Stewardship Jesus' Way - question 4

Why do we have an orphan mentality?

God is not interested in receiving our leftovers that come from a mindset that we take care of ourselves first and then help others.  If you wouldn’t give leftovers to a guest in your home, why would you give them to your King? To help others first is counter-intuitive.  I’ve been around organizations that had an orphan mentality, taking care of their security first before helping others.    It’s rationalized that responsible organizations take care of the “golden goose” so that the “goose” can continue laying those “golden eggs.”  Don’t get me wrong here, I am all for fiscal responsibility, but what is missing is the recognition that God not only owns all the cattle on a thousand hills, but also owns all the “golden geese” as well.  If we have it all figured out where is there room for God to show up and amaze us?  As strange as it seems, our well-intended “fiscal responsibility” can become an idol and leave us with an orphan mentality.

Too often we try to figure out how little we can give for it to count without disrupting our lifestyle and good plans we have. We approach giving from an orphan mentality.  Perhaps we don’t believe God wants to give us more than we already have.  Our giving is a reflection of our heart, a heart that either trusts God at some level or not.  Your heavenly Father will meet you at whatever level of trust you are offering.  God is not trying to trick you or steal something from you in a ploy to get you to release your grip on your pocketbook.  He doesn’t need your money, but He wants your heart.  How we give of our material wealth is a measuring stick of the relationship with have with our Father.

We cannot hold back to preserve our life, our lifestyle, or our organization, however good they may be. God is calling us to fully trust Him and begin to see He was serious when He said He would care for us. He wants to give us more than we want to receive.  This small thinking – that we need to keep what is ours because we’re not sure there is more - is an orphan mentality that must seem ridiculous to God who wants to pour out blessing upon blessing.  You are a child of the King, you have been purchased from the slavery of your lives at a ridiculous price – the life of Jesus.  Why do we still have an orphan mentality and hoard our blessings?

I have spent time with orphans around the world who have very little materially and yet I sense they have more than most. They didn’t have an orphan mentality.  In many situations when I came to bless them with new clothes and gifts, they were only too eager to give me their only Tonka truck or dolly.  I want that inner wealth and I think you do too.  Allow God to use what you’ve been given for the good of others before yourself.  You are not an orphan.  Stop thinking and acting like one.

Stewardship Jesus' Way - question 2

What influence do material things have and how do you know if they have become idols in your life? 

I would answer this question by asking some others: What are the signs or indications that these things are getting in the way of my relationship to God (or even my personal peace)? What could I not go without?  Knowing my selfish heart can talk myself into anything, what potential idol in my life have I gone without lately?

First of all, let’s be clear: We all have idols in our lives.  If we can commit to a few foundational actions we have a chance of not being enslaved to the idols that creep into our lives uninvited.  Foundational action #1 – Let’s be honest about the idols in our lives; Foundational action #2 – Let’s not be proud of our idols or okay with them in our lives – believing that life without idols is truly better than life with them; Foundational action #3 – Ask the God of the universe to reveal the idols we see and the ones we don’t see in our lives and ask Him to take them away in exchange for something better.

Abraham was a very wealthy man.  God called him to go to a land that would be difficult to support the lifestyle Abraham was accustomed to in Mesopotamia. And yet, he went in faith, believing in the goodness of a God He hardly knew.  Abraham wasn’t attached to “stuff,” though he had a lot of it.  It didn’t hinder him from following God when asked to go.  His actions proved that his faith in God was real, that his surrender was genuine and that his heart belonged to God. 

Does God have your heart?  Will you give everything to Him even if it seems unreasonable?  (Are you beginning to see that this is beyond God wanting your stuff, but wanting your heart?)  Will you surrender your idols? 

Often God will ask something from us beyond our control and/or beyond what we can figure out. He is inviting us into the struggle to receive His way by faith in His goodness, an invitation to relationship.  God doesn’t want material wealth to be an issue, just a tool.  He created the world for us to enjoy and use to bring Him glory.  It was never meant to be a matter of ownership – our stuff and God’s stuff – but of relationship where hearts commune in the same space. God has created our hearts to be the stages of the universe through which He unfolds His plan.  How we play out our lives is either unto Him or to ourselves.

Allow God to continually show you the idols in your life (barriers to relationship with Him) and take surrender seriously.  He loves you and wants what is best for you. Could you say that of the things that are currently directing your life?

Stewardship Jesus' Way - question 1

Why did Jesus talk so much about money?

One doesn’t have to look very far in the gospels to see a reference to money.  Jesus doesn’t shy away from this topic.  In fact, He talks about it often, which causes me to ask: “Why?”  In a nutshell I believe Jesus talks about it so much because He knew the heart of humanity.  He knew that material wealth would uncover the human bent of greed and selfishness; a tremendous obstacle to personal growth and harmful to others if left unchecked.  But he also knew God’s intention for material wealth to be such a wonderful tool if handled by the right heart; a heart directed by the hand of God.

On the surface it seems that the issue Jesus is preoccupied with is money or material wealth, but in reality those things are irrelevant compared to the obsession Jesus has for our hearts and a relationship with Him. That is the driving passion of God.  God doesn’t care about how much money we give.  He is not poised as some kind of killjoy, not wanting us to have fun with things.  He does care whether those things stand in the way of a deeper relationship with Him and a fuller life He purchased for us to enjoy (in Him). 

God knows that you and I are bombarded each day by messages that tell us what we deserve and how we’re to look out for “number one.”  The way of the world often leads us slowly, with deliberate subtlety from the way of Jesus. We live in broken systems that are contrary to God’s economy.  When we learn about God’s way it seems impossible and contrary to the world’s way.  This should not surprise us and even cause a measure of frustration and anxiety.  It leaves us with many questions, such as: How are we to actually apply the way of Jesus to our immediate context?  Is it even possible to live out what Jesus teaches about stewardship in our modern context?  I believe we can, though it will require a certain amount of surrender, “unlearning” some of what we’ve been taught and a fierce determination to trust the goodness of God when it doesn’t seem to make sense.

Join me this week as I blog each day about Jesus’ way of stewardship in a modern economy.  In the wrestling we find a closer relationship.