Stay in Circulation
Those who successfully wage war with silent heroism under relentless secular pressure—ah, they are the saints who know what it means to be melted.
Those who successfully wage war with silent heroism under relentless secular pressure—ah, they are the saints who know what it means to be melted.
Jesus was the master teacher. Against relentless and hostile opposition, and in spite of many who followed Him for all the wrong reasons, He spoke with wisdom and taught with skill. Among the methods He preferred to use, the parable was one of His favourites. By placing a familiar and simple word picture before His audience, Jesus was able to draw out profound analogies that have intrigued even the brightest minds for centuries.
This article is designed to create a better understanding of how to tame the gossip habit. For the next 30 days read the questions and allow them to spark deeper personal reflection and life change.
While the New Testament does not include direct commands that God's people tithe, it is worth noting that we are never commanded to not tithe. We could even assume that tithing was so ingrained in the New Testament believers' lifestyles, nothing more needed to be written regarding it—though, under grace, giving a tithe was no longer an obligation but an appropriate starting point for all who wished to cultivate the habit of joyful generosity.
Becoming a faithful and generous follower of Christ does not depend on our accumulation of money as much as it does on our attitude toward money. (Pause and reread that statement.) As we will discover in this lesson, the less we depend on material things to make us happy, the more likely we are to model generosity.
Whether we are single or married, younger or older, wear a hard hat or a top hat, are self-employed or climbing the corporate ladder or retired from that pressured, stressful world, God's Word provides wisdom found nowhere else in literature…and not just wisdom but inspired wisdom. Expressed in ways that are easily understood, some of the most helpful counsel has to do with managing our money wisely.
When grace fuels us to forgive someone who has offended us, we abundantly release every hint of any offence. When grace is cultivated in our relationship with a friend, an abundance of bountiful freedom marks our friendship. The same bountiful abundance occurs when grace is the motivating factor prompting our giving. In other words, living by faith includes giving by grace.
For too long, Christians have regarded serving Christ as a heavy burden. Because that attitude is so widespread, Christians often put on grim, gloomy, whipped, and weather-beaten faces when a pastor mentions the word serve.
When Jesus gave His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) He broadcast to a multitude. When He was on His way through Jericho (Luke 19) He encountered a crowd before finding Zacchaeus in a tree and proceeded to minister in his home. When Jesus met the woman at the well (John 4) He cared for her one-on-one. Jesus used different methods to minister effectively to different needs.
We all agree—life is difficult. Without warning, tragedy strikes and cuts our legs out from under us. It’s bad enough when such pain comes as the result of our wrongdoing. But how do we bear the pain of unjust suffering?