How Much Is Enough?

1 Timothy 6:9 – 11 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

Roughly 1 billion seconds ago it was 1977.  Roughly 1 billion minutes ago, Jesus walked the earth with the 12 disciples.  If you worked at minimum wage, for 63, 678 years - without a vacation- you would have made a Billion dollars.  That is before taxes of course.  If a four-inch stack of dollar bills amounts to $1000. A billion dollars would be a stack of dollar bills 62.5 miles high.  No matter how you stack it, a billion is a massive quantity of anything.

It is not every generation that can say they have lived in financially historic times.  But those alive today can lay claim that dubious honor.  For the past year we have been seen newspaper articles, television news reporters, and websites pouring out the same dismal theme, “The money is gone. Where did the money go?”  We have seen the lust for money unchecked displayed prominently in the headlines.  A new saying has been born.  “He pulled a Madoff and made off with all the money.”  And depending on what source you go to, it was between $20 Billion to $65 Billion that Bernie Madoff made off with. We have heard tales of opulence and excess that boggle the mind.  It’s like when you lift up a rock and all kinds of bugs go running off when exposed to the light day.  The sin of greed, like the bugs, are seldom pretty when exposed to the light of day.

Paul, in his letter to Timothy, cautions him against the love of money.  We, as Timothy before us, should flee from greed.  It is not just a simple matter of turning away.  Paul tells Timothy, in our language, to run away from the trap of greed.  And we, like Timothy, should take his words to heart.  We should pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  These are not physical attributes.  They are attributes of character more suited to furthering the kingdom of our Lord.  These sound very much like the spiritual gifts we are endowed with.

In the final analysis, how much is enough?  We could certainly ask those that have gone before us how much of the wealth they were able to take with them.  Or, we could ask Bernie Madoff how useful the Billions are to him now that he is in prison for the 150 years?  The answer in both cases would be none.

Prayer:  Father, we come to You for answers to the many questions in our lifetime.  And here we are again.  Asking You to make Your will known to us.  Help us to discern Your will for us as we move forward in Growing With Grace.  Help us to know what each of us can give to further Your kingdom here.  This we ask in the name of Your Son, our Savior. Amen.

You Will Be With Me In Paradise

Luke 23:42&43 The he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

For the thief on the cross to hear those words of comfort must have been a true blessing.  An indescribable feeling if you will.  And while one thief was hurling insults, the other was acknowledging that Jesus was Lord and worthy of praise and worship.  And of all the phrases captured in the bible for Jesus, verse 43 of Luke 23 seems to bring the most hope to all of us.  If we look at the situation of the thief on the cross we can find a ton of hope.  Here is a sinner, sentenced to death for his crimes.  He is a man of unknown religious background.  And he is hanging from a cross just like Jesus.  We do not know if he knows of Jesus. From some portions of the bible we know that at one point he too was hurling insults. But something changed his heart.  We are not privy to what changed, or caused the change in heart. All we know is that his heart was changed by something that he saw, or heard. Something triggered a profound change to go from insulting Jesus to acknowledging that Jesus Christ is Lord.

In each of us rests a part that wants to sin and rebel from being a Christian. At times that part may own the day and we speak out, act out, or live out the sinfulness we seek to avoid.  We are incapable of perfection. We are lost in sin. We are sinful by nature.  And in sin is death. But we hold our sole hope of salvation in Christ Jesus.  In Jesus we are saved. And without Jesus we are lost.  The promise given to the thief on the cross is that same promise we hold onto. In Christ is salvation.  This is our hope that was born on the cross when Christ died on the cross and arose again. The apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 6:3-4 of our redemption through Christ.  Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  We hold onto the same hope that the thief on the cross-held onto. In spite of ourselves, we have been saved. Friends of the risen savior, hold onto that promise of salvation when times are tough.

Prayer: Lord we are so truly blessed. We who are incapable of redeeming ourselves have been saved by the love of Jesus. His sacrifice on the cross-paid a price we were, and are still today, incapable of paying. The love of the Father has been shared with we who are so undeserving. For that we offer this humble prayer of thanks giving, Amen.

The Disciple Took Her Into His Home

John 19:26-27 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is you son.” And to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

When was the last time you called your own mother “Woman”?  I’ll bet you have never called her that before. And are not likely to call her “Woman” in the future.  In the case of Jesus, this happened one other time. In John 2: 1-12 we can read of the miracle of turning water into wine. The mother of Jesus tells Jesus “They have no more wine.” Jesus replies “Woman why to you involve me? My hour has not yet come.”  And in a true mother knows best fashion His mother tells the servants “Do whatever He tells you.”

            In presenting His mother Mary to the disciple John as John’s mother we see a passing of the torch so-to-speak.  And the confirmation to Mary that John is now her son is equally as important.  Mary was there to see the ministry of Jesus start. She bore Jesus in her womb and was with him in his early years. We can see from the John 2 passage above that she was not a hands-off parent.  Mary was involved actively in his life and ministry. So we can see the logic of Mary being given to John as his “Mother”. The role of mother to Jesus was without a doubt important. And the desire of Jesus to have His mother involved in the continuation of His ministry with one of His most important disciples is readily apparent.  There is so much more to this moment than Jesus telling John please take care of His Mom!

            How are you passing to torch in your ministry activities? Are you a single resource filling a big need?  That’s what is called a single point failure in the engineering world.  We all need help in what we do serving the Lord. There is joy in serving the Lord. And there is joy is serving the Lord as a member of a team.  We can support each other, we can mentor less experienced, and we can hold each other accountable.  Can you imagine if Mary had not pushed Jesus to turn water into wine?  Often we need someone to give us encouragement, support, and occasionally a gentle shove to achieve what we are really capable of.  Take a moment friends. Do you have someone like that in your ministry team? Or are you a lone wolf?

Prayer: Almighty God we ask that You bless us with people in our lives to encourage us, to hold us accountable, and to give us the shove we need when we need it. We ask that our lives be blessed with people who share the love of Christ as we do. We ask that in serving You we are able to share the experience with others. These things we ask in the name of Jesus, who showed us how to share Your love with the world, Amen.