The Rich Get Richer

“For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” (Matthew 25:29 NKJV) To paraphrase that: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Obviously I’ve taken that out of context, but the point was to get your attention. Lately, many national and local media outlets and “regular ole people” in general have been using this phrase A LOT. And it is usually used when someone is laid off. Their next ten Facebook statuses will say something to the effect of that statement and it typically has a negative connotation (9 times out of 10, it is derogatory). I get it. If I was laid off simply to improve the company’s bottom line, livid would be an understatement. But we’re missing part of the story here. We have to go all the way back to the first part of the story in verse 14. This begins “the parable of the talents.” Before we read this parable we have to understand something. The word “talent” has a dual meaning here. If you pay attention, you will realize that a “talent” was a unit of money during that time. Sometimes this lesson is lost because we are more focused on the very obvious lesson of using your God-given gifts and abilities or “talents” (i.e. singing). A “talent” as a unit of money was roughly equal to the value of 20 years’ worth of work (Wikipedia). Imagine being handed that much money. One guy was given FIVE TALENTS!!! That’s enough money to pay for 100 years of him working!!! It’s a miracle in itself that he didn’t run off with the money! But let’s explore this lesson from Jesus:

““For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” (Matthew 25:14-29 NKJV)

It’s no secret that many experts believe that the unemployment issues and the down economy that our country is facing are direct results of the growing gap between “the haves and the have-nots.” How can “the kingdom of God [be] like” this? Again I ask this question to show that it misses the point. The point is that everything we have: our cars, our houses, our iPhones, our clothes, our jobs, our money is really not ours. Nothing belongs to us. It all belongs to God. We are called to be good stewards with His stuff. If your children needed money, would you give it to them? If you said yes and then found out they were just spending the money on frivolous things, how would you feel? If you came back to check on them and they had helped nobody, they hadn’t used the money you’d given them to do anything good, just tucked it away under the mattress, how would you react? Why did they need the money in the first place?! I would have to guess that they certainly would not be getting any more money from you!

If you think that “the little man can never get ahead” or “the rich get richer while I get poorer” you’re right! And there’s a biblical reason for it! God has a plan for you. But He’s not going to make everything easy. You’ve got to show Him that you want it. You may even have to get out of your comfort zone a little and trust Him to guide you. If you use the talents God has given you, you can do things you never, in your wildest dreams, imagined were possible. If you will have faith that He will lead you, you will reach unfathomable goals. If you act responsibly with God’s money and use it for good, he will give you more so that you can do more good with it.

Why I Love Cutting Grass

I hate cutting grass. It sucks. My yard is half an acre, and I have a push mower. It takes me a little more than an hour and a half to cut the whole thing. I’m out there sweating and pushing this machine around. And it’s hot. And I’m thirsty. Every time I stop to get a drink of water, it takes that much longer to finish. There are all sorts of toys and furniture in the yard that I have to move. And I don’t receive a paycheck for cutting my grass. I don’t really have a whole lot of motivation to do it. There are a million and one other things I’d rather be doing. My neighbors could probably tell you that because my grass usually gets knee high before I cut it.

I hate cutting grass. But I also love cutting grass. I love cutting grass because it’s such a perfect reflection of life. There is something about a job well done that is so satisfying. It does not take much close inspection to determine if a lawn was mowed well. Cutting grass is hard work. Hard work is unpleasant and yet it is also very fulfilling. There is almost no problem in life that cannot be remedied with hard work as long as it is focused intelligently. If I didn’t use any sort of “plan of attack” to cut the grass, I would drive here and there and criss-cross and end up leaving patches that I would have to go back and cut. I would still be working hard, but without a plan, I would end up with a mess that still needed fixing. The typical way to cut grass is either back and forth or in a spiral pattern around the yard ending up in the middle. Either way, you can look behind you and see progress. You can see how far you’ve come and how far you still have to go. You know exactly when you are done. You began cutting with a picture in your mind of what the end looked like. Wouldn’t life be so much better if we approached everything that way? If everything had a definitive end or goal to reach, we would accomplish so many more things because then everything would feel like an accomplishment.

I said I hated cutting grass, but I also said I love cutting grass. Maybe the truth is I hate the act of cutting grass. It’s tiring and feels like I’m wasting time I could use doing something else. Exercising, studying for my Engineering license exam, hanging out with friends, enjoying a conversation with my wife, playing in the sandbox with my little boy. I could go on forever with the things I would rather be doing. Or I could suck it up and get it over with.

I do private tutoring after work for high school and college level math courses. I have one student who cuts grass as a way to make himself some money. I could probably work a deal where he cuts my grass in exchange for free tutoring. But I won’t. I would then miss out on the opportunity to work hard and to accomplish something. Cutting my own grass has a feeling of importance to it. And it IS a workout. That’s “killing two birds with one stone” and I love efficiency. Just like anything in life that’s worth doing, it’s tough, I don’t want to do it, there’s a million other interesting things I want to do, but when I’m done, I am always glad that I did it.

Below are a few of the bible verses that circulated through my head while I was writing this. No commentary, just simply there for you to meditate on.

“…If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” (II Thessalonians 3:10 NKJV)

“Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.” (Proverbs 6:6-8 NKJV)

“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11 NKJV)

“Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men.” (Proverbs 22:29 NKJV)

Take a Hike!

Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. – Henry Ford

I recently went on a hiking day trip with a very good friend of mine. If you’ve never hiked up Table Rock in South Carolina, you should. You’ll understand exactly why Moses always climbed a mountain to talk to God. Mountaintops make great places for reflection and soul-searching.

I have learned so many things in the past couple of years. It’s amazing what you can do when you really put your mind to it. I know that sounds cliché. I used to turn my nose up at every little saying that I heard that sounded cliché to me. But lately I’ve embraced clichés. There is so much truth in them. Anytime I had an issue and I heard someone say, “Take it to Jesus,” I would immediately tune out. And I’m a Christian for crying out loud! “What a boring old cliché!” I thought. “I bet nobody has said that in the last 2000 years…” said the sarcastic voices in my head. And I think my big turn-off was that no one really told me how to fix anything. I’m a guy. If something is broke, we fix it. (On a side note: Ladies, if you want your man to just listen and not try to fix your problem, then you need to say the following phrase before you tell him your problem: “I don’t want you to fix anything; I just want you to listen.” Works every time.) Anyway, I’ve immersed myself into my Bible and many self-improvement type books and other literature at a rate that has grown exponentially over the past two years. Now all the stuff I kept hearing makes sense. I’m not sure that the people saying it knew what they were talking about but now it makes sense. That’s how something becomes cliché anyway. Someone wise says something fairly profound yet simple, somebody else thinks that sounds good so they start saying it. Never mind that they may not actually understand the underlying principle(s). They sure sound smart. Yours truly has been guilty of this more times than I care to count.

The reason I find so much truth in something like the quote by Henry Ford is because I’ve been on both sides of the equation. I’ve had the thought, “I could never do that.” And then after my paradigm has been shifted (for me this usually requires someone else to tell me I CAN), I find myself easily handling what was once “impossible.”

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13 NKJV)

This verse does NOT say “I can bear all things” or “I can handle anything life throws at me.” Yes, those are included, but the verse says “I can DO all things…” I can go out and do things that I never thought I was capable of. Starting is the hard part. You can’t finish anything if you don’t start. Now is the time. Run that 5K you’ve always thought about doing. Commit to one hour of TV per day and stick to it. Go after that promotion at work that you ought not have seniority for. Whatever your dream, whatever you think you can’t do, stop making excuses. Go for it! Start it! Not next month. Not next week. Not even tomorrow. Today. NOW.

Christians and Gay People

There was some discussion among the men of my church at our most recent “Men’s Breakfast” meeting about gays in Boy Scouts. A couple of our men are scoutmasters and they are going to end up being forced into a corner in the near future over some ridiculous political stuff. Thankfully, none of our guys are raging homophobes. We had a mature, adult discussion. But I’ve noticed a ton of people lately who are very outspoken on the issue of same-sex marriage. So I thought I would chime in.

“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” (Leviticus 18:22 KJV)

I want to challenge Christians today. Why is there such a crusade against same-sex marriage? Let me be clear: My church has not, does not, and will not ever marry same-sex couples. That I can guarantee. However, why is it that this issue of same-sex relationships bothers Christians so badly? I know what the Bible says. I quoted it above. But let me ask you this? How many of you men out there shave your beards?

“You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard.” (Leviticus 19:27 NKJV)

I don’t see a crusade against razors sweeping the nation. Most every Christian, myself included, will tell you: sin is sin. It does not have different levels of severity to God. But then the same people will turn around and thank God they are not like murderers or adulterers.

“And the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you.” (Leviticus 11:7, 8 NKJV)

“But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you. They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination.” (Leviticus 11:10, 11 NKJV)

Bacon, anyone? I know I love bacon. Pulled pork BBQ is like the manna of the Bible Belt. And yet here in Leviticus, it says we are not to even touch pigs, much less eat them. And oh, how I love crab legs! But crabs don’t have fins or scales. And the Bible says we should not eat these either. Some other southern “delicacies” that we can’t eat according to this scripture include catfish, crawfish, and alligator. And that’s just to name a few.

Not to mention that the Sabbath is rarely kept and only 5-7% of us Christians ACTUALLY tithe. Tithing does not mean “I give to the church.” Tithing literally means one-tenth. 10% of your income. Well, is it on the net or the gross? Why does that matter?! You’re not doing either one! The overall average that we give is less than 3%!!!

If you are a heterosexual, God-fearing, Christian person, why are you so bent out of shape about scripture that doesn’t apply to you. I mean we’re supposed to stand up for what is right, but what’s the hang-up on this same-sex marriage thing? Traditional marriage only has a 50% success rate as it is. Maybe we should focus a little more on strengthening our own relationships instead of telling other people how to handle theirs.

Money = Happiness?

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. – Philippians 4:11-12

We’ve all heard this at some point. Usually it’s in the form of someone advising us that “money does not buy happiness.” That statement is true, but rarely does anyone who says it actually believe it. In fact, people have started adding to it: “Money does not buy happiness but it sure makes a good down payment!” That is also somewhat true. While putting in a pool at your house will cause lots of people to suddenly want to visit, you still have to do the work to cultivate the relationships with those people if you want to have real friendships. If you are mean-spirited or make people feel like they owe you for enjoying your pool or make people otherwise uncomfortable, they quit caring that you have a pool. They don’t want anything to do with you.

Likewise buying or even cooking dinner for your friends does cost money (although it’s waaaaaay cheaper than a pool). But you get a huge return almost immediately. You get to spend time with AND grow a relationship with people you like. But again, you still have to be a good, likeable person. Don’t misunderstand here: I’m not saying you have to buy friends. Look at it this way:

1. You call up your friends and say “Hey! I’m grilling burgers. Come on over. No need to bring anything besides your appetite!” They say, “I’m on the way!”

OR

2. You call up your friends and invite them to go out to eat with you and they (very politely) decline the invitation for whatever reason (in today’s economy, let’s assume they don’t have the money).

These two scenarios are very similar. You just handled them slightly different. Scenario number 1 makes BOTH of you like each other better, but not because you paid for their dinner. You feel good about yourself because somebody likes you enough to want to hang out with you. They didn’t say “I’m busy” or “Maybe next time.” They said “YES.” Whether we’ll admit it or not, we all hate rejection. Your friends don’t have to feel guilty because they like you and enjoy spending time with you and this way they don’t have to make up some excuse or be embarrassed. Just like we hate being rejected, we hate rejecting other people. We hate saying, “NO.”

In the scripture that I opened with, Paul says he has “learned [a] secret.” But wait a second! “Money does not buy happiness” is no secret! We all know that! But somewhere deep down, we don’t all believe it. Even if you think you do. We still find ourselves yearning for a new car, house, clothes, etc. It’s in our nature. That’s yet another thing we hate to admit, because we don’t like to seem greedy. So we tell ourselves “I’m happy with what I have.” You don’t have to convince me. I believe you. The question is: Do YOU believe you.

Another tough thing to believe in is God’s grace. Lots of people say they believe that their sins are forgiven, but somewhere deep down they don’t truly believe that they can be forgiven. Not for certain things they have done. The definition of grace is a gift of God to humankind – the infinite love, mercy, favor, and goodwill shown to humankind by God. The key word there is “infinite.” Various definitions of the word “infinite” are: Without end. Exceedingly great. Not measurable. There’s a quote with an unknown author that goes: “Don’t tell your God how big your mountains are; Tell your mountains how big your God is.” Mount Everest is 29,029 feet (almost 5.5 miles!!!) above sea level. God is infinite. God is not measurable. In this world, nothing is infinite. If you try to use money to buy happiness, they will both run out. But when you discover the “secret” of truly believing in God’s grace, when you truly understand what it means to not want for anything, you will be free. Something deep inside your soul will shift. You will no longer be in “pursuit of happiness.” Happiness will find you.

Peter the Leader

My wife and I were pretty busy this past week so we “DVR-ed” the last episode of “The Bible” mini-series on the History Channel. We finally watched it last night. Wow. So many of the stories I had heard a thousand times brought to life. It’s just fascinating. The story that stuck out to me the most was one that I was sure was NOT in the Bible. After Jesus ascends into Heaven, Peter seems to take on the role of leader of the disciples. I had not gathered that from the text of the Bible, but reading over it again, I can see how it could be interpreted as such. Peter is the first we hear to preach and also the first to perform a miracle of healing. (Yes, it was Peter AND John who did the healing, but Peter was the one who said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” – Acts 3:6) I had never considered before that Peter was the new “leader.” Why did they need a leader, anyway? Jesus’ teachings should have been enough, and they all eventually went their own ways to preach, but imagine 12 believers who have not yet received the power of the Holy Spirit. They are going to need some guidance. But Peter? The man who, when questioned, INSISTED that he did not even KNOW Jesus (Luke 22:54-62) much less believe Him? Really?! How is he going to guide them? Then it occurred to me. Just like I told our congregation a few weeks ago: “You only learn how to be really good at something by being really bad at it first.” I wasn’t born a good husband. I didn’t automatically become a good husband when I said, “I do.” I was awful at it for a while. (Even while I had good intentions!!!) I still struggle from time to time but my relationship with my wife has become more than I ever imagined it could be. Peter was the right man to guide them, because he had been on the other side. He had screwed up royally, and that meant he knew how NOT to go there again.

Paul’s story has the same underlying theme. He was hunting down and killing believers, but then became a believer himself, and ended up writing over half of the New Testament. We first meet Paul, when he was still called Saul of Tarsus, in Acts 7, starting with the story of Stephen, who was stoned to death for speaking out about Jesus the Messiah, around verse 54. Paul recognizes the sins of his past in 1 Timothy 1:15, but his life is yet another wonderful story of forgiveness, and further proves that no matter how bad or how many times you screw up, God can and will use you for His glory.

Two Parables Jesus Might Tell Today

What if Jesus was alive today, telling parables for his disciples to hear and write down (or blog about from their iPhones)? I imagine Jesus’ new age disciples with names like Dylan, Skylar, Brittany, Ashley, and Latisha. So let’s take a quick look at excerpts from Dylan, chapter 7, and Ashley, chapter 28.

Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man who rose early in the morning; he opened the fridge and selected just the right ingredients. He then proportioned those ingredients according to his taste and blended them as necessary into his crock pot. When it was time for supper, he gathered his family and they had a great feast. They ate ravenously and were filled. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who grabbed a “TV dinner” from the freezer section of his grocery store on the way home from work. When dinner time came, he popped it in the microwave and it was done in 90 seconds. When his family gathered, they all gazed at the meal with suspicion. They ate only what they could stand and heartburn was their reward. (NOT Luke 6:47-49)

Then the kingdom of Heaven shall be likened to ten people who wait in line at Wal-Mart (let’s pretend this Wal-Mart closes at 9). Now five of them were wise and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their money with them but did not prepare a grocery list, but the wise made a shopping list and took their time to make sure they got everything they needed. Now they were all in line at 8:55. At this time, the wise checked their lists to make sure they got everything they needed, but the foolish realized they forgot coconut oil and almond milk to make their vegan whole wheat biscuits!!! In a mad dash they rushed back to the aisles in search of the necessary ingredients. When they came back to the cash registers with their shopping carts finally complete, the lines were closed. They begged, “Sir! Ma’am! Please open to us!” But the cashiers said, “Assuredly, I say to you, we cannot!” (Ok. So they aren’t that strict. Just go with it.) Be always prepared therefore, for you know not when the Son of Man will call upon you. (NOT Matthew 25:1-13)