3-for-1 deal on 1/1

Three posts for today.

Wow, holding a baby is profound
Spent New Year’s Eve at the Ding home. Really good time fellowshipping with some very encouraging brothers and sisters. GBFSV is a blessed church indeed. But one big highlight of the evening was holding little Bethany, 5 weeks old. It was simple, but it was a profound experience holding such a tiny little infant in my arms (had never done that before). I could quote stuff from Psalm 139. I could go into how children are a gift from the Lord. But  that’s for another post, another time. Quite simply, there’s nothing quite like it. If you haven’t done it before, you should try it. It’s unspeakably precious and heart-warming.

Resolutions
I’m not much of a New Year’s Resolutions kinda guy. No need to be original, no need to create new ones. Instead, it’s better to revisit some oldies but goodies, easily forgotten that need to be refreshed. They’re not even mine; they’re written by someone far more godly, far more eloquent. Here are my favorite JEdwards resolutions:

5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

22. Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.

30. Resolved, to strive to my utmost every week to be brought higher in religion, and to a higher exercise of grace, than I was the week before.

63. On the supposition, that there never was to be but one individual in the world, at any one time, who was properly a complete Christian, in all respects of a right stamp, having Christianity always shining in its true luster, and appearing excellent and lovely, from whatever part and under whatever character viewed: Resolved, to act just as I would do, if I strove with all my might to be that one, who should live in my time. 

Settling the matter Scripturally: discretionary spending and stewardship
This one’s a little heavier (mentally) than the other posts. It’s about wartime living and spending. Was really sitting on my mind during my quiet times today and has been the topic of many conversations in the past month or two. Have been bothered by the responses of many, as I smelled rationalization more than anything else. Not a surprise though, because this intrudes on a very sensitive topic, because I feel like the Grace Community Church pulpit doesn’t do a very good job of addressing this (Yes! You read that right!), and because our culture here in America is one of rampant consumerism.

Before really getting into things, it’s worth mentioning that we want to distinguish between being frugal and viewing all spending through the lens of warfare. The latter certainly includes the former, but the reverse is often very untrue.  To illustrate the difference: viewing all spending through the lens of warfare would mean you’d easily see the necessity of spending millions on an F-22 fighter jet to help win a war, whereas simply being frugal would balk at any kind of spending at all. Another illustration: the RMS Queen Mary was a luxury liner during peacetime, but during WW2 it was retrofitted to have anti-aircraft guns on deck and to fit many times more people in far more spartan conditions. A frugal perspective would’ve simply put the ship away entirely.

The thesis statement of this third post is very simple and straightforward: we need to give far more serious thought to wartime living than we currently do. And let us be done with using phrases like “at the same time,” “but,” and “however in reality” before we even give wartime living serious thought. I submit to you that “practical realities” are not immovable barriers that hinder us from being radical for God, but rather just very steep walls that we can and must climb over if we are to truly enjoy the Prize. The Scriptures first, then experience, remember? Enough waxing, let’s survey the Scriptures. By no means a complete survey, but hopefully it’s thorough enough and accurate.

First, Scriptures that encourage us to enjoy what God’s given to us with thankfulness.
These you should use so that you don’t feel (as) guilty when you use your blow money. Ecc 2:24, Ecc 3:12-13, Ecc 3:22, Ecc 5:18-20, Ecc 8:15, Ecc 9:7, Ecc 11:9; Romans 14; 1Tim 4:4-5. Now, a word of caution concerning all the Ecclesiastes passages: remember that Israel was a come-and-see people. Come and see how much God has blessed a chosen people that didn’t deserve it. Come and worship this God. The language of peacetime is justified in this setting. The church, on the other hand, is a go-and-tell people. Our mission and approach is very different from Israel. The language of warfare is to be far more prevalent amongst God’s spiritual chosen people. THEREFORE we must be very careful with how we apply verses and passages that, in their original context, were written to Israel and not us. Put it more bluntly (and perhaps a little too broadly), we need to give the NT more weight than the OT when it comes to money matters.

Second, Scriptures that encourage us to view our money and all our resources through the lens of warfare.
Take a deep breath, strap on your scuba gear, because there’s a deep ocean of passages to dive into regarding this topic. Mt 6:19-20, 6:33-34, 19:16-30; Mk 10:17-31; Lk 6:38, 12:31, 16:1-13, 18:18-30; Jn 6:27, 12:6; 2Cor 8-9 (yes, an entire 2 chapters!); Phil 3:8, 4; 1Tim 3:3, 6:7-17; 2Tim 2:4, 3:2; 1Th 2:9. I’m just getting warmed up too. 2Pet 3:10-14; Heb 13:5; Jam 2:5, 5:1-7; Rev 3:15-18. Yes, I’ll admit I’m better versed in these type of Scriptures than the former. But could that be because that is also the louder emphasis of the Scriptures, not because I’m being unfair or biased? In fact, I’d love some help bringing in more Scriptures on the first, since I really do want to be fair to this. But at the moment, I see a far greater emphasis on living a wartime lifestyle than one of enjoyment of what God’s given to us. They are obviously not mutually exclusive (and shouldn’t be!).

I will be first to admit that I am weak, easily influenced by worldliness, and thus need TONS of help to grow in this area. Oh for a more eternal perspective! God help us live as He’s called us to live. For our greatest satisfaction, for maximizing praise to His matchless name. The evidence is compiled. There’s more that can be added, but what we have is sufficient to get to the point. If we take a look at the direction in which the Word points us, there’s an inescapable conclusion. We need to give far more serious thought to wartime living than we currently do.