RESPONDING TO GOD'S EXTRAVAGANT LOVE -- TRUST!
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Luke 12:22-34
Luke 12:31 tells us that our Heavenly Father knows our needs and will provide everything we need for everyday living. I can honestly say I believe in this, but do I trust in it? I wish I could say I do, 100%, but there have been times I have to admit I haven't.
A lack of trust prevents us from receiving God's extravagant love. We all have something that we find hard to let go of and let God provide or take care of. We have to do it ourselves, because we think we have to or that we can do it better than God. So, we're hanging on to whatever it is so tightly that we approach God with clenched fists instead of open hands ready to receive. Also, a lack of trust also focuses on our deficiencies and impossible situationsso that we don't see the God possibilities that surround us.
I've struggled in the past with control and trust issues concerning money. I can trust God in the smallest of things like lost keys to big stuff like dealing with the possibility of cancer, but when it comes to finances, I want to keep tight control on my money. My money. Hear that? Even though I knew in my head that the words of the the old hymn are true -- all good gifts around us, come from heaven above -- in my heart, that paycheck was mine, and my well-being depended on what I did to earn it.
Case in point. The year before I started seminary was a tough one for us. My husband and I were both employed very, very part-time. It wasn't enough money to cover the mortgage payment, so we had to dip into our retirement funds.
Even though I trusted in the call to go into ministry, I didn't see anyway I could pay for tuition. The money wasn't there, so I decided to put off entering seminary until we were in a better financial situation. I sat down with my husband, beginning with the words all husbands long to hear, "Honey, we have to talk ..."
But before I could finish, he said to me, "Babe, I'm so proud of how determined you are to stay the course and go to seminary."
Crap.
So, back to prayer where God told me, "The money is my problem. Your job is to fill out the scholarship forms and continue praying."
"The money is my problem." Isn't that what Jesus was telling us in the passage from Luke 12? Everything we worry and try to control isn't our problem. God has it covered. God is in control. All we need God has, and God will take such good care of the lilies of the field and the birds of the air and all the other living things on earth, we can trust in the extravagant love God has for us to take care of us, too. God opens the theft-proof vaults of heaven to provide for us.
By May of that year, we both had jobs. Of four years of seminary, I only had to take out student loans for the last year.
After graduation, God asked me to take another step of trust and practice "first fruits." "First fruits" refers to the practice of offering to God the first ten percent of anything the people grew or produced: grain, other crops, and wine. I think that's what John Wesley meant when he said, "Earn all you can; give all you can; save all you can." Brother John sounds like the Dave Ramsey of his day.
The practice of "first fruits" is a spiritual discipline of faith and trust. Instead of giving God what is left over, if there is anything left, my tithe offering is the first check I write every pay period. It's blessed me in two ways. First, I've grown closer to God as my trust has deepened. It puts God first in this area of my life. Secondly, I've found that I'm more disciplined in my spending habits. I make it to the next pay period without doing a lot of financial juggling.
Trust in God's provision empowers us to respond to God's extravagant love with extravagant generosity. We offer to God our very best of our abilities, our skills, our time and our resources -- not our leftovers. As God has made us God's first priority, we are freed to make the mission of the Kingdom of God ours. And when we do that, God provides and miracles and wonders happen.
Luke 12:22-34
Luke 12:31 tells us that our Heavenly Father knows our needs and will provide everything we need for everyday living. I can honestly say I believe in this, but do I trust in it? I wish I could say I do, 100%, but there have been times I have to admit I haven't.
A lack of trust prevents us from receiving God's extravagant love. We all have something that we find hard to let go of and let God provide or take care of. We have to do it ourselves, because we think we have to or that we can do it better than God. So, we're hanging on to whatever it is so tightly that we approach God with clenched fists instead of open hands ready to receive. Also, a lack of trust also focuses on our deficiencies and impossible situationsso that we don't see the God possibilities that surround us.
I've struggled in the past with control and trust issues concerning money. I can trust God in the smallest of things like lost keys to big stuff like dealing with the possibility of cancer, but when it comes to finances, I want to keep tight control on my money. My money. Hear that? Even though I knew in my head that the words of the the old hymn are true -- all good gifts around us, come from heaven above -- in my heart, that paycheck was mine, and my well-being depended on what I did to earn it.
Case in point. The year before I started seminary was a tough one for us. My husband and I were both employed very, very part-time. It wasn't enough money to cover the mortgage payment, so we had to dip into our retirement funds.
Even though I trusted in the call to go into ministry, I didn't see anyway I could pay for tuition. The money wasn't there, so I decided to put off entering seminary until we were in a better financial situation. I sat down with my husband, beginning with the words all husbands long to hear, "Honey, we have to talk ..."
But before I could finish, he said to me, "Babe, I'm so proud of how determined you are to stay the course and go to seminary."
Crap.
So, back to prayer where God told me, "The money is my problem. Your job is to fill out the scholarship forms and continue praying."
"The money is my problem." Isn't that what Jesus was telling us in the passage from Luke 12? Everything we worry and try to control isn't our problem. God has it covered. God is in control. All we need God has, and God will take such good care of the lilies of the field and the birds of the air and all the other living things on earth, we can trust in the extravagant love God has for us to take care of us, too. God opens the theft-proof vaults of heaven to provide for us.
By May of that year, we both had jobs. Of four years of seminary, I only had to take out student loans for the last year.
After graduation, God asked me to take another step of trust and practice "first fruits." "First fruits" refers to the practice of offering to God the first ten percent of anything the people grew or produced: grain, other crops, and wine. I think that's what John Wesley meant when he said, "Earn all you can; give all you can; save all you can." Brother John sounds like the Dave Ramsey of his day.
The practice of "first fruits" is a spiritual discipline of faith and trust. Instead of giving God what is left over, if there is anything left, my tithe offering is the first check I write every pay period. It's blessed me in two ways. First, I've grown closer to God as my trust has deepened. It puts God first in this area of my life. Secondly, I've found that I'm more disciplined in my spending habits. I make it to the next pay period without doing a lot of financial juggling.
Trust in God's provision empowers us to respond to God's extravagant love with extravagant generosity. We offer to God our very best of our abilities, our skills, our time and our resources -- not our leftovers. As God has made us God's first priority, we are freed to make the mission of the Kingdom of God ours. And when we do that, God provides and miracles and wonders happen.
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