Radical Lessons

A few weeks ago I said to a friend that I trusted God to take care of my finances. She replied that it was still important to make sensible choices.

I didn’t ask what was meant by sensible, but that remark stuck in my mind. Sensible, in the mind of human beings, could mean one of two extremes.

The first one is thinking like the world thinks; ‘but I must live; I must make so much money; I must be clothed; I must be fed.’ The greatest concern is taking care of ourselves and making whatever choices seem reasonable toward that end. I could include: following the advice of investment gurus, becoming educated in the stock market so as to buy/sell at the right time, at so on.

The other extreme follows what Jesus said in this radical advice about how to take care of our physical and financial needs . . .

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)

He tells me to make the kingdom of God the greatest concern of my life. If I am rightly related to God, I will be trusting Him to take care of me.

“Do not be anxious for your life” (verse 25, 34) does not mean a carefree and blank mind. That would make me a simpleton. It does mean not to be anxious, brood, moody, worried either. As God takes care of sparrows and the lilies of the field, so He takes care of me. I can be carefree as those birds and flowers.

Does this mean money will drop into my lap? Sometimes. Does this mean the Lord will give wisdom in spending and investment? Yes, if I am willing to listen. But if my focus is on food, drink, and clothing, and in making all the right choices without considering how those choices will affect my spiritual life and relationship with God, I can expect the fruit of it — errors, ulcers, and a continual nagging anxiety that robs me of the joy of life.

Yet Chambers points out that some people are careless over what they eat and drink and other earthly affairs. This is not what God means about being carefree. He holds me responsible for carelessness. (Been there, done that.) It is far better to make my relationship with Him the number one concern of life and go to Him regarding all responsibilities. That is being sensible, but it is not error-proof. However, at least I can bring my errors to Him. He forgives willful mistakes, but not only that, He can use them for my good, to make me more like Jesus.

“ . . . for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son . . . (Romans 8:28–29)

The promise is also radical — because it says “all things” and that includes my bad choices. The errors and mistakes in themselves are not good, but in loving God and making Him and His kingdom the priority of my life, I put myself in a place where He can take those all things and use them as a blessing. In that blessing, He is able to change my life to be more like His.

This is radical too. As Chambers says, allowing the Holy Spirit to teach me how to apply His radical truths is one of the most important disciplines of the Christian life. 

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Personal note: After an exam on Thursday, I was told not to be surprised if my heart reverted to a normal beat by itself. To the heart specialist, it ‘sounded’ as if it would.

Last night, I was having trouble sleeping because my pulse was too fast, with blips. At one point while being hugged by dear hubby, my chest went ‘thump’ and my pulse slowed down. The blips lessened, and I fell asleep. This morning, my pulse is almost normal.

What is God doing? I’m not sure, but as I loafed in bed this morning, I began thinking how even the ‘bad’ stuff in my life has been intended by God as a blessing, just as He said in Romans 8:28-29. This would require a book to explain, but I wondered if it required an A-fib episode to get me to slow down long enough so He could put that wonderful and radical thought deeper into my head and heart.

Riches and happiness come from the same source

Most of us have heard that money cannot buy happiness. I’ve not taken a survey to prove that rich people are not happy, but I know two things: the ability to become rich comes from God and happiness comes from God. My question could be ‘why not me’ but it isn’t . . .

God says, “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth . . .” (Deuteronomy 8:18) but that does not mean the recipient will be happy. God says, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

God gives wealth, sometimes to people who do not have the ability to become rich, but because He wants to bless them. He said to Isaac, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” (Genesis 26:24–25)

The second passage from today’s readings was written by a rich man. He said, “There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil.” (Ecclesiastes 6:1-2)

No wonder it is said that money cannot buy happiness. The wisest man in the world was also the richest, but he realized that apart from the blessing of God, there was no power to enjoy what he had. (Some might point out that having several hundred wives may have contributed to this discovery!)

The next reading in the NT is also about money and the love of money. This time, Jesus is talking to a rich young man who wanted to know how what good thing he could do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him about what he was doing already and the young man claimed to be keeping the commandments, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”

Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” This was a test! The entire Bible makes it clear that giving away all your money will not grant eternal life. The result shows that the rich man didn’t pass the test. “When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Matthew 19:20–22)

After he left, Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

The disciples were in a religious culture that considered riches a blessing from God, so when they heard this they were greatly astonished, and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:23–26)

Salvation is God’s doing. It isn’t about what we can do, or what money can do for us. In the case of this young man, money became his idol, his god. He said ‘no’ to eternal life because he could not part with his wealth, but even as he made that decision, he went away sorrowful.

Jesus wanted the disciples to know that wealth gained by whatever means does not replace the care of God. Had the man given up his riches, God would have taken care of him. Jesus said, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Matthew 19:29–30)

He followed up with a story about an owner of a vineyard who hired people during the day, offering each the same wage. At the end of the day, each one was given a denarius. Of course those hired first thought they would receive more. They grumbled, but the owner said, “I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” (Matthew 20:8–16)

We use money to divide people into classes, to make impressions, to feed our egos and appetites, but God uses it to take care of us and so we can take care of others. Our status is never about money for life under Christ is not about cash or anything else that will be left behind when He comes for us.

Instead, every time I sell something or somehow gain some money, my first thoughts should always be, “What does the Lord want me to do with this?”

Out of the heart . . .

Last week I observed a young couple who came into a restaurant and sat near us. The girl was well-dressed and very pretty. Her companion was very much the opposite. I wondered at this pairing until the girl opened her mouth.

Scripture speaks often about how the heart is revealed by what comes out of our mouths. Many examples come to mind. A former pastor was a godly person. For him, using phrases from the Bible in ordinary speech was as natural as the twinkle in his eye and his overflowing good humor. Others speak with skepticism, or sarcasm, or enthusiasm, revealing their hearts.

This morning, I was doing a Bible study on gossip. Several verses pointed out that those who do this are often motivated by envy or fear. Their attitude comes out in words that cut down others in an attempt to appear better or above the other person. It made me think about my own words and the source of negativity that is too often there.

Words are small units, yet they have great power. Proverbs 18:21 even says that life and death are in the power of the tongue. Proverbs 15:4 says that a gentle tongue is a tree of life. Words can hurt; words can heal.

God gave nearly everyone the power of speech. For most of us, the tongue is an instrument of self-expression. We use it to say what we think. Yet this is not all that God intended. I’m created so I can talk, but that talk is not supposed to be totally me-centered.

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ (John 7:38)

Today’s devotional reading points out what Jesus did not say. This verse is not that believers would realize and enjoy the blessing of God, but that all of God’s blessings would flow from Him through us to bless others. His purpose for my life is the opposite of what most think. Instead of becoming all that I can be (which seems noble), God promotes anti-self-realization. That is, I am to become less like me and more like Christ, never forgetting that one of Jesus’ main characteristics is self-expenditure.

Believing in Jesus is about personal gain in some ways. For instance, I gain forgiveness, peace with God, the life of Christ and with that eternal life. However, Jesus says that what I gain is not as important as what He pours through me. The devotional says, “It is not that God makes us beautifully rounded grapes, but that He squeezes the sweetness out of us. Spiritually, we cannot measure our life by success, but only by what God pours through us, and we cannot measure that at all.”

Mary of Bethany broke a box of precious ointment and poured it on Jesus’ head. The disciples said it was a waste, but Jesus commended her extravagant act of devotion. He said that wherever His gospel was preached this would also be spoken in a memorial of her. What she did gave Him joy. Not only that, her actions instruct believers for all time that we are not to be concerned about ourselves but be abandoned to Him. Just as He spilled out His life that the world might be saved, we are to spill out our lives for Him by obedience, by sacrificially loving others.

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Lord, those “rivers of living water” You give are not for my pleasure, but for the refreshing of others. I could be like the girl in the restaurant who made an effort to look good on the outside — but did not guard her heart. I could strive for my own satisfaction, even satisfaction in knowing You, but with little consideration for others. This is not Your plan. Instead, I’m to pour out what You give me so others are blessed and satisfied. Any self-focused talk, trivia, gossip, slander and so on will not bless others but makes me like a garden hose clogged with sand. I just block the flow. Yet even without the sand plugging the channel, it seems I give out but a mere trickle compared to what You have poured in. Am I willing to be a river? Only You can make that happen. Just keep me from blocking the flow.

This life and life with God

Statistically, those who suffer great losses are open to hearing about God — for a little while. When their lives stabilize, their interest in Him usually begins to fade.

In today’s devotional reading, Spurgeon uses the last part of this verse to say that God will bring people into poverty and other difficulties as a way of getting their attention.

I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me. (Hosea 5:15)

In other words, Spurgeon agrees with those statistics; distress can cause people to seek God. However, this devotional author lifted this phrase out of context. The rest of the verse says that God withdraws the sense of His presence because His people are guilty. The resulting distress of that loss causes His people to seek Him.

I don’t think this is how God works with everyone. Instead, it is a description of how He works with His people who have sinned. When believers do not acknowledge their sin and turned from it, God moves away from them (not actually, for He is always with us) so that we feel the loss of His blessing in our lives. Because we know and love the Lord, this sense of lost fellowship with Him is often enough to give us a desire to deal with our sin and seek Him. The same idea is echoed in this verse:

O LORD, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them. (Isaiah 26:16)

I don’t think it is biblically correct to say that hard times make other people seek God. Hard times can also make people harden their hearts against Him. Besides that, I noticed this distinction because someone taught me that there are several kinds of faith.

Saving faith is that trust in God that admits sin and seeks His forgiveness. It is a faith that is based on who God is and on a concern for eternal matters and God’s judgment of sin.

However, there is a temporary faith. This is when people seek God’s help because they are in trouble. This temporary faith is just that because when the trouble goes away or the problem is solved, that faith also goes away. This sort of trust concerns only life issues and had nothing to do with eternity so it lasts only as long as the issues last.

Long-term problems in life can lead to saving faith. It did for me. I turned toward God when my marriage fell apart, but in the turning, God showed me that a relationship with Him meant that I had to deal with my sin. It is sin that separates us from God, not just lack of faith. After all, even the demons believe in God (James 2:19). They know more about Him than we do, yet their “faith” is not going to save them or do them any good.

This idea of tribulation awakening an interest in spiritual things can be exploited. At least one cult seeks out people who are lonely, grieving, or who are in other negative situations. These hapless souls are preyed upon, plundered by those who are driven by a point system; the more souls they involve, supposedly the more rewards they will receive. This is not right. God is not like that. He tells His people to care for the poor and needy, not expecting any return and certainly not taking advantage of them for some sort of notch in our belt. He even makes this selfless caring a mark of faith: 

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27)

In contrast, the Bible describes a worldly attitude that only does “good” for ulterior motives. That could be good deeds done to make me look good, or to influence others to go along with my agenda, instead of simply touching their lives to show them the love of God.

God wants people to have faith in Him because He is holy and good, and because we need His love and His blessing on our lives. The only thing that stands in the way of that is our sin. He wants everyone to turn from sin and become believers in Him. He “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

He also wants believers who sin to “confess our sins” because “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Sin ruins our fellowship with Him and He will use troubles to restore that fellowship.

Even so, troubles come and troubles go. If someone trusts God only during troubles, that “faith” will vanish along with those troubles. Yet sin is always an issue. It separates us from God even when everything else is going well for us. So if sin gets in the way, we need to repent. We cannot measure our relationship with God by how well life seems to be going for us. He asks, “Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4) Troubles or not, sin is always the issue regarding our relationship with Him.

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Father, rich or poor, healthy or sick, no matter my external situations, may I have a heart that seeks You. May You put in me an increasing and deepening desire to be close to You and to enjoy Your presence. May Your Spirit prompt me to be quick to see and confess sin, quick to repent and turn from it, quick to run to You. Don’t let me assume that Your goodness means that I am okay when You intended that Your goodness always leads me to keep short accounts with You.