A true Christian worker who is called to ministry should not look to pay to find credibility in their call. I have seen many Christian workers who earn enough who feel judged (and they are probably right) by some of their peers because they "lack initiative" to earn more.
It is a truly ungodly perspective of their peers--many of whom may be church goers! Being called by God to a task and answering is an honorable calling.
If a Christian worker's pay is adequate they should not feel ashamed if they could make more pursuing other careers. Pay is a means that is important but it is not everything.
To judge everything in terms of money is a completely worldly perspective. The Christian worker sets their eyes on the eternal rather than the temporal.
The grass withers and the flowers fade but the word of the Lord stands forever. We cannot take our wealth with us; it is fleeting. True faith looks at all criteria by which the world judges success and correctly qualifies these criteria by looking at the criteria in the light of eternity.
Showing posts with label wealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wealth. Show all posts
Monday, November 9, 2015
Saturday, November 8, 2014
The Goodness of Work
Post by
Michelle Dowell, Contributor
A few years ago a woman told me that her number one dream in life is to be wealthy enough to never have to cook again. She'd hire people to cook for her. I could see by the way she said it that she truly meant it.
I was a little surprised. Up until then I hadn't heard that as a dream before. A dream to do less. It wasn't to accomplish something, like dreams usually are, but to be allowed to not do something.
My guess is it's work in general that she'd love to get away from. I bet a lot of people dream of being on vacation forever if they could. But I often wonder if they were able to do that, that they wouldn't be as happy as they imagined.
It's fun to take some days or a week off sometimes, and that is needed—to refresh and relax at times—but to take months or years off might end up feeling a lot more boring, lonely, and unfulfilling than first imagined. Humans were created to interact with each other and help each other and to do things for God's glory. Work is one place where this happens. (And by work I mean all types—not just the type we're paid for, but also the work at home like laundry and helping a friend move.)
When we work, which includes doing something for someone else or ourselves, it often gives us a sense of meaning or fulfillment. In Genesis we see that work was there before the Fall, meaning that work is good, and it's the Fall that has caused it to be more difficult.
It's okay to acknowledge that work is difficult at times. For example, machines break and unplanned delays happen. But it's important to acknowledge work's beneficial role in our life too. There's a meaning and purpose behind it. It allows us to reach out and change things for the better in some way.
Michelle Dowell, Contributor
A few years ago a woman told me that her number one dream in life is to be wealthy enough to never have to cook again. She'd hire people to cook for her. I could see by the way she said it that she truly meant it.
I was a little surprised. Up until then I hadn't heard that as a dream before. A dream to do less. It wasn't to accomplish something, like dreams usually are, but to be allowed to not do something.
My guess is it's work in general that she'd love to get away from. I bet a lot of people dream of being on vacation forever if they could. But I often wonder if they were able to do that, that they wouldn't be as happy as they imagined.
It's fun to take some days or a week off sometimes, and that is needed—to refresh and relax at times—but to take months or years off might end up feeling a lot more boring, lonely, and unfulfilling than first imagined. Humans were created to interact with each other and help each other and to do things for God's glory. Work is one place where this happens. (And by work I mean all types—not just the type we're paid for, but also the work at home like laundry and helping a friend move.)
When we work, which includes doing something for someone else or ourselves, it often gives us a sense of meaning or fulfillment. In Genesis we see that work was there before the Fall, meaning that work is good, and it's the Fall that has caused it to be more difficult.
It's okay to acknowledge that work is difficult at times. For example, machines break and unplanned delays happen. But it's important to acknowledge work's beneficial role in our life too. There's a meaning and purpose behind it. It allows us to reach out and change things for the better in some way.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Our Wealth
What does our wealth consist in? What is important above all things?
Whatever our answer is it is important to be honest. You see we often know what the "right" answer is. But what is our truthful answer?
You see if something is wrong we can only fix it if we are honest about the situation. If we simply give the correct response without thought we have not evaluated the situation.
Of course our wealth consists in our relationship to God. God is our inheritance. Our relationship as children of God is the most important good any Christian can have.
God above all is our inheritance. The bible says many things which the Christian will inherit, but God himself is the most precious.
You see if we gain the whole world, but do not have God we have nothing. That is why the material joy of heaven perfected as it is falls short of God himself.
All that is good in the world is a taste of the even greater goodness found in God. Taste and see that the Lord is good is the challenge of scripture.
Whatever our answer is it is important to be honest. You see we often know what the "right" answer is. But what is our truthful answer?
You see if something is wrong we can only fix it if we are honest about the situation. If we simply give the correct response without thought we have not evaluated the situation.
Of course our wealth consists in our relationship to God. God is our inheritance. Our relationship as children of God is the most important good any Christian can have.
God above all is our inheritance. The bible says many things which the Christian will inherit, but God himself is the most precious.
You see if we gain the whole world, but do not have God we have nothing. That is why the material joy of heaven perfected as it is falls short of God himself.
All that is good in the world is a taste of the even greater goodness found in God. Taste and see that the Lord is good is the challenge of scripture.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
The Danger of Wealth
Matthew 19:24 “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
The bible has some hard teaching about money. Wealth can be spiritually damaging. Living in a wealthy country like the USA it is possible to accumulate such wealth as can be dangerous to ones soul. I believe a multimillion dollar house isn’t a neutral choice – it is a sin issue. With the kind of need in the world you cannot simply buy a multimillion dollar house and ignore the suffering in the world as if it is not of significance. Ignoring the suffering (spiritual and material) is not an issue if we wish to follow Christ as we should. There is a major ethical dimension to how we spend the money we have.
The bible has some hard teaching about money. Wealth can be spiritually damaging. Living in a wealthy country like the USA it is possible to accumulate such wealth as can be dangerous to ones soul. I believe a multimillion dollar house isn’t a neutral choice – it is a sin issue. With the kind of need in the world you cannot simply buy a multimillion dollar house and ignore the suffering in the world as if it is not of significance. Ignoring the suffering (spiritual and material) is not an issue if we wish to follow Christ as we should. There is a major ethical dimension to how we spend the money we have.
Monday, April 24, 2006
John Piper Answers the Question: "If Satan is real we don't see more demon possession and exorcisms in America?"
A bit from John Piper:
People sometimes ask why if Satan is real we don't see more demon possession and exorcisms in America. I have an idea. Satan holds American Christianity so tightly in the vice-grip of comfort and wealth that he's not about to tip his hand with too much demonic tomfoolery. What Satan fears most in this church is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that causes us to say with Paul, "I count everything as refuse that I might gain Christ … that I might know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death."
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