Your Wealth

Honor the Lord with your capital and sufficiency [from righteous labors] and with the firstfruits of all your income; so shall your storage places be filled with plenty, and your vats shall be overflowing with new wine. (Proverbs 3:9&10 AMP)

It is a very familiar command to those of us who have been in the Church for many years - honor the Lord with our wealth, with the first fruits of our crops. This scripture passage is often recited in the context of giving/tithing/offerings. It is a great command of God for His people to be givers -  not grudging givers, but cheerful givers. Further, we are to give first and foremost to God. To honor Him with our sufficiency - those essentials which the Lord has given to us. We won’t go in to the more in-depth teachings about giving practices here.

But I’d like to look at the beauty of the promise that is attached to God’s command to honor him with our possessions. Our storage places will be filled with plenty. Some translations say that our barns will be filled. That’s huge! When we are in trusting, faithful relationship with God, He will supply all of our needs according to His riches, which are endless in Christ Jesus. He’s got us covered. I like what Matthew Henry says about this promise:

“A promise which makes it our interest to serve God with our estates. It is the way to make a little much, and much more; it is the surest and safest method of thriving.” - Matthew Henry

Amen! And as we honor Him, we partner with His purposes to draw others to Himself, to meet needs, and to bring us into loving fellowship with one another.

May we each strive to honor our Lord with all that we have. 

Welcome Sri Lanka!!!!!

I'm so glad you have found us here at Simply Christian. We post a biblical meditation six days per week and I invite you to bookmark this blog or subscribe so that you can receive the blogs daily. We are also on Facebook so I invite you to visit our page, comment, and follow us at Simply Christian. You can also see some teaching on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHsrga8Fssk.
Know that I am praying for you daily. I pray for all of our readers on a daily basis.
SO GLAD YOU'RE HERE!
Blessings to you!

Love Confessions

We read in Deuteronomy 6 that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength. Jesus, later will quote these words saying that this is the first and greatest commandment given. He will go further on to say, “And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” We see that command in Leviticus 19.

Today, I want us just to focus on these commands to love God and our neighbor. And as we do so, I encourage you to join me in embracing the following words from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and speaking them over yourself. The truth is that God’s love is a gift given to us and we can give that love to others as we submit ourselves to the precious Holy Spirit living within us and empowering us to be all that God has designed us to be.

As we live by the power of the Spirit...

We are patient,

We are kind,

We do not envy,

We are not boastful,

We are not proud (displaying ourselves haughtily),

We do not dishonor others,

We are not self-seeking,

We are not easily angered,

We keep no record of wrongs,

We do not rejoice at injustice,

We rejoice with the truth,

We always protect,

We are always ready to believe the best of others,

We have a hope that never fades (even when circumstances are tough),

And we always persevere.

The love of our God never fails. 

Walking Well

As we live in relationship with one another, it is imperative that the mature Christian is aware of him/herself just as much as they are aware of those they are in relationship with. There is a risk, as we grow in knowledge of the Lord, that we may lose some of the humility we started with - not realizing that although we are growing in Him, we must hold to the same humility that Christ modeled. The apostle Paul said this, “We all possess knowledge. But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.” (1 Corinthians 8:1b&2)

So we must move forward with an awareness of those around us and interact in love. Paul, in this passage, gives the example of the eating and drinking practices of these believers in that time. He encouraged mature believers to be mindful that although they may have an understanding of where the Lord stood on the eating and drinking practices, not all believers yet did. And their understanding, in some instances, contradicted the cultural customs. So while they were free to eat and drink as the Lord permitted, Paul admonished them: “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.” He did not want the freedoms of these believers to be destructive to the walk of others.

In the same way, we who are believers need to be mindful of how our walk impacts those we interact with - from family and friends to the guy at the checkout counter. Believers, non-believers, strangers, or those we are in close relationship with - all need to see the Spirit of the precious Savior reflected in us.

Further on in Paul’s letter to the Corinthian believers, Paul said, “I have the right to do anything,” you say - but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” - but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. (1 Corinthians 10:23&24)

Let’s do well - building others up with Christ’s love. 

Just a Quote I Like :-)

Saw this the other day on Instagram and thought I’d share it with you. 

"This morning, LET GO of everything you didn’t do right, the negative things people have said, and focus on all you’re becoming."

Social Justice

Matthew Robinson, PhD shares that social justice is “promoting a just society by challenging injustice and valuing diversity”. Further, we see descriptions as “justice in terms of distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society” and “The fair and proper administration of laws conforming to the natural law that all persons, irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, possessions, race, religion, etc., are to be treated equally and without prejudice”. This last definition sounds very similar to our understanding of civil rights.

In line with the definition Robinson offered, I’d like to challenge those of us who are followers of Christ to promote a just society, not only in our local areas but abroad, by taking part in challenging injustices that are perpetrated against those who are being preyed upon. 

External religious worship [religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this; to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world. (James 1:27AMP)

Brother James gives a solid word to us in this passage. The socially powerless are to be cared for, loved, and nurtured by believers. In James’ time, orphans and widows had no direct means of support or any legal defenders so these specific members of society were addressed. Moving forward into the 21st century, we still see that opportunities to care for others absolutely abound in our world. It may look a little different than in James’ day but we cannot ignore the encouragement given here as it relates to those in today’s world who are symbolically equivalent to these named.

I encourage all believers to ask the Lord where He desires for you to involve yourself for the good of others and for His glory. God loves every one of His created beings. And His desire for all of us is good. How can you partner with God and your brothers and sisters in the faith to bring the good news of Christ to others and come alongside those who need support, equipping, rescue, and other practical resources?

“The call to the work of justice is therefore not God sending His church out to a place where God cannot be found. Rather, God is inviting us to a place where He is already at work. It is here, among the world’s most vulnerable, that the Good News of God turns out to be very good indeed. In the work of injustice, God is beckoning us to experience His profound love for us and for the vulnerable of this world. The call to fight against injustice is therefore the call to intimacy with God and to deep discipleship.” - Jim Martin, author of The Just Church

When Things Are...Weird

Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happened to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. (Acts 28:3-6)

When things happen that seem “weird” we can be quick to default to non-godly assumptions based on what we’ve seen, forgetting that we are to live this life by faith; not by sight. God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts - they are higher than ours. With our limited minds, we are unable to fully understand, to see, to anticipate, or predict what God is doing and how He will move or is moving. So our interpretations of what we see can be severely off. We would do well to pray and consider how the Father may be moving in a particular situation – being open to hearing Him. And ultimately, we must trust and believe in Him - no one and nothing else.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. So don’t throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. (Hebrews 10:23&35)

The God Who Made Everything in the World…The Creator….Our Source of Life

He made the world and everything in it, and since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples; and human hands can’t minister to his needs—for he has no needs! He himself gives life and breath to everything, and satisfies every need there is.  He created all the people of the world from one man, Adam, and scattered the nations across the face of the earth. He decided beforehand which should rise and fall, and when. He determined their boundaries. His purpose in all of this is that they should seek after God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us.  For in him we live and move and are! As one of your own poets says it, ‘We are the sons of God.’ (Acts 17:24-28)

We find ourselves in the book of Acts again today. I was brought to tears revisiting how Paul described to the Athenians the “unknown God” they had set up an altar to worship. The Athenians had many gods they were worshipping but acknowledged there was one they didn’t know. Paul seized the opportunity to share the true God with them and many believed. Absolutely beautiful. 

Words of Wisdom - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”

***This concludes our words of wisdom series. See you tomorrow!!!!

Words of Wisdom - St. Teresa of Avila

“Believe me…in the presence of Infinite Wisdom, one act of humility is worth more than all the knowledge of the world.”

Welcome India!!!!

I'm so glad you have found us at Simply Christian. (Now that I have access to a working computer again) we post a biblical meditation six days per week and I invite you to bookmark this blog or subscribe so that you can receive the blogs daily. We are also on Facebook and I invite you to visit our page, comment, and follow us at Simply Christian. Know that I am praying for you daily. I pray for all of our readers on a daily basis.
SO GLAD YOU'RE HERE!
Blessings to you!

Words of Wisdom - Mahatma Gandhi

“I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love.”

I'm back and I've missed you!

I've missed you all! My computer took a dive. Hoping I can keep using this borrowed one...
:-)