Tuesday, August 24, 2010

This Is the Great Adventure!

In the heart of every person, there is this deep longing to be a part of a great adventure. You see it when kids are young and building a fort and pretending to be King Arthur or Peter Pan. But somehow as we grow older, that sense of adventure and a longing for more seems to be satisfied too easily by stuff. We become almost enthralled with the protection of our stuff that we stop looking for that adventure.



But yesterday as I was reading I Cor. 9:7, which we have all heard too many times during the tithes and offering part of church, "for God loves a cheerful giver," I ran across something that stopped me in my tracks. Allow me to be a nerd for a moment. The Greek word for "giver" is dŏtēs, which comes from the base of the word didōmi, which means to give or to go on an adventure.

And I'm sure you've heard me say this before, but the word cheerful comes from the Greek word hilarŏs, which means hilarious. But it also means prompt or willing. So in essence this verse that we usually just take as meaning God wants you to be happy about Him taking your money really means this, "God loves someone who is willing and ready to go on an adventure!"

So in the words of my mullet-ed friend, Steven Curtis Chapman, "This is the great adventure!" Giving, not getting, is the greatest of adventures that we could ever hope to go on.





The Lawson's: This Is the Great Adventure!:

What Does It Mean To Be Content?

The question of contentment is always one that plagues believers, or at least I think it does. So many people want to cling to a rule or a percentage to know if they are "in-line" with what God says about contentment. If I were to be gut honest with you on the issue of contentment, I would say that it absolutely terrifies me. My Americanized brain loves to "justify" my discontentment by saying that I am simply working hard and enjoying the fruits of my labor, when in reality, I'm just bored with where I'm at and what I have.


If you were to take an honest look at the Bible's definition of contentment, I think you would be terrified too. The New Testament level of true contentment is almost as much fun as Jesus' new definition of murder. He always seemed to raise the bar a little higher, just out of reach of our legalistic minds.


John the Baptist starts off pretty easy by saying in Luke 3 to "be content with your wages." Easy enough, right? Maybe not. With the average American saving a whopping NEGATIVE 2% each year, that means we aren't very content with our wages.



Paul takes it to a whole new level and says that he even had to "learn how to be content." You mean to say I'm not born content. Nope. Just look at any nursery in any hospital in America, and you will see a bunch of babes wrapped in swaddling cloths who will need to "learn how to be content" someday.



But good ole' Paul doesn't just stop with an encouragement to be content with whatever you have, he takes it a bit deeper in I Timothy 6:8 and says to "be content with food and clothing." Alright, you've gone too far. I am officially discontent just reading that statement.

 But the nail in the coffin on my discontent American soul comes a few pages later in Hebrews 13:5 as the author encourages us to be content with whatever we have because we will always have Jesus.


And so the question comes down to this: Am I content with my wages? Nope. Am I content with food and clothing? Of course not. Am I content with Jesus?

And We Have Lift Off!



Welcome one and all to our new blog.

Our goal with this new blog is to give common sense, biblical wisdom for the most frequently asked financial questions. Each week we will take a look at a few of the most pressing financial topics and see what the Bible has to say about it.

Over the past several years we have been asked thousands of financial questions ranging from health insurance to dealing with a non-paying renter. We want to offer a format for those questions to be asked and answered. To start off, we will begin answering a few of the most asked questions, but in the meantime, feel free to send us your questions at financiallyrestored@gmail.com or use the "Ask a Question" gadget at the top of the page.