“When historians look back in 100 years, what will they write about this nation of 340,000 churches? What will they say of the Church’s response to the great challenges of our time—AIDS, poverty, hunger, terrorism, war? Will they say that these authentic Christians rose up courageously and responded to the tide of human suffering, that they rushed to the front lines to comfort the afflicted and to douse the flames of hatred? Will they write of an unprecedented outpouring of generosity to meet the urgent needs of the world’s poor? Will they speak of the moral leadership and compelling vision of our leaders? Will they write that this, the beginning of the 21st century, was the Church’s finest hour? Or will they look back and see a Church too comfortable, insulated from the pain of the rest of the world, empty of compassion, and devoid of deeds? Will they write about a people who stood by and watched while 100 million died of AIDS and 50 million children were orphaned, of Christians who lived in luxury and self-indulgence while millions died for lack of food and water? Will schoolchildren read in disgust about a Church that had the wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals, and clinics? In short, will we be remembered as the Church with a gaping hole in its gospel?”
—Rich Stearns (pp. 238-239)
Well, what do you think? What WILL history say about us? What will you tell your grandchildren when they ask, what did YOU do?
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That Jesus gave His all is not a debatable point. Since we, however, have dug such deep holes for ourselves by over-spending our money and over-committing our time, we must first fill those holes before we can give our all.
ReplyDeleteI, seriously, do not feel called to give part of myself. I am called to give all of me. It has been paralyzing for most of my adult life to be chained to the "bills" I have created. That, in part, is why my eyes fill with tears as I sing or read or hear testimonies or sermons. There is a recognition of my personal failure to do what I ought and it seems impossible to get out.
What a witness to the world we would be if Redeemer were known as the church whose members were all out of debt, and whose church was out of debt. A body free to go and do as the Spirit moved them. I love the upside to the financial counseling being offered. It's just that it takes so much time to get so many out of trouble.
Compared to Jesus' freedom of movement, how free are we? If the Spirit told Him to move, He moved, in part because nothing in His life held Him back. I bet most of us cannot say "OK" to the Spirit because we have yoked ourselves to the things of this world. Jesus did not say, 'Most of you cannot serve God and mammon,' He said, 'You cannot serve God and mammon.' We each are severely tempted to believe that we are the one person who CAN serve both...and we are wrong, we are deceived. And we don't want to be convicted and admit it, so we plow ahead pretending that what little we can do is OK.
I'm not convinced it is God's desire for me to give part of my life to Him. No, as the hymn says, "All to Jesus I surrender..."
Good point. I'll bet most of us can relate to being tied to bills--although certainly some bills are necessary part of living in this culture--the debt isn't.
ReplyDeleteHow can we give of ourselves apart from financially?
Obvious giving ways to me are the ways I serve now, giving of my musical gifts, offering to teach, helping with the regular upkeep of facilities, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe thought behind the thought was that there are many ways of ministering and they all involve time and many involve money. For instance, I would dearly love to go on another mission trip. Visiting Israel would be a life changing, spiritual place to go. Both involve time and money. Until I am freed from the ties to this world, I can't answer the call in my heart.
How many of God's people have restricted their ability to give of themselves, their time and money, because they've fallen for the lure of the mammon-card? Sure, IF you pay in full each month it should not be a problem. But I'll bet not one in a hundred pays in full each month AND, even in so doing, you are still spending money you don't have. You are spending what you will have...
There is an insidious quality to our nature which gravitates toward wrong, toward sin, toward evil. We do not gravitate toward right, toward obedience and toward good. Yet we like to think that we can live in our hedonistic society, selectively doing certain things on the edge of righteousness, without falling, failing or sinning. We try to fool ourselves and instead, end up the fool.