focusing on God, but also in enjoying the opportunity of rest He has provided to us. It is good for us to take time to rest on a Sunday, whether we are resting our bodies in sleep or our hearts and minds by taking time to be still before the Lord, rest is an indisputably important part of keeping the Lord's Day.

I think one of the keys to a Sunday at home is to treat it like a normal Sunday as much as possible --nap included-- and to keep one's heart grateful for the extra rest God has allowed for that day.

After all, we spend so much time rushing here and there that we come to view rest as a very valuable (and rare!) thing, but it is also a thing we tend to grumble about when we are finally forced to have time for it. When we are sick or snowed in or quarantined in some fashion, it can be easy to grumble about what we're missing or to wonder why God would allow such a thing to happen. Could it be that God's people need to learn to rest and look to Him for themselves without the external motions of going to church?

Above all, while you are obliged to spend your Sundays at home, remember that God has a good purpose for allowing this trial --for trial it is-- and that He is with you always. He has promised never to leave you, never to forsake you. Nothing can change who God is. Rest in that truth and have a blessed Lord's Day.

Imagine the Possibilities

About a year ago, my life turned a corner. I didn't realize it was a corner at the time, but corner it was, and looking back, it's amazing where that one little decision has led.

It was almost a year ago when I wrote the post entitled, "New Beginnings, Slow Transitions, and a Long, Straight Pathway". In doing so, I began a journey I hadn't intended to take, and embarked upon the adventure of quietly and unconsciously becoming a writer.

I have always enjoyed writing, but this past year as I began to write more and more, I found that the  more I wrote, the more convinced I became that writing was something God wanted me to be focusing on. So I continued to write.

Then, as the new schoolyear began to ramp up, so did my writing, with another unconscious embarking, this time upon the genre of children's literature. Thankfully, I had an encouraging little class of students, and when, in December, I asked if they would like a sequel to the one little story I had written for them, they not only replied that they would, they hounded me for it until I had finished it. Then other stories came, and I took great delight in reading them to my captive audience. Their pleasure in hearing the stories encouraged me to continue to write more.

In January, I began writing a study on Biblical contentment, and while in the midst of that project I "accidentally" began writing a novel. I quite enjoyed what little flowed out of the first idea which sparked the story, and I wanted to find out what happened next, so I began to write a little more here and there, but I had no idea where to start with plots and characters, and so very many decisions which must be made when writing a story of any length.  So I listened to writer podcasts, and ordered books on structuring and outlining a novel.

Then a few weeks ago, I went to a writer's conference. At that writer's conference, I shared the first page of the "accidental novel" with a kind woman who was a published author, and who told me that I should enter it in the Cascade Awards. I needed fifteen pages, however, and a synopsis, which meant that I had to make some big decisions about the plot, theme, and characters. That much is done now, and this week I sent in three entries to my very first writing contest. 

I don't know if I will win, or even if I will be a finalist in any of the three categories, but I do know that I never would have even thought of entering a year ago, and whatever the outcome, I am excited to have the judges' feedback on the pieces I entered, and I am glad to have exercised the courage to put my entries out there.

My point is, you never know what God will awaken in you as you yield yourself, your talents, your dreams and your aspirations to Him. As I wrote that blog post a year ago, I was laying one dream to rest, and felt I did not dare search for a new one, for fear that I would pick up the old one again in a different form. Then, as time passed, I began to feel that God was telling me to dream again. But I scarcely knew what to dream of, for God had led me away from that which I had spent all my dreams upon in the past.

Yet, God already had a new dream ready for me, tailored exactly to my place, my season of life, and to the state of my heart. He had taken away the old dream that I might focus upon the new.

But this new chapter of life doesn't necessarily entail a changing of the previous one; if anything, it just adds more work and more busy-ness to an already busy life, but it also adds another layer of purpose and vision. It encourages me to imagine the possibilities that exist when one serves a God with whom nothing shall be impossible.

And so I embrace the extra work, the extra pressure on my schedule, the sometimes late nights when inspiration hits just as I ought to be going to sleep, and with it I embrace the joy of doing what I was made to do, the satisfaction of a well-worded phrase or sentence, and the greatest thrill: that of having been used by God to write something which He has chosen to use in the heart of someone else.

I dare to imagine God using my writing on this blog and in other ways, to touch the hearts of others I would never have come into contact with before. I dare to dream of achieving, succeeding, not materially or in any worldly way, but I do dare to dream that I might achieve something for the kingdom of Christ through the ability He has chosen to awake in me.

 I dare to imagine that God could use me in ways I never could have imagined before and I dare to have the courage to step forward along this new stretch of my long, straight pathway, feeling that there are now mileposts along the way in the form of things God wants me to accomplish for His glory between here and my final destination. 

Pursuing Excellence

When you think of excellence, what images come to mind? Perhaps you see in your mind's eye medals and trophies, or a musical virtuoso playing before a large crowd. Perhaps the idea of excellence conjures up visions of someone intimidatingly good in the area in which you feel yourself the least skilled. Or perhaps to you, excellence is some far-off and maybe impossible goal toward which you press, unsure if you will ever attain it.

A look at a modern dictionary will give us synonyms like "perfect", "preeminence", "superiority", and "supremacy". These descriptions can make the quest for excellence seem to be a daunting matter, indeed! Yet at the same time, the very fact that one does not somehow "arrive" at excellence suddenly or by accident is part of its charm. After all, the pursuit of excellence is a pathway one follows, not a destination one reaches.

Excellence isn't all about external accomplishments, either. It takes internal excellence to achieve external excellence. For the Christian, excellence in any external endeavor is completely dependent upon spiritual excellence within.

I have been thinking about this a lot recently, as writing has begun to morph into more than just a hobby. A while back, I came across a quote by William Wordsworth which says

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart".

This quote captivated me, and the more I thought about it, the more true it seemed. Writing is essentially the "breathings" of one's heart on paper. This brings to the Christian author a grave responsibility: if I am writing out of what is in my heart, I must make sure my heart is filled with Christlikeness. If my heart reflects Christ, so will my writings. To reflect Christ is, after all, my primary goal as a writer.

This brings me back to the thought of internal excellence. According to Scripture, Daniel was a man of "an excellent spirit". In fact, twice he was called so in the book which bears his name.

In reading through the first six chapters of Daniel which form the narrative section of the book, it is interesting to note just how many accomplishments Daniel is said to have had. He was known for wisdom and knowledge, he was known to have understanding, he was even said to have been ten times wiser than all the king's wise men, of whom he ended up the chief.

These all are aspects of outward excellence, but the source of Daniel's outward success can be found in Daniel 1:8, where we see him purposing in his heart to obey God rather than the pagan king. This resolve of righteousness is a hallmark of inward excellence, and can be seen again and again throughout the book of Daniel as he speaks boldly to the rulers he serves, telling them of the one true God to whose graciousness those same rulers owed everything they had. This boldness before the most powerful men in the land was rooted in that initial decision to serve God first of all.

This same resolve can be seen in Daniel 6, when he again stood firm in the face of pressure, this time praying to his God openly, though he knew it  meant endangering his life. I had never noticed before, but there is no record of Daniel trying to defend himself or convince the king of his loyalty or that the law had been unjust. He apparently just took his death sentence calmly. --I don't think he likely had any idea of God stopping the mouths of the lions. He probably thought he would be torn to pieces before he hit the bottom of the pit, as his enemies were later on.

Yet through all this, Daniel remained steadfast and faithful, wise, never sacrificing righteousness for expediency or even personal safety.

What a challenge to us, for we live in a day of far less social pressure and persecution. If Daniel could stay strong in the face of certain and very painful death, can we not remain strong for Christ in the face of angry words or disapproval?

The key is the heart. Daniel had a heart whose greatest desire --even greater than that of personal safety or even of life itself-- was to please God. That is what I want my heart to be, for then when I write, I can indeed fill my paper with the breathings of my heart, and know that those breathings will bring glory to God.