Going through the motions of life. What's your routine? Some people like routines because they value consistency. Some people dread routine because they see it as monotony.
When the things that you do become routine, we sometimes drift into the mode of going through the motions without intentionality or appreciation.
There is a great song by Steve Curtis Chapman called "More to this Life". It captures the feelings that many of us go through when we're going through that daily grind: wake-up, breakfast, commute, work, commute, dinner, catch up, time with God, sleep, etc.
There truly is more to this life. That "more" is found when we go back to the heart of discipleship. Mike Breen wrote a book titled, "A Passionate Life" that talks about getting back to the heart of discipleship, which is more about being a disciple and less about the activity of discipleship.
Mike Breen teaches discipleship principles by using LifeShapes (basic geometric shapes that remind us of key principles for walking with Jesus in our everyday lives).
The first shape is the Circle: Learning from Life. Life is an arrow where we sometimes focus our eyes on eternity and heaven. But is life just about trying to survive to make sure we get to heaven? Obviously not.
We all have Kairos moments? Key moments that are both good or bad that enable us to experience discipleship as we stop to enter the portal of the Kingdom to practice two activities: Repent and Believe.
Last Sunday, I experienced a Kairos moment. As I was driving on t\he 210 Freeway from Church, and headed to my son's 1st baseball game. The front tire tread came off and flew into the air and I had to pull to the side of the road. Out in the middle of Sun Valley, the Tow Truck wasn't coming for another hour. So, I tried to change the tire myself. Several difficulties arose. The wrench to unscrew the nut was small and thus it was difficult to remove the nut. So, I stepped on it to get some leverage. And guess what happened? The nut and stud broke off. "Oh great!" I said to myself. I should've said it outl oud since no one would've heard me in the midst of freeway noise. Then I successfully removed 3 more nuts from the studs without a glitch. Then as I got to the final one, it was an irregular size nut. It didn't fit my wrench. I couldn't get it off. So I had to wait until the Tow Truck came. The metro truck came first, but the guy didn't want to break off the stud so he left it alone. Another tow truck came, and this guy broke off the stud. I had a replacement tire, but that meant I could only put 3 nuts on 3 studs and of course, that's not very safe. But I had to risk it. It was Sunday, and all mechanics were closed that day. Somehow I safely made it to Kragen, got the replacements parts. I went to my father-in-law's place and we fixed the tired. I missed the game. I got home late. And all that ran through my mine was, "Lord why did that happen?" Then it struck me. The tire was my first shape: the Circle. The lesson I learned on the 210 freeway was a Kairos moment. I once again experienced my sermon before I preached it.
Thank you Jesus for that Kairos moment to stop and go through the stages of repentance and belief.
Pray for God to give you some Kairos moments this week. It's a scary prayer, but it's a great one to experience.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
God is so Generous
There are a group of people who advocate the idea that God will prosper you as you give to Him. It sounds too good to be true. You give to God and He will in turn double your blessing. That's way better than any mutual fund and maybe even better than getting in early on a IPO of a stock.
Can God double the offering you give Him? Of course He can.
Is it a guarantee that God always blesses us financially? Of course Not.
When the scriptures speak of blessing people financially, it's often times found in the book of Proverbs. The Proverbs are considered Wisdom Literature. According to the rules of bible interpretation, Wisdom is generally true, maybe even 95% true, but not a guaranteed promise. For example, God promised to save us and deliver us from sin and it's consequences if we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. God promised to forgive us of our sins because of the work of Jesus on the cross. But does God promise to always bless in earthly financial ways? God's blesssings are way more creative than we can imagine, often times spiritual.
This past Sunday, I shared with our Vine family about Generosity.
Treasure Principle Key #6 – God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.
How do we get started raising the standard of our giving? (2 Corinthians 8:1-15)
1. Generosity starts with the Grace of God. (vs.1, 9)
2. Generosity involves personal sacrifice. (vs.2-3)
3. Generosity is a voluntary response from the heart. (vs.4, 13-15)
4. Generosity flows from our devotion to God. (vs.5, 12)
5. Generosity excels as I grow in grace. (vs.6-7)
Proverbs 3:9 – "Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best." (The Message)
As I studied the idea of the "tithe", I was surprised to read from one commentary that the word "tithe" does not appear in the New Testament. When the concept of tithe ("tenth") is mentioned in the NT (like in Matthew 23:23-24), it's used in a negative context. In fact, the tithe is not prescribed anywhere in the New Testament. So one has to wonder whether the "tithe" is still binding for New Covenant Christians today.
Consider this: The tithe was for Israel in a day in age where there was no federal government and no form of taxation. Thus, the tithe seemed to be the minimum (10%) taxation system for the nation to carryout the religious and political duties for the country that often times found themselves wandering the desert or restored after being conquered by pagan neighbors. In other words, the NT Christian is no longer bound by the OT Tithe (legal taxation percentage for all peoples). In fact, the idea of freewill offering occurs all throughout the OT and NT.
Why should we give to God through what we term 'offering'? Not because we are required to, but because we desire to, practice the Treasure Principle and it's Keys.
Generosity is not legalistic, but it flows from our hearts that have experienced the riches of God's grace. We are generous because we recognize that God owns everything.
How much should one give back to God? The percentage that you have come to a personal conviction through prayer with God.
Final Thought: Some people say, "Can I afford to give offering?" In reality, "Can any of us afford NOT to give?"
Can God double the offering you give Him? Of course He can.
Is it a guarantee that God always blesses us financially? Of course Not.
When the scriptures speak of blessing people financially, it's often times found in the book of Proverbs. The Proverbs are considered Wisdom Literature. According to the rules of bible interpretation, Wisdom is generally true, maybe even 95% true, but not a guaranteed promise. For example, God promised to save us and deliver us from sin and it's consequences if we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. God promised to forgive us of our sins because of the work of Jesus on the cross. But does God promise to always bless in earthly financial ways? God's blesssings are way more creative than we can imagine, often times spiritual.
This past Sunday, I shared with our Vine family about Generosity.
Treasure Principle Key #6 – God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.
How do we get started raising the standard of our giving? (2 Corinthians 8:1-15)
1. Generosity starts with the Grace of God. (vs.1, 9)
2. Generosity involves personal sacrifice. (vs.2-3)
3. Generosity is a voluntary response from the heart. (vs.4, 13-15)
4. Generosity flows from our devotion to God. (vs.5, 12)
5. Generosity excels as I grow in grace. (vs.6-7)
Proverbs 3:9 – "Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best." (The Message)
As I studied the idea of the "tithe", I was surprised to read from one commentary that the word "tithe" does not appear in the New Testament. When the concept of tithe ("tenth") is mentioned in the NT (like in Matthew 23:23-24), it's used in a negative context. In fact, the tithe is not prescribed anywhere in the New Testament. So one has to wonder whether the "tithe" is still binding for New Covenant Christians today.
Consider this: The tithe was for Israel in a day in age where there was no federal government and no form of taxation. Thus, the tithe seemed to be the minimum (10%) taxation system for the nation to carryout the religious and political duties for the country that often times found themselves wandering the desert or restored after being conquered by pagan neighbors. In other words, the NT Christian is no longer bound by the OT Tithe (legal taxation percentage for all peoples). In fact, the idea of freewill offering occurs all throughout the OT and NT.
Why should we give to God through what we term 'offering'? Not because we are required to, but because we desire to, practice the Treasure Principle and it's Keys.
Generosity is not legalistic, but it flows from our hearts that have experienced the riches of God's grace. We are generous because we recognize that God owns everything.
How much should one give back to God? The percentage that you have come to a personal conviction through prayer with God.
Final Thought: Some people say, "Can I afford to give offering?" In reality, "Can any of us afford NOT to give?"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
