The cycle of giving

Luke 6:38 - Give and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return.

I love this verse that Dr. Luke pens for us! It is such a beautiful expression of the generosity of God. “Pressed down, shaken together, running over” - not “whatever you give, you will get” . Instead it is a picture of uncontainable abundance.

The verse is usually thought of in terms of financial giving and certainly its application includes that. Other verses express the same exhortation for us to be lavish in giving back to God what He has given to us, and that God will not only notice but also reward that. Proverbs 22:9 - He who is generous will be blessed for he gives some of his food to the poor. 2 Corinthians 9:6-11 - Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written, He scattered abroad, He gave to the poor, His righteousness abides forever. Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.

Indeed, we can understand the verse from Luke to apply to how we give our money and invest for Eternity. But we miss a great portion of its application if we don’t look at it in context. Verse 35 is smack dab in the middle of a passage where Jesus is majoring on how we treat others, particularly those who don’t treat us well or cannot do anything beneficial for us in return. Focusing in on just verses 35-38 gives us a broader idea of what this particular verse has for us: But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful and do not judge and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon and you will be pardoned. Give and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return.

We see that the meaning goes far beyond our checkbook. Jesus is including how we treat people, how we view them, how we judge them. He calls us to be merciful - not condoning sin but rather not giving others the judgment they deserve. Extending grace and the benefit of the doubt, rather than condemnation. Making allowances for their failures and offering understanding for their shortcomings. “Pardon” - releasing them from our expectations of what we believe they owe us. I don’t think this calls us to pretend the wrong behavior isn’t there - rather it is just not insisting that others conform to how we think they should behave and instead letting them answer to God.

The consequences of our choices, the standard we use towards others - whether financial or otherwise - is more of the same towards ourselves. And I believe these results happen in this present life as well as in Eternity. The measure we use towards others is the same God will apply to us. Multiplied.

May this truth grip our hearts and encourage us towards great mercy and generosity. Because we all want that to come back to our own lives!

Celebrate Easter

This Sunday, we will head to church to celebrate Easter. New clothes, pretty flowers, yummy food. All good things but what are we celebrating? The arrival of spring? An obligatory religious observation?  Let's take a few minutes to focus on what the day really means.

Jesus died. The One who healed folks who couldn't see or walk. He even brought some back to life. The One who fed the hungry. The One who loved people to wholeness, showed them how to live. The One who called people to repentance from sin. The One who said if we saw Him, then we had seen the Father.

This One, the Hope for all the world, died. And He said He had to. That it was why He came. To be the perfect sacrifice, required for the sin of the world. Can you imagine how His followers felt? Talk about grief and disappointment and confusion. I mean, really, they followed this Man and believed that He was going to change the world. They gave up their way of life to answer His call. They saw actual miracles and placed all their hope in Him.

 Then He ups and dies. Certainly they must have had a few moments of doubt - if He were really who He claimed to be, wouldn't He have asserted a little Divine power and wiped out the bad guys?? Ponder for a moment what your feelings would have been – disappointment, confusion, disillusionment, fear, maybe even anger?

Then, to the amazement of them all....even though He had told them...His body isn't in the tomb. He appears! Living and breathing! NO WAY!!!

The initial response must have been shock. Then, I imagine that Jesus’s words and explanations from the preceding three years began to sink in. They finally grasped what He meant, why He came, why He died and that He had come back to life. I wonder how long it took for them to understand what His death on the cross accomplished.

He paid the debt we owe God . Sin is costly - it exacts death from those who commit it. And Jesus's voluntary death was the only means by which our debt could be paid. So He paid it. Mercy. Amazing mercy. Love beyond compare. I hope we never get over being amazed at such great love!

But then He did the impossible. He defeated Death! No longer would man have to fear Death because Jesus overcame it! Not only can our sin be paid for so that we can be acceptable to God, but we now don't have to fear Death. He conquered it! Because of His resurrecting Himself, He gives to us the promise of resurrection. To live forever, without sin or death. Oh hallelujah!

This year, as we celebrate Easter,let's focus on what His death AND His resurrection do for us. And ponder, just for a moment, that this same power that raised Jesus from the dead resides in us. NOW. Is there anything in your life that could use some resurrection power? A relationship? A dream? Finances? Self-control? Joy? Hope? Because of Easter, that power, that Glory, can be present in our lives through Jesus. Those of us who are Christ-followers have resurrection power that enables us to live supernatural lives. If that doesn't describe you, do you want it to?

Celebrate Easter. For real.

Have you heard....

When I was a little girl, a popular TV show had a segment where a group of girls sang a song that went something like this "You'll never catch one of us repeating gossip...so you'd better be sure and listen close the first time!"  Hee-Haw.  Made us laugh every time we saw it.

It's not so funny being the victim of gossip, though.  Can you relate??


God makes it very clear that He hates gossip.  He lists it among murder and pride and lying in Proverbs 6:16-19 --
There are six things the Lord hates – no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord among brothers.

The dictionary defines gossip as "idle talk or rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others".  OK, so what's "idle talk"?  Since Scripture warns us about such, we should know what it is.

But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.  Matthew 12:36

Gulp.  This sounds serious indeed. And it is.  Gossip, or idle talk, consists of things said about other people that are not profitable to the subject, the hearer, or the speaker.

  Gossip is sometimes lies sprinkled with some truth.  Words that cause the hearer to think less of the person being "discussed" .  Words that destroy relationships.  Murder reputations.  Other times, the juicy morsels are all lies.  And irreparable damage is done. But sometimes, gossip consists of things that are true but would have been better left unsaid.  Words that are not profitable for the one being discussed. Secrets shared that should have never been disclosed.

Take a look at these verses with me:
 Proverbs 16:28,  A troublemaker stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.

A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his tongue. A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret  Proverbs 11:12-13.

I've done it.  Maybe you have, too.  Shared some information that was of no benefit to the hearer or the subject.  It's almost comical how we do it.  "Did you hear that..." or "I don't know if this is right but I heard..."  My personal UNfavorite is the one thinly disguised as a prayer request - "I know you'll want to be praying about this....".  Super spiritual for sure.

I don't know why we are tempted to do it.  When we do, we have fallen prey to the deception that such "sharing" will be beneficial to US.  That by tearing someone else down, we will look bigger. But that's the biggest lie of all.  We not only do damage to others with our gossipy words, but we also destroy our own selves.

Maybe we will be motivated to curb our gossipy tongue when we remember the truth of Proverbs 18:21 -
  Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits 

We will enjoy the fruit of life-giving words.  Or we will reap the consequences of death-inducing words.

My Mama said it this way "What goes around, comes around."

Amen, Mama.  Amen.

Stop trying to be popular

Not one single person I know wants to be unpopular. Not one. In fact, nearly all of the people I know are likeable, and well-liked. (I say "nearly" because we all know there are some grumps out there - in everybody's life!)

So is this a bad thing? Especially for Christians? Aren't we called by Christ to love others, to do good to all, to be kind and generous? And that kind of behavior makes us popular, right?

Ummmmmm maybe not.
At least that's not to be the goal. Check out what Jesus said in Luke 6;26 -
Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for in the same way their fathers treated the false prophets.

I don't like it when someone doesn't like me. It bothers me. I want to fix it. Maybe you are the same way.

Recently, I asked the Lord for some help in one of these situations and His answer surprised me. As you might imagine, it had way more to do with my own heart than that of my UNfriend.

There is alot of Truth packed into this one verse. And it pours out at different angles. Let's unpack it to see some of what God has for us in it:

1. Being popular is not something to seek or even to desire. Jesus says "woe to you when all men speak well of you" - this lets us know that being popular will bring sorrow, not joy. Woe, not blessing.

2. Jesus equates being well spoken of by everyone with the life of a false prophet. That is dangerous! Elsewhere, He tells us that false prophets devour people instead of loving them, led others to destruction instead of to Him, and are everywhere. (Matthew 7:15, 24:11,24)

3. What is it about false prophets that puts them in the Scriptural thesaurus with desiring to be well-liked? The idolizing of self.

Gulp.

When our goal is to be popular, we are actually worshipping our own SELF. And when that goal is blocked, our heart is revealed. Do we fret or get angry or even seek retaliation towards someone who mistreats us? Do we accuse them of being unlikeable themselves and even try to discredit them with others?
Do we try harder to win them over, to move them from disliking us to liking us (or at least to neutrality!)?

Or do we examine our own hearts and see what is there...

If we are being mistreated because we are living so much like Jesus that it makes someone uncomfortable, we are to rejoice. (Matthew 5:10-12)

If we are disliked by someone because there is a problem between us, we are to go to that person and make it right (Matthew 5:23,24)

If, however, we are uncomfortable because someone's lack of love for us blocks our goal of popularity, then we are our own problem. We have an idol. And that calls for repentance.

It's not your fault...but you can fix it

Are you in conflict with someone right now?


Maybe it's your teenager.  Or your co-worker.  Somebody at church or in the neighborhood.


Maybe it's your spouse.


Ask yourself some questions about that...


What bothers you about that person?
What is the source of the angst between you?
What would you like to change about this relationship/that person?
Do you think things can get better?


This isn't a post about changing the other person to make this better.
And it's not a post about changing yourself.


This is a post about the problem.

I continually surprise myself at how easily I get distracted from the real problem.  How quickly I can slip into thinking that my relational concerns are the rooted in someone's quirks or issues or even their sin...or my own.


Those are not the root but rather the leaves and branches of the conflict.


Ephesians 6:12 spells out the problem clearly - For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.


The root of the conflict between you and your child, you and your neighbor, you and your spouse is not the other person.  And it's not you.  It's not any person - it's spiritual.


The spiritual forces of evil that wage war in the heavenly places against the saints.
It's not a sci-fi movie - it's real.


The unseen powers of wickedness that temporarily rule over this world are the cause for the problems in your relationship.  The source for the conflicts that torment us.  That's the enemy.  That's who we need to battle...not the other person.


How easily we are deceived into blaming someone for the tension, the separation, the pain that exists in our relationships.  We battle the pride and selfishness and anger and greed of our friend, our child, our spouse...and ourselves.


And we keep losing.
The conflict persists.  Intensifies.  Breaks us apart.


Because we're fighting the wrong combatant!


We don't have to lose this war.  We don't have to experience the casualties of conflict. But we do have to fight. 


The right hostile forces.
With the right weapons.


For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
2 Corinthians 10:4

Spiritual forces cannot be defeated with fleshly weapons.
Arguing, pleading, manipulating, even counseling are insufficient (sometimes even more destructive) in our struggle against them.
We need divine power.


The weapons God has divinely equipped us with are found in Ephesians 6. Verses 17, 18 - the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 


Two weapons.  Divinely powered to destroy the real enemy in our relationships.
Prayer and God's Word.


No substitutes will effect the change we want, the peace we desire, the blessings we seek.


Take a moment.  Ponder that relationship that is in such strife. 
It's not their fault.  Or yours.
But you can fix it.


Pray.
Pray God's Word over the problem.  Into the conflict.  Unto victory.


(Suggested resources - Stormie Omartian's books - The Power of  a Praying Woman, The Power of a Praying Wife, The Power of a Praying Parent ; Beth Moore's Praying God's Word )