It's been a quiet day, so here's what has been running through my noisy head...
Jesus asks this man, who is clearly a "good, successful man" to leave his fortune for the poor and follow. The Bible says that the man left sad at Jesus' request. Today, as I read that, I thought of all the things that Jesus asks us to leave behind to follow him. Here is my list to date (abbreviated): My career choice, my financial security, my cynicism of the ministry, my fear of the broken, my past successes and failures (my, my, my...). Following means an abandonment of "my billions" for the passions of Jesus. For over a year of my life, I walked away from Jesus sad, afraid and unwilling of the cost. Finally a day came when I said, "yes, I will follow with nothing but my life." What a great day!
The other thing that hit me is like in the "billionaire" song, I used to think, if God let me keep all of my stuff, I'll do good things with that. But then it's all about me and it misses letting God do the things He wants to do in me and through me. The "Billionaire" lyrics talk of the good he will do with his billions, but what has he been doing with his "hundreds". That has struck me...why ask God to bless us with more when we struggle to be "philanthropic" (thanks, Ron) with the things we have today...our limited finances, our attitudes, our words and our actions. I want to be faithful with what God has provided me and not worry about what I would do with more. I don't want to miss the opportunity of today to be where Jesus wants me, waiting for planets to align, for more money to come or for risk to be removed. I want to be with Jesus today and use whatever He has given me. I want to follow Jesus, so frickin' bad!!
On Sunday Rick and Kirsten told me that I may not have to contribute time and money every month to COTS, they were trying to add others to help out. I tried to explain, and I'm sure they understood, that the money and the time was not up to me. The provision is from God, so if the money is there then its what I am to do. I remember when I use to think it was my money, and how I looked at my appointment schedule instead of God's. I didn't have close to a billion dollars, or even thousands, but remembering it all belongs to Him makes it easier to give away (chicks are like that sometimes). I guess its that I am trying to be faithfull with the hundreds of dollars, with the living in the trailer on a 300 acre farm, with no longer having constant praise from my family for being so smart and successful. Following Jesus with nothing but my life...I like that!
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling I am going to like this blog A LOT! :) All I have to say for now is AMEN!
ReplyDeleteP.S I won't even begin to express my feelings about Christian radio stations in general (or Christian culture for that matter) we will leave that for another time :) Thank God we don't have any of those in Bosnia!