Thursday, February 28, 2013
Hebrews 13
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
(Hebrews 13:5 ESV)
Ever since reading Radical a few years ago, I have really been challenged on my views towards money and wealth especially looking to it for a sense of security and placing our trust in stored up worldly wealth rather than God. The book brought up a lot of really good points about responsibly saving as we are called to be good stewards of the money that we work for, but not hording and putting our trust in money.
I think this goes back to the point that I have become increasingly more aware of. While we may desire, say, and know that our priorities should be one way, a careful examination of our lives, the decisions we make on a daily basis, and the way that we spend our time often show otherwise. We come to realize how often we are focusing only on ourselves and putting our trust in money and things and the false sense of security that they provide. And I use "we" because I have first seen this in myself, and I'm trying to pay close attention to it daily and let God correct me when I need to be corrected.
One example of this that I thought was so telling in Radical was how our lives constantly follow this progression of never having enough money to be satisfied so we constantly want more and more. We keep putting God off and trading him for worldly things. Saying, God I can't give to the church right now, I don't have a stable income. Then, God I can't give right now, I'm trying to pay off my student loans. Then it becomes, God I can't give now, I'm trying to save up for the wedding then house then children's college fund and so on. We can always find a reason not to give, but truly sacrificing is pleasing to God as it says in verse 16:
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
(Hebrews 13:16 ESV)
Just like I wrote about some earlier. We are given an opportunity with the blessings that we have been provided to show God's love to many people on this earth through both service of others and donating our money to help them. We have an opportunity to show the love of Christ to people in our generosity and sacrifices which also allow us to take the focus off of ourselves and direct it to the needs of other people, not just what Marcus wants today or what Marcus wants to do now or Marcus wants to buy after getting paid. And when we willingly sacrifice in this way, we are saying that we value God over money and are not trying to serve two gods. Then we will be acting on verse 5, freeing ourselves from the love of money and being content with the blessings that God has provided us with rather than coveting and always desiring more.
It's easy to let giving become like anything else where we only want to do things when it is comfortable. We don't want to truly sacrifice, but rather only want to give money to the church from our excess. But God desires for us to put our confidence in him and say that I will not let money rule my life and guide my path, but rather give up my life to the all powerful creator God.
So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
(Hebrews 13:6 ESV)
This is something that we cannot put off any longer or we run the risk of letting service of money dictate the rest of our lives.
Lastly, here is a great prayer that I think would definitely be an awesome on to pray over one another from time to time and possibly incorporate into our prayer lives.
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
(Hebrews 13:20-21 ESV)
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Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do tome?"
ReplyDelete- Hebrews 13:5-6 -
This past week, I just felt so exhausted, tired, and just not happy all the time. And I kept wondering what I would be like if I were different or if I would have this. I think as humans we do this all the time. We are never content with what we have or more correctly what God has provided to us. I often feel like God is not listening to me and that I am far away from God. But this passage clearly tells us that wer are never alone. And, if we just put down selfishness, pride, and the concept of "I" out, we can see the glimpse of how much God loves us and how much God wants us to be happy. Happy to be alive in Him and happy to rejoice His love. I think a great way to finish the book is to read through verse 20-21 and just really sink that into our life.
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21)
The money issue has always been very convicting to me. Too often the state of my mind hinges to the amount of money in my bank account. In effect, my mental security can drastically change due to this. But God will never leave us, and we can always put our trust in him. I have no reason to cling to worldly possession when I know of the reward that God has for the faithful.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you Paul about verse 20-21, and thanks for pointing that out. I just had a great feeling after going back and reading that, and it is truly something that we should let come over our lives.
So, on my first read of this chapter, I felt like the verses were all over the place, and they did not seem to be very well thought out. On the second read, however, I realized why they seemed this way. There are so many facets of our life in which we can honor God, that it would be hard to describe them all at once. Everything we do is an opportunity to offer our lives as a sacrifice to God, so there will consequently be a lot to say about what that looks like.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it is a little daunting, it is also encouraging to think that God wants to act through our lives in every detail. God does not take the big things, and leave us to figure out everything else. Instead, He wants us in every aspect, down to the smallest detail. Life this way is very challenging. Whether it is money, or some other aspect of our lives, God wants us to always remember that we are His, and He cares what we do with our lives. There is no hiding something in a dark corner. Christ has come so that our we might be presented in Christ's image of wholeness before God.
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
ReplyDelete(Hebrews 13:5 ESV)
The verse, "I will never leave you nor forsake you," comes from Joshua Chapter 1:
After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
(Joshua 1:1-9 ESV)
This is actually one of my favorite passages. The statement "I will never leave you nor forsake you" is accompanied with a command to "be strong and courageous." God commands Joshua this 3 times in these 9 verses. Once again, God reminds the Hebrews of their history so that they may be strong and courageous. He fulfilled his promise to give them the promised land, so why should they worry about money? He will take care of them and us in that aspect.
God goes so far as to say to test him in that he will take care of us financially if we trust him to:
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
(Malachi 3:10 ESV)
This is yet another reminder to the Hebrews of the strong tradition they have in putting their faith in God. He is good!
"Obey your leaders and defer to them, for they keep watch over you and will have to give an account, that they may fulfill their task with joy and not with sorrow, for that would be of no advantage to you.
ReplyDeletePray for us, for we are confident that we have a clear conscience, wishing to act rightly in every respect." Hebrews 13:17-18
We, as a united Church, should have confidence that our leaders are being led by the Holy Spirit to act in a way that is right and just. WIth this confidence comes the responsibility to obey their instruction and follow their lead as they are being led by God in a very clear fashion.
We should also keep our leadership in our prayers. Besides just praying for them during the mass during the time of intentions, we should be praying for our leaders who lead us spiritually, praying that they continue to have the strength and courage to follow God's plan in their lives. Especially in this time of deliberation and discernment of a new pope, it is imperative that we as a Church continue to pray for our leadership and begin praying for the man that will lead the church in the very near future.
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
ReplyDelete“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
I don't know what to say about these verses beyond what has been said by others, but I will try. Contentment. Always wanting more. We say that it is better to be rich than poor. I know that there are many in this work who eat all of their income and still are hungry. Who can not give anything to their children. I pray that such a thing will not last. But I pray that I do not fall in to the belief that money brings real happiness. Money can free us from many burdens, but money is stupid. Money is impersonal. Money is corrupting. By desiring it for our comfort, we need more of it to be comfortable. This is the end of contentment. We could always use more money. To buy our children better education, to pay away our loans and distractions. But what do we need? Our immortal souls gain nothing from the fleeting wealth of this world. Before investing in the stock market to procure our future, we should first invest in our relationships with God. Once we take care of this most important matter, then we can give heed to the demands and practicalities of this fleeting world, which will surely pass away long before our immortal souls.
God, I pray that you build in me a greater reliance on you for my peace and joy. I wish that I was a better man who sought first the kingdom of God. Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with my God.