Scripture
The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously.
Psalms 37:21, NIV
Quote
If Jesus had been as grudging with His life and His blood as we are with His money, where would we be?
~Timothy Keller
Let me share the verse above in the JEV, “Those who do not fear God feel entitled but those who do give generously.” This time on my read through {CEV}, I am making an index of verses pertaining to STEWARDSHIP. People don’t like to be reminded, but Jesus talked more about Stewardship than any other subject so it must be important. My purpose statement is very short and simple: my goal in life is to be obedient to the LORD Jesus Christ. When it comes to specifics, I want to be a man of integrity. My goal is to be as honest as possible. I cannot allow my desire for transparency to become a license for hurting others but I do want to be as transparent as possible. Next to transparency, I want to be a generous man. When I am gone, I want people to remember me as being a giver, not a taker. I prayed for my children today: I want them to be givers. I know that academics has a place but I never prayed for my children to be the Valedictorian or the Salutatorian and I don’t pray that for my grand children either. These things are not important to some but not me. I do not pray for my children to be wealthy: riches produce a lot of temptations. I do pray for them to love Jesus with all their heart and their neighbor as much as they love themselves: in other words, I pray for them to be “givers.” You can give without loving but you can’t love without giving.
Generosity will produce a good harvest. Most people are asking the wrong question: they ask, “How little can I give and call myself a tither?” The bigger question is, “How much can I give and still have what I need.” The LORD doesn’t want us begging–He get’s no glory when we feel entitled. As Paul said in Ephesians 4:28, Let the thief no longer steal {let the beggar beg no more}. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. I’m about to tell you something that I never shared: “Miserly parents raise miserly children–generous parents raise generous children.” I’ve seen it time and time again. When you teach your children to look out for number one, they generally do and that means a day is coming when they are not going to look out for you because they will put their interest first, just like you taught them. You have no one to blame other than yourself: they are doing what you taught them to do. There is a better way: be generous and unselfish–it will produce a much better outcome.
Chloe Bug is in Disney World and I am in Morgan County–we are both happy. I have a tough question for you: who do you pull for when there is nothing but orange in the finals. I bet Michael pulls for the Vols. I really don’t care. I haven’t watched an entire game yet, don’t imagine I will start today. Big L hit a hard smash off the third baseman glove {E-5 if you are keeping score} and he had to hustle to beat it out which he did barely. The ball went off the boys glove and halfway to left field: Big L beat it out by a half-step. The crowd went wild. Many of them had never seen him run. I hope you have a wonderful day and I do pray that the LORD comes down in power at DBC and GP. God is good–all the time. If He wasn’t good all the time, He would not be good at all.