Glorifying God & the Economic Stimulus

The first round of auto-deposits for the electronic stimulus went out today. What are we to do with this "free" money? Buy a TV? Put a down payment on a car? Get some new furniture?

Here's my challenge to you all: think first of how you can glorify God, help others, and then see what's left for yourself.

We are given physical resources like money to be stewards of. Everything belongs to God...everything. So the stuff we have is really His, and we're just to manage it well...for His glory, not ours. Here are some suggestions for your "economic stimulus":

1. Tithe off of it. Give God the firstfruits. Since this is not regular income from you job, really make a point to give at least 10%.

2. Help someone in need. There are some in the body of Delta who have been without work, and some going on short-term mission trips this summer...think of how you could bless somebody! There are also many needs in our city in regards to the poor, abused, marginalized, etc.

3. Pay down some of your debt. It's real tempting to go and buy something new, but if you're sitting on some consumer debt that is preventing you from being a better steward, use this opportunity to pay the debt down or eliminate it if possible.

4. Save some. Don't blow all of it! Put some away or invest it. By doing this you'll be able to weather a rough time that may be in your future, or you'll be able to bless somebody when they really need it.

5. Have a little fun with it. There's no harm in using some of this to bless your family, friends, or others with a nice meal out, some small gifts for the kids, or beautifying your home a little. I would encourage you to not just spend it on yourself, though. Whatever fun you may have, include others so it becomes an act of love to build community.

Let's keep our eye on the ball of God's glory and look for ways to be a blessing.

Authentic Worship

Over the last couple weeks at Delta, we've looked at John 4 and Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well. The overall theme to the passage is the idea of "authentic worship". The first half (verses 1-26) speaks of what authentic worship is. The second half (verses 27-42) speaks of what authentic worship does. A summary of this entire passage could be stated as: "Authentic worship leads to spiritual transformation in us and others." I've broken this down into 6 action points for authentic worshippers:

1. Authentic worshippers see value in all people. All outward appearances (looks, race, culture, gender, socio-economic status, etc.) take a back seat to the status of a person's heart.

2. Authentic worshippers speak truth without judgment and condemnation. Sin isn't to be sugar-coated; but it is to be dealth with truthfully, undergirded with a spirit of love.

3. Authentic worshippers share their story. Everyone has a story, and our stories will help draw people into relationship with Jesus. We need to see our stories as part of God's Grand Story.

4. Authentic worshippers find satisfaction and fulfillment in joining God in His work. We need to fight against laziness and apathy, and limiting our "work" to clocking time in a specific ministry. We join God in His work as we engage the lost and share the Gospel.

5. Authentic worshippers create margin in their lives to see spiritual needs and meet them. If our schedules, our emotions, and our checkbooks are constantly maxed out, we have nothing to give to others when opportunities arise. We need to create space in our lives to give us room to love others.

6. Authentic worshippers seek to dismantle barriers between the disconnected and the Gospel through living lives of love. Prejudices, sinful backgrounds, culture, worldview, activities, relationships, attitudes, etc. can all be in the way of a person and the Gospel. We need to work hard at helping people overcome those barriers.

May we all become authentic worshippers.

Springfield is officially Nineveh!

http://sj-r.com/News/stories/28691.asp

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=jonah+4%3A11

We may not have much cattle, but we sure do have corn.

Things have changed

The family and I are in Memphis doing a little vacationing/homeschool learning adventure. We arrived today and our first stop was the National Civil Rights Museum. The NCRM located at The Lorrain Hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King was shot 25 years ago. The museum was an amazing journey through the history of slavery, segregation, integration and equal rights. I was thinking how the difficulties with integration was a factor in my family moving from South Carolina to Chicago in 1974, as my older brothers during their school years dealt with the difficult reality of segregation & integration in the South during that time. And honestly, I hate to say this, but having many family members still in the "old South", there is still a wide gap between blacks and whites.

But there is hope, and things have changed, thanks much to modern-day heroes like Rosa Parks and Dr. MLK.

Today, as we were in the Civil Rights museum, my 2 year old son Aiden got my attention and said "Daddy, look! There's a baby...I'm going to go kiss her." (This is not uncommon, since Aiden has a 1 year old baby sister). But Aiden walked over to a beautiful little black girl, who was around 1 or so like his sister, bent down, and gently kissed her on her cheek. I looked at the little girl's parents and smiled, and they did the same.

Being in Memphis, on the spot where Dr. King was shot, and seeing my very white son treat a little black girl just like he would his sister, brought Dr. King's vision of a day when his children wouldn't get judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Things have changed...for the better. Thanks, Dr.

Red? Blue? What's a Christian to do?

Have you ever seen a presidential race like the one we're in? Never before has religion, race, gender, war, and economy been such hot issues...and we're talking about the candidates themselves! So, how is a Christ-follower to vote? What is the proper criteria?

I have a couple thoughts, and they're not very conservative by traditional standards. For the first time in my life, I'm really trying to ignore candidates positions on issues like abortion & homosexuality. Now, let me clarify: I have strong positions on these issues. I believe in the sanctity of life from the point of conception and I believe that homosexuality and same-sex marriage is not God's design, and practicing them is sin. But I do not think that those are "make-or-break" issues for the leader of our country.

I firmly believe that government is powerless to legislate morality & issues of the heart. Making a law against abortion will not stop abortion, for example. I believe when it comes to our government leaders, we need to strongly look at leadership in the economic, military, education, social welfare, and foreign diplomacy realms. The issues of morality are beyond the lawmakers. Instead, I think that Christians and the Church in general need to step up more and actually begin living out the Gospel with their fellow man. Because the Church has failed to engage and influence society as God intended, people are now looking to government to lead them morally, and that's not their place.

So this is really a call for Christians to actually live like it and bring the Gospel to people, allowing Jesus to change a person's heart when it comes to issues like love, mercy, protecting life, and living out our relationships as God has designed. This may all sound too idealistic, but it sure feels like what Jesus had in mind. We do not live in a Christian nation, and the only way to live in a Christian nation is to make more Christians; not trying to pass laws influenced by Christianity.

Here's a good blog that gives a good outline on how to engage in politics as a Christ-follower without selling your soul out to any particular political party: http://www.smartchristian.com/?p=5535