The financial news is crazy these days. From what seems like an incessant train of bailouts and legislation to rising unemployment to insurance companies turning folks away, the news is rarely good.
People are in a state of panic.
What better time, as Christians, to show the watching world what we really trust in!?
I confess, this is a pep talk for myself that you are welcomed to listen in on, but I am discouraged as I step back from my situation and evaluate how I am handling things. Our financial support has suffered recently, and if I am honest, I tend toward panic more than trusting Christ. Which is exactly the opposite of how the gospel ought to affect me.
The reason so many people in the financial sector are breaking apart at the seams is because their god is dying. They have trusted in money, or the economy, or their 401-K, or the American dream. And now that thing in which they have placed their trust is dying. Their god is dying.
Our God rose from death. And he promises in his word that he takes care of his own. Jesus is LORD. Not just a king or a president. The King of kings. The Lord of lords. He alone is in control.
So instead of freaking out when finances are tight, I am going to rejoice that my God is alive, and still in control. I am going to trust. But let’s take it another step. How about instead of clamming up and “taking care of our own” with no regard for others, we model the generousity and others-focus that Jesus would have for us during this time. Our generousity in the face of uncertainty will serve as God’s hands and feet drawing people who are otherwise totally disinterested and turned off by Christians.
Give sacrificially (no, this is not just a plug for you to support us. Give to people who need to know that money won’t save them.) Pray as to who God would have you minister to with your wallet. Is there a single mom or a widow that needs a meal or a tank of gas? Give to your church, so that they don’t have to lay off people. Give to the local food bank. Just… GIVE.
I’ll start. I haven’t taken it before the Lord with my wife yet, so I am not sure how we are going to give, but I assure you that this month, even in spite of a significant loss in our support, we will give more than we did last month.
Because my God is not dead, or dying.