Yes, more thoughts coming on how we use our wealth — whatever it is in our lives that God has given us in abundance.
In preparation for my next post, ask yourself where your wealth lies. Most of us would say we are “rich,” aside from considering our financial status. Just come up with at least three areas of your life where you have been blessed with abundance.
(And yes, if you are indeed blessed with an abundance of money, you can include that.)
Come back Friday.
Before we begin: This post has nothing to do with money!
I’ve been convicted lately that I’m handling some of my wealth unwisely. It began with reading these statements in Scripture: “You had everything you wanted” and “You spent your years satisfying your every desire.”
Jesus’ Parable
The well-to-do household ignored the beggar in the street outside the back door. All he wanted was a few crumbs, the table scraps that might be thrown to the dogs. But the wealthy man living in luxury ignored Lazarus.
Until both died, and then the circumstances were reversed. Then it was the rich man, suffering in hell, who was begging. And all he wanted was a drop of water. The answer he received is unsettling: “Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish.” (Luke 16:25)
I’ll be honest, reading this story again made me shiver. “You had everything you wanted in life, while someone else suffered. Now he is being comforted, but you’re in anguish…”
So Many Warnings to the “Rich”– How could they be meant for me?
Have you, like me, wondered why Scripture has so many warnings for the rich? Jesus said it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into the kingdom of heaven. And James, teacher of practical discipleship, writes:
Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment … You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. James 5:1-3, 5 (NLT)
Grim and terrible warnings!
But since I don’t consider myself in the “rich” class (and neither would any economic measurement!), may I just skim over these verses from James and be thankful I’m not in danger of suffering such dire consequences?
Two words stop me from dismissing this passage: wealth/riches and accumulated.
The word translated here as wealth or riches is the same word used in the Bible to refer to the riches of God’s grace, the riches of His glory, and the riches of a relationship with Christ. The word refers to abundance, and it includes far more than money.
Uh-oh. If this word riches doesn’t necessarily mean money but refers to all kinds of abundance, then suddenly this passage speaks to me forcefully, undeniably, painfully. I am forced to think about how I use other riches, riches that are not owned and wealth that is not counted in dollars.
This passage warns me that abundance accumulated, hoarded, and used only for my own comfort and satisfaction will rot away and become a curse that will stand as judgment against me. Strong words!
Am I that rich man, wealthy in so much and ignoring others in hungry need? (And remember, I’m now thinking of every type of abundance except money—many other areas of my life that overflow with abundance.)
Will Jesus’ words someday be “I came to you hungry, but you would not feed me”? Or will God have to explain, “Daughter, I gave you such riches. But you hoarded it all for your own comfort. It was not for you that I gave it to you!”
What Wealth am I Hoarding?
What riches do we hoard that are not meant to be kept for ourselves? You’ll have your own list; I’ll give you a few things from mine:
My time and energy. I am so guilty. I’m far too jealous of my time. My selfishness wants to hoard it, use it all for my own pleasure.
Grace, Mercy, and Forgiveness. What mercy God has shown me! And no one knows as well as I how undeserving I am. Yet, God still forgives me. Still calls me His child. Am I willing to reach into every life that touches mine and spread the salve of grace and forgiveness? Or do I hold tightly to any “justification” for anger, “understandable” severing of relationship, or a “right” to seek revenge?
Unconditional Love. God showers me with unconditional, unchanging love. Again, undeserved—but He loves me! He asks me to love my neighbor in the same way—and my neighbor is anyone I know is in need. I have many neighbors, in every space of my life, who need unconditional, accepting, healing love. Yet too often I don’t want to risk discomfort by extending that kind of love.
Friendships. There are those lying outside my gate, hoping for crumbs of friendship. People everywhere are waiting—looking for a friendly word, an open invitation, a gesture of kindness. You have them at your gate, too. I’m living in the luxury of dear, cherished relationships that refresh and bolster my life. Will I step outside my gate and invite the poor and needy to dine at my table?
Good News. Father, I confess that I’ve been given the greatest treasure anyone can hope to find on this earth. And still I hesitate to offer it to those I know are seeking.
Spirit, make me more willing to share my wealth.
I want to share with you excerpts from today’s meditation in Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest:
The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but its difficulty does not make us faint and cave in–it stirs us up to overcome…Thank God that He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a joyous thing, but it is also something that requires bravery, courage, and holiness. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10), and God will not shield us from the requirements of sonship. God’s grace produces men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not pampered, spoiled weaklings. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the worthy and excellent life of a disciple of Jesus in the realities of life.
In the realities of life. Yes, that’s where the tests lie. In everyday life. Crises often bring out the best in us, but it’s those day-to-day realities that forge our discipleship.
We make dozens of decisions every day, choosing to act as a disciple and representative of our Lord or choosing to act according to our own interests and agendas. When God rescues and frees His children, adopts them and gives them rights and privileges as His heirs, He also plants His Spirit in them to make them part of His family. Are we “looking” like sons and daughters of God? We’re to follow the Spirit’s leading into a “family likeness to Jesus Christ” (in Chambers’ words).
The apostle Paul writes that we are not given a spirit of fear and timidity, “but of power, love, and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). That’s the Spirit of Christ. The Son of God lived His life on this earth for one thing–to carry out His Father’s will–and He lived here with power and love and holiness. That’s the way we are to live as children of God.
Do we view the problems, challenges, and irritations of daily life as “glorious difficulties”? Will that mindset makes us thankful in all circumstances? Can we see the difficulties of our lives as stepping-stones to grow into the Spirit’s bravery, courage, and holiness? Psalm 84 says that those whose hearts are set on pilgrimage will find that even though they go through valleys and deserts, they will move from one strength to the next until finally they enter God’s presence. Remember Peter’s words: “Be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead. Trials and troubles purify and strengthen your discipleship” (See 1 Peter 1).
I will set my heart on pilgrimage. I want to live–and look–like a child of God, living with bravery, courage, and holiness.
*
It was an ordinary kitchen. Nothing unusual or spectacular about it. But I walked into it and was dazzled.
A prism hung in the window, catching the early morning light and throwing spectacular colors and shapes across the kitchen. Swatches of pure hues moved slowly across ordinary things: dishcloths, countertop, curtains, carpet, calendar, and even trash can.
The prism turned the mundane into an oasis of rainbows.
This was the Spirit’s lesson for me that morning. I had just read this passage in 1 Corinthians 2:10-11:
But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.
The Spirit leans in and whispers the secrets of God to those listening. Doesn’t that astound you?
Here the word secrets does not mean some knowledge that will be kept from all but a chosen few. It refers instead to things that have previously been hidden or unseen or unknown. The Spirit tunes us into things we cannot otherwise know about God’s thoughts and ways.
Even though God’s ways are so much higher than ours, He gives us this connection to Himself. He wants us to know Him. The Spirit tunes us into His thinking. The world’s spirit would like to fill our ears and minds and wills and hearts, but the Spirit of Jesus Christ lives within to fill us with Himself.
Now to the lesson of the prism.
This always amazes me: The light, to which we normally give little thought or attention, holds a treasure of delightful color. The hues are there all the time, they surround us completely and constantly, yet we do not see them or delight in them until the prism shows what is there.
Here’s the next verse in 1 Corinthians 2 (verse 12):
And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
The Spirit hangs a prism to open our eyes to what we would otherwise miss. Like the colors in light we ignore, God’s hand is in every moment of our lives. The psalmist says that God’s blessing goes in front of us and behind us, and this 1 Corinthians passage tells us that one of the reasons God gives us His Spirit is so that we can see all the “wonderful things God has freely given us.”
Wow. The Almighty Lord and Creator of the universe gives us this intimate connection to Himself that helps us understand His thoughts and see what He is doing in our lives and in the world. He wants us to know Him. He wants us to see Him.
And the sight the Spirit gives us transforms our circumstances. Where others might see ordinary and even drab, or troublesome and painful, eyes opened by the Spirit see God’s gifts, His goodness, His love, His mercies, His blessing. We see God’s hand where we have not realized it before. We enjoy His presence where we have ignored it before. We find His blessing splashed over even our struggles and sorrows.
When the Spirit starts to show us God’s goodness and love over every bit of our lives, coloring every day on the calendar and drenching even our trash cans,
then we begin to see and know what is always there—the goodness and mercy that follow us all the days of our lives.
But I trust in your unfailing love.
I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
I will sing to the LORD
because he is good to me.
This declaration of trust in God sounds like it was written by a committed, devoted, on-fire, unshakeable Christian, right? You know—one of those people who seem to have everything together, everything’s going great, their lives are shining models of what we all think we should be.
Read it again, and notice that first word: But.
These lines come, instead, from a soul in a dark valley. The preceding verses call out a desperate plea that might awake an echo in our own hearts. The writer of this psalm is going through a painful time of anguish and struggle, and he sees no light at all in the darkness. Everything seems to be going against him, and even in his own heart he is wondering if maybe God is not paying attention. He feels so separated from God that he asks, “Have you forgotten me? Where are you?”
His struggle sounds familiar. We’re battered by hard times, times of doubt, times of loneliness, times of discouragement. We go through dark, dark valleys, and we wonder if all of God’s promises are true. Can I believe Him? Will He really do what He says? Can I depend on Him?
BUT, no matter what we might feel, God says His unfailing love surrounds His children. He cares about the anguish of our souls. He holds us in His hands, and He will not hand us over to the enemy. He will help us and put our feet on solid ground.
Psalm 147:11 says He delights in those who put their hope in his unfailing love.
Even when it feels as though we are lost and alone in the dark valley, if we can say, “I will trust in Your unfailing love. I know You have rescued me,” then we will also come to the place where we can say, “I’ll sing to the LORD, because He is good to me.”
Even in the dark and the pain and the aloneness.
We will trust in your love, Lord!
Spirit, help our unbelief.
*
Scripture: Psalm 13:5-6 NLT
Living with great expectation ... 