I was listening to a news report about the drought in Cape Town, South Africa and it brought me to this passage.
"And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit," - Ephesians 5:18 NKJV
The word translated 'dissipation' here is asÅtia (Strong's G810) and it speaks of an erosion or evaporation of integrity or wholeness.
This city had water but then the drought started. Things got worse and worse. Now water is precious and everyone is looking for new and better ways to reuse their 'gray water'. Soon the city may run dry and according to that broadcast, they would be the first modern metropolis that large that has done so.
If you have an abundance dissipation seems like no big deal but when you have very little that little bit becomes precious.
I am rich in Christ but proximity to Him reveals my poverty. I can no longer separate myself from the terrible things people do. I am just like them. Jesus died on the cross as us in full identification with the sins of the whole world. Innocent but poor beyond understanding. Stripped of everything in our place. I have an inheritance in Him. Believers are hidden in the person of this Savior. I am rich but if I am honest I am also as poor as the poorest person in true identification.
" 'All things are lawful,' but not all things are helpful. 'All things are lawful,' but not all things build up." - 1 Corinthians 10:23 ESV
Many things are pleasurable but they dissipate and I just can't afford that. I feel like I imagine Cape Town must feel (if a city feels anything). Every drop of water has become important to the inhabitants of that city. It wasn't before but it is now.
"And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." - Matthew 26:27-29 KJV
One day we will raise a glass with Christ and it will be in true celebration. There will be no dissipation because that will be a thing of the past. I look forward to that day. Jesus is abstaining so I abstain with Him. Jesus identifies so I identify. Jesus is holy and I sit with Him in His holiness. That holiness is precious and important.
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Showing posts with label Poverty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poverty. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Blessed Are The Poor
"And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets...' " - Luke 6:17-23 ESV
Has anyone ever spoken quite like this?
I was thinking this morning of verse 17 and how it echoes the incarnation. Jesus came to Earth to be a man and stand on a level place with us to tell us He doesn't demand greatness. His blessing are on the poor.
That comforts me today.
He Is the healing in our midst. Our power is to receive grace and recognize the kingdom of God represented in the person of Christ.
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Has anyone ever spoken quite like this?
I was thinking this morning of verse 17 and how it echoes the incarnation. Jesus came to Earth to be a man and stand on a level place with us to tell us He doesn't demand greatness. His blessing are on the poor.
That comforts me today.
He Is the healing in our midst. Our power is to receive grace and recognize the kingdom of God represented in the person of Christ.
--
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Beggars
This quote touched me this week. It made me think...
'We are never more than poor beggars telling other beggars where there is bread.' - Don Carson
One one level I relate to that idea so keenly. My meditation on it brought me here.
"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.' ' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate." - Luke 15:17-24 ESV
The Father wasn't going to respond verbally to his Son's confession of poverty. His father's response was the robe, the ring and the calf.
So yes we say to each other, 'I have found the best place to get bread. I care for you my fellow traveler with a hungry soul. Jesus has the best bread I have ever tasted. He is just around the corner and He gives it away for free.'
At the same time the Father makes us rich with His love. He doesn't ses a dirty beggar... He sees a son or a daughter.
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'We are never more than poor beggars telling other beggars where there is bread.' - Don Carson
One one level I relate to that idea so keenly. My meditation on it brought me here.
"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.' ' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate." - Luke 15:17-24 ESV
The Father wasn't going to respond verbally to his Son's confession of poverty. His father's response was the robe, the ring and the calf.
So yes we say to each other, 'I have found the best place to get bread. I care for you my fellow traveler with a hungry soul. Jesus has the best bread I have ever tasted. He is just around the corner and He gives it away for free.'
At the same time the Father makes us rich with His love. He doesn't ses a dirty beggar... He sees a son or a daughter.
--
Monday, November 23, 2015
At The Church
Church is such an interesting place. There is glory, fellowship, illumination and clarity but at the same time there are also often so many needs, pains and unresolved issues. Theology meets sociology at the Church and there are so many that need social services.
Sometimes I have a lot to say at Church but last night God made me very quiet. I sat with people but for the most part I just watched. I watched the Pastor minister. I watched an older man struggle with the dilemma of helping a couple who had been displaced from their home or give two first time visitors that smelled strongly of cheap cigarettes a ride home who had been left without a ride. I saw families living in expectation for a loved one who would return home for thanksgiving and others who had lost loved ones and would never see that person again at a dinner table in this life quietly struggle with that loss. Prosperity walks side by side with poverty at the Church. Wisdom sits next to naive foolishness there. Girls and boys dance the dance of courtship. Friends laugh. People struggle with barely flickering smiles. Translators translate. Some came in rich already but everyone leaves with something eternal. Even those who wonder if anything was there that can help them practically in their barely tolerable situation in this season of life. Eternal words sink deep. Fellowship is eternal.
"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." - Hebrews 12:22-24 ESV
I remember being the stranger coming in the doors of a Church. I rode a bus which brought men from a mission house to this nice white washed Church filled with families and sweet elderly people. I remember being self conscious and feeling like a stranger. I didn't smell like cigarettes but I felt like I did. I had the look in my eyes that I saw in those two men's eyes last night... the ones who needed a ride.
The older man decided he couldn't help the couple but he took the two visitors home and the couple who was displaced got a night, or a couple nights, reprieve somewhere. They got help in the 11th hour.
"We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints - and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you - see that you excel in this act of grace also. I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." - 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 ESV
It baffles me many times. I am not hard like I once was. People's needs affect me. Like that older man I can't help everyone. Last night I wasn't led to help anyone. I prayed but I wasn't the ride and no one is waking up on my couch this morning who doesn't normally live here. The needs did get met. Those needs might not have been met but they did... at the Church.
Jesus purposely became poor so we could be rich. There is a grace that is only seen at the Church. It is place of great joy and poverty. Sometimes it is hard to be a part of but it is always a great honor to see God do what He does there.
--
Sometimes I have a lot to say at Church but last night God made me very quiet. I sat with people but for the most part I just watched. I watched the Pastor minister. I watched an older man struggle with the dilemma of helping a couple who had been displaced from their home or give two first time visitors that smelled strongly of cheap cigarettes a ride home who had been left without a ride. I saw families living in expectation for a loved one who would return home for thanksgiving and others who had lost loved ones and would never see that person again at a dinner table in this life quietly struggle with that loss. Prosperity walks side by side with poverty at the Church. Wisdom sits next to naive foolishness there. Girls and boys dance the dance of courtship. Friends laugh. People struggle with barely flickering smiles. Translators translate. Some came in rich already but everyone leaves with something eternal. Even those who wonder if anything was there that can help them practically in their barely tolerable situation in this season of life. Eternal words sink deep. Fellowship is eternal.
"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." - Hebrews 12:22-24 ESV
I remember being the stranger coming in the doors of a Church. I rode a bus which brought men from a mission house to this nice white washed Church filled with families and sweet elderly people. I remember being self conscious and feeling like a stranger. I didn't smell like cigarettes but I felt like I did. I had the look in my eyes that I saw in those two men's eyes last night... the ones who needed a ride.
The older man decided he couldn't help the couple but he took the two visitors home and the couple who was displaced got a night, or a couple nights, reprieve somewhere. They got help in the 11th hour.
"We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints - and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you - see that you excel in this act of grace also. I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." - 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 ESV
It baffles me many times. I am not hard like I once was. People's needs affect me. Like that older man I can't help everyone. Last night I wasn't led to help anyone. I prayed but I wasn't the ride and no one is waking up on my couch this morning who doesn't normally live here. The needs did get met. Those needs might not have been met but they did... at the Church.
Jesus purposely became poor so we could be rich. There is a grace that is only seen at the Church. It is place of great joy and poverty. Sometimes it is hard to be a part of but it is always a great honor to see God do what He does there.
--
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