WHAT GOD SHOWED ME THIS MORNING

What God showed me this morning is that no person—not my wife, nor my president, nor my child—can fulfill the demands of his or her office. I therefore should not lay my needs or expectations at their feet. They will respond defensively because, in their hearts, they will always feel the sense of inadequacy: being “not enough”.

For my needs, I need to rely completely on God. He alone can meet my needs. My wife cannot; she is only a woman. My son cannot; he is only a boy. My neighbors cannot; they have lives of their own to live. My pastor cannot; he is only a man, as I am. My parents cannot; they are old and feeble. My elected officials cannot; they are only politicians, not gods. I cannot; I am only a man. Only God can meet my needs, therefore I must rely completely on Him for those needs to be met.

And what of my family? What of my church? What is their role in all of this? They are each to contribute what they can to the overall success of the Body. If they have physical limitations or mental or spiritual ones, what difference does it make? They can only do what they can do. Just as I can only do what I can do. Yet, with God all things are possible. He can do everything, just as we can do everything when He strengthens us.

Where my loved ones are concerned, my role is to love them and to be grateful for the richness they each bring to my life. Period.

What else God showed me this morning has to do with tithing. My wife, Suzanne, told me some weeks ago that she believes our family to be under a curse because I accept subside from my parents. She said that my inability to find suitable work is a direct result of my accepting money from them instead of looking full time for a regular job. For the past two weeks, I have been considering her words and praying to God for insight into the matter. Of course, I want to take care of my parents; they are old and feeble and thus at the mercy of whichever person cares for them. Suzanne’s grandmother had so-called “home-health nurses” that lived with her, prepared her meals, administered her prescription medications and did her housework. They also stole everything from her that wasn’t bolted to the foundation. Could they have figured it out, they might even have stolen the title to her home. My parents can at least trust me not to rob them. Even if I do require some financial assistance, that security is likely worth its “weight” in gold. Of course, in an ideal world, I would hold down a good-paying job and take care of my parents. However, we do not live in a perfect world.

At the end of it, God showed me that we are under no such curse: it is part of His plan for us that I should care for my parents and so witness to them. However, it is also His plan for us—as it is for all Christians—to tithe: one-tenth of all income from all sources, “off the top”, before taxes. One-tenth of all unemployment insurance, one-tenth of all sweepstakes winnings; one-tenth of all gifts; one-tenth of all earnings; one-tenth of all the subsidies that I receive from my parents is supposed to be donated to God’s kingdom and its economy. Further, we are to tithe a second tenth of all income to our savings account. Then, by His grace, we are to live on the remaining eighty percent of our income. If it doesn’t “stretch” far enough, we are not to go looking for more income. Rather, we are to start looking for ways we can waste less and make better use of what remains.

Living within one’s means is a requirement for all people, regardless of how much or how little income they have. Living beyond one’s means, and griping about how little one has compared with someone s/he perceives as “better off” is a sin. It’s called covetousness. We never know how “well off” anyone is. We never know what challenges they face, only how big a house they live in or what sort of cars they drive. They may be terminally ill or living down heartrending grief because a loved one is terminally ill, dead or in prison. It could be that they are relying upon material wealth—or the illusion of it—for the courage to go on living. If so, they are desperately poor in spirit and much worse off than any Christian, even one living in the humblest of circumstances. I know from bitter personal experience that God has not equipped me with the sort of talent that “living large” requires. I am a terrible materiel manager. For this reason, while I sometimes wish that I could afford to buy certain toys or travel to certain places, I am wise enough to not covet my brother’s lifestyle. He lives as he does because wealth and comfort are his gods. Were they mine, there is no question that I could be “rich” as well. Because YHWH is not my brother’s god, there is some question as to where he will spend eternity. Because He is mine, my eternal destiny is assured. To me, that’s worth—literally—more than “all of the money in the world”.

These two insights, if I prove wise enough to make good use of them, will yield a bountiful harvest of growth in Christ, both for me and for my family. If they are any indication of what is to come in 2009, we are in for one fantastic year.