March 13 2011The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths. Psalm 24:1-2 (NLT)It was a magnificent early spring concert rising up from the creek that crosses the back corner of our property. I had been cutting up a bull pine that went down in our horse pasture some months ago, but when the daylight waned and it got too dim to safely cut I turned off my chainsaw, sat down on a stump, took out my earplugs, and that’s when I heard it. While listening to the ebb and flow of the massive choir of frogs and crickets I was reminded of something they seem to instinctively know but we seem to quickly forget. The earth and all it contains belongs to God.As I already told you I was on my property, I had used my chainsaw, I was sitting in my pasture, and the stump I was sitting on belonged to me as well. It is all mine, I own it fair and square. Actually we, Susie and I, own it, because a long time ago we decided to share everything and said, “I do.” Where our fence ends our neighbors’ property begins and I can’t call it mine because Jim and Marianne hold legal title to it, it is theirs. Now the singing critters don’t know this because they come and go as they please. The birds too build their nests on our property without ever once asking if that would be okay. No, all those creatures lay no permanent and legal claim, they simply live without any thought of ownership to land they did not create.Now I have seen enough nature shows, read enough books, and spent time in personal observation to know that many animals, and even plants, are fiercely territorial. But no creature has taken ownership to the level we have as people. Thus it is a sobering, and challenging reminder, that none of us can claim ultimate ownership. Don’t misunderstand, neither I nor scripture discourages ownership. The trouble is that the more we own the more we are inclined to forget about God, the more we are inclined think that we are only accountable to ourselves when it comes to that which we own.The reason why God is the ultimate owner of not only all that you and I own, but of us as well, is that he made it all, even our very life. Thus he can lay claim and hold us accountable as to what we do with our lives, our things, our property, and our wealth.Those critters singing down by my creek I am sure have never contemplated any of this. In fact their singing down there is about mating not meditating on God. But you and I, because we are made in the image of God, are able to hear, see, and know God through all of creation, as well as all God entrusts to us. The reality of God’s ownership has deep, even radical implications. I would like to encourage you to go find a stump and listen to what God would have you know, contemplate, change, and live out when it comes to all that you can say to, “that’s mine.”To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans
What if? Money and Stuff
March 6 2011“You know that these hands of mine have worked to supply my own needs and even the needs of those who were with me. And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:34-35 (NLT)If you start thinking to yourselves, "I did all this. And all by myself. I'm rich.It's all mine!"— well, think again. Remember that GOD, your God, gave youthe strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that hepromised to your ancestors—as it is today. Deuteronomy 8:17-18 (MSG)When our kids were little they were inspired by TV advertising and theperennial Disney cartoon with all of its accompanying merchandizing to dream ofgoing to Disneyland. It wasn’t that we would not have loved to take our family ona Disneyland trip, no, the problem was that we simply couldn’t afford it, we werebarely making it. We told our kids that we did not have the money to go but thatthey certainly could ask God to provide. Not long after that conversation my littleboy proudly declared one evening, “We can go to Disneyland, it’s not a problem!”Our ears perked up. “And how is it not a problem?” we asked. “It’s easy Dad, allwe need is a Discover Card.”I am glad to inform you that since then we did go to Disneyland severaltimes, without the use of Discover Card, and that that little boy has grown up tobe a man who handles money really well. But I realized at that moment that ourkids acquire early on their attitudes and habits when it comes to money. The TVwas doing a good job trying to educate my children towards consumerism thatdoesn’t think twice about assuming debt, that shifts the question from, “Can Iafford this?” to “Can I handle the payments.We are living in though economical times, and literally millions are findingout how precarious, and if we are honest, how irresponsible that kind of financialapproach is (Although our government leaders still seemingly have not woke upto that reality. How I pray we will do right for the generations that follow us).So what would happen if we would apply God’s wisdom to our attitudes andhabits regarding money and things? What if we embraced the ways God blessesin this important area of our lives? What if made it our goal to become giversinstead of getters, to be dispersers and not debtors, to embrace charity insteadof consumerism, to save before we spend, to see in money and things as anopportunity for service rather than self? What if we start asking ourselves, “Howcan I manage my wealth (however much or little that is) so I can give more?”instead of simply asking, “How can I have more?” And what if we would realizethat the management of our money and stuff has eternal implications?When it comes to the management of money and things God literallychallenges us to try and see if that his ways, his principles, his wisdom not onlywork but are blessed (Malachi 3:9-12, Luke 6:38).To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans