Loved by the Father

"I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love."  (John 15:9, The Message). Our prayer group meditated on that scripture last night, in amazement. Wow! We were all bowled over by the idea that Jesus' love for us is the same as the Father's love for Jesus. But since God is love, (1 John 4:8) why

To Do God's Work

Jesus has called you and me to a life filled with his blessings and everlasting joy. We can be completely certain that our sins taken care of, and on top of that, our

I Have All I Need

The list of things I wish I had is very, very long. More time to golf. More money saved for retirement. A pickup for camping trips. Time to fish. Time to read the rest of my books. And on it goes! Besides being dissatisfied by my wants, I can get bothered by

Could God Really Want Me?

I've been writing over and over about the love of God:  that "our worth is not calculated on our performance or our moral rectitude, but on the love of the One who loves us." But sometimes I don't believe it about

The Giver of Everything Good

Last time I wrote about God as a great giver of all good things. Let's continue. Just to begin the list, he has given us

Trust and Rest

We in the Western societies spend our lives pursuing more, better, bigger and higher.  We stay caffienated in order to be more alert and "productive."  A bumper sticker claims "He who dies with the most toys wins" (wins what? we wonder).  A poster advertising a workout club says "You can rest when you're dead."  A John Wayne movie has him kicking people awake long before the sun is up, telling them they are "burning daylight."  We think societies that take a mid-day break -- a two-hour lunch or a nap -- are wasting time.  We think our lives are measured by how much we can accomplish.  And sometimes we think we have to apply the same amount of effort toward "pleasing God." 

As a fulfillment of the original Sabbath command to Israel, Jesus calls us in Matt. 11:28-30 to come and rest in him: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”  That's an enigma to us:  how do you rest in a person?  What does being humble and gentle have to do with rest?  How can the 'yoke' (an instrument for carrying heavy burdens) be easy to bear?  How can we rest while still carrying a load, even a light one?  And what if, while you're resting, you're really supposed to be doing something more productive?

The answer is that we must learn to trust in Jesus, not in ourselves.  That is the essence of our salvation (Eph. 2:8-10 etc.) but even more, it is the essence of daily life in Christ, the new life we are called into (Gal. 2:20).  Jesus doesn't tell us "come and rest, then go work more."  He simply says come and rest.  Robert Mulholland, Jr. in Invitation to a Journey refers us to Psalm 131, a song encouraging us to trust.  Verse 2 says "I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me."  The child is content just to sit quietly on his mother's lap, knowing he is secure there.  That's the kind of trust we are to learn.

 Life today is not just "preparation for heaven" as some put it, like prepping for an entrance exam.  Our lives are meant to be a living relationship of deepening love for God through his Son Jesus; learning to listen to him and respond; learning to trust Christ for everything, no matter how small or large.  As we learn to trust, we can rest from the frantic activity we use to seek God's approval, or even 'get ahead in the world.' 

"Just trust."  Quick to say, a lifetime to learn.  What will you surrender to God today, trusting him to handle it for you? 

Investments

One of today's news items is something like "Stock Markets Soar on Recovery Hopes." People invest money in those markets hoping to make more money. Their hopes rise and fall along with the fortunes of the companies or funds they invest in. Some have made good money, while others have lost it all. Some have spent their whole lives trying to make more and more money, to the point of obsession.

The Bible has several messages about money. The first is to invest, first and most intensively, with God; to give to him in response to his generous gifts to you. The second is to treat money as something that is not given to you, but invested with you by God; so that you are the "steward" or the fund manager, and it's your job to use it wisely. The third is to be generous with it; not to hoard it for yourself, but to give to others as you can, and as you find them in need. All of these are based on one other principle: that God loves us and will take care of us, if only we will let him.

Jesus covered several of these principles in "The Sermon on the Mount" as some call his teachings in Matthew 5-7 (and some parallels in Luke). Especially in chapter 6, he brings out generosity (verses 1-4) by teaching that we shouldn't have our gifts limited to what will make us look good; dependence on God (verse 11) by reminding us to ask him for our daily needs; focusing on God, not our own financial security (verses 19-21), which would include giving generous offerings instead of just building up a bank account; and again, dependence on God (verses 24-31) by showing us how much God cares for us and looks after our welfare.

None of those teachings includes our being careless with what God has given us, or goofing off and making others carry us. So we shouldn't mistake his teachings about relying on God in faith with encouraging laziness or slacking.

The whole investment thing is a mystery to me. But I do know a couple of things about money. One is that God has taken care of me, umpteen times, using resources I didn't know existed. The other is that no matter how careful I am to save up money, at the end of my life I won't take any of it with me. I hope that the legacy I leave behind will be one of loving generosity to others, and a wise management of the resources God has given me. And complete reliance on God for all the things I can't control anyway -- because he is the one who does control it.

How about you?