Giving Dangerously

I keep having these recurring dreams of posting to this blog but wake up and nothing has changed. I even have material... still nothing. Like everyone else, I'm busy. However, sitting in church Sunday morning I had a thought and, here it is, Monday night, I'm still busy but if I don't move on this it will pass me by.

Just in case anybody missed it the economy is headed south and not even looking over its shoulder. And, as positive as I am that better days are ahead it’s no consolation to anyone that has lost a job, a home or watched their 401K turn into a 201K in recent months.

To set the stage, surfer dude and teaching pastor Ed Noble is doing a series titled "A Year of Living Dangerously." This week was part 4 - "A Dangerous Discipline" and it was no surprise, as I scanned through the notes prior to the start of service, to see a Leviticus reference to tithing.

Ahh, the tithing talk. Best as I can tell it is probably the least favorite thing to teach on since it's almost never talked about. Being "seeker friendly" we sneak up on giving by telling visitors to let the bag pass by. And, that "this is an opportunity for those who call God our father and Journey our home..." (And, I think, we as a body are proper for doing it that way.)

So, when Ed got to the "obvious" point in the notes and skipped over it I thought "NO, ED, DON'T WIMP OUT!" I couldn't have been more wrong. Thank-you Ed (he'll never read this). You covered it beautifully.

All of that to drop my two cents. I'm somewhat hesitant to be quite this transparent but here goes. For the majority of 32 years of marriage our family has been a single income family. As such I would mentally justify letting the bag pass by or dropping a little folding money on occasion. My justification being "God knows how tight things are and He's just happy I'm here."

Of course God did know how tight things were and He was happy any time I entered His house. But, it's hard to bless a disobedient son. Even God can't steer a parked car.

Since recommitting my life to Christ and committing my business to operate in a manor pleasing to Him things have simply blossomed. Life hasn't gotten easier. There has been financial crisis within the family. Cheryl lost her mother and I lost my father this past year but our business has continued to flourish and, in fact, increase substantially enabling Cheryl to make frequent and extended trips to Colorado to take care of her folks and additionally make multiple trips to Texas for us to be with mine. God has provided more than just our needs.

There are certain biblical principles or laws you might say that just cannot be ignored without suffering consequences.

1. The law of reciprocity: you reap what you sow
2. The law of increasing returns: you reap more than you sow
3. The law of delayed gratification: you reap after you sow

I don't believe in performance based Christianity. I figured out a long time ago I'll never be good enough and need all the grace I can get. I do believe however, that God cannot lie and when He says "test me" I'd be an idiot not to go all in.

So, there you go. Nobody asked me, but...