APPOINTMENTS, ACTIVITIES, ASSIGNMENTS . . . demands, decisions, deadlines . . . schedules, services, seminars . . . plans, people, programs . . . STOP! Sit down and think. Think about your pace. How in the world did you get trapped in the busyness cycle? What is it down inside your boiler room that keeps pouring the coal to your fire? Consider the past three or four months. Has anything significant been accomplished? Probably not, if you’re honest.
Read MoreCategory Archives: Stewardship
It’s about Time
I AM A SUCKER FOR TIME-MANAGEMENT BOOKS. Some people can’t say no to a salesman at the door. Others have the hardest time passing up a litter of free puppies. Some people struggle with driving by a garage sale without stopping. Still others find it almost impossible to withstand the urge to gamble. Not me. My weakness is books that teach me about the investment of my time—all of those volumes that promise to tell me how to replace simply being busy with being effective.
Read MoreYanking the Thorns
WHAT DO THORNS REPRESENT IN SCRIPTURE? Prickly issues that steal our joy, confidence, and progress in our faith. Jesus’ own words describe the menace of thorns to our spiritual vitality. The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced.
Read MoreGiving While You’re Living
BEFORE ABRAHAM DIED, he took good care of all his children, establishing each of his sons financially as they left the nest and started families of their own.
Read MoreProsperity
MOST OF US rise to meet adversity with our best character. However, our true character comes out when things go really well. It’s easy to become arrogant, self-sustaining, conceited, greedy, and condescending at such times.
Read MoreFound Faithful
If you return to Job 1:3, you can read what Job originally owned. He had 7,000 sheep, and he winds up with 14,000. So his flocks grow as he feeds them and breeds them. Their numbers increase to twice the original flock.
Read MoreGod Owns It All
Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright and author of yesteryear, wrote in The Picture of Dorian Gray, “Young people, nowadays, imagine that money is everything . . . and when they grow older they know it!”1Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003), 35. Another statement on money I especially like […]
Read MoreGiving Is Godlike
Shortly after World War II, the saddest sight for American soldiers who were picking up the pieces in ravaged Europe, was that of little orphaned children starving in the streets of those war-torn cities.
Read MoreThe Secret of Living
When money is our objective for happiness, we must live in fear of losing it, which makes us paranoid and suspicious. When fame is our aim, we become competitive lest others upstage us, which makes us envious. When power and influence drive us, we become self-serving and strong-willed, which makes us arrogant. And when possessions become our god, we become materialistic, thinking enough is never enough, which makes us greedy. All these pursuits fly in the face of contentment and joy.
Read More