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Isn’t it rich?
Are we a pair?
Me here at last on the ground,
You in mid-air.
Send in the clowns.
Isn’t it bliss?
Don’t you approve?
One who keeps tearing around,
One who can’t move.
Where are the clowns?
Send in the clowns.
-from “Send in the Clowns”
No, that’s not the theme song to the next installment of the U.S. Congress. Then again…
Yesterday I introduced you to a group of Christ followers who were living in a world of mirrors. The good people of Laodicea were living with the bling, but God had a different estimate of their true wealth. And in His correction, He revealed some things about a completely different economy that is in operation all around us. For review, here are the principles we looked at yesterday:
Principle #1: The root nature of sin is a declaration of independence from God.
Principle #2: God has a system of economy unlike the world’s system.
Principle #3: “Economy” is the exchange of all the commodities of life.
Principle #4: Money has a unique place in the commodities of life.
Principle #5: It is possible to be rich in the world’s economy and bankrupt in God’s.
So here the scenery changes, and God has some encouraging things to say to His loveable losers: [click to continue…]
It was the Beverly Hills of ancient Asia. A center of wealth and high-end commerce. A medical haven, where people came from miles around for treatment of various ailments. If you wrote your mama and told her your job was transferring you there, she’d have something to brag about the next day. This was some place. And there was a church in town.
How would you like to get a personal letter from Jesus Christ, where the first thing he said was, “I know what you’ve been doing”? That can be a little unnerving! But that’s exactly what Jesus said to the First Church of Coolville, alias Laodicea. He had a few other things to say as well. Let’s peek at their mail:
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.” But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see (Revelation 3:15-18).
Looks like the guys and dolls in Lala Land had a few things to learn about wealth.
So do we.
They thought they were loaded; Jesus said otherwise. Remember, though, that in spite of its scathing message, this was a love letter. And in his love, Jesus gave them, and LifeVestors everywhere, a few pointers on His economy. [click to continue…]
What do you do when you’ve done what you know to do, and what you know to do isn’t working this time? How do you explain the fact that time-tested methods for producing results, solving problems, and getting ahead just aren’t working this time? How do you plug the leaks in your economic life?
Questions like these are front and center among politicians, economists, investors, and families these days.
The problem isn’t a shortage of solutions. The problem is that that the solutions we know are supposed to work aren’t working.
We’re like a wad of sailors on a stormy sea, who keep running to opposite sides of a ship to steady it in the waves – while all the while, the hull is leaking. I’ve seen it at kitchen tables; I’ve seen it at capital buildings. Everything we do to steady the ship just draws in more water, and sailing has turned to bailing.
I wonder if anybody is asking – really asking – God.
(Aw, what does HE know?)
Plenty, it would appear. This isn’t the first time politicians and businesspeople confronted a leaky economy. [click to continue…]
Imagine being the captain of a historic sailing ship – a master of commerce and an expert in trade throughout the Mediterranean. You live to taste the salt in the air, to roam from port to port, from culture to culture, bringing value, goods, and trade to each. You perform a greatly-needed service, and your work is honorable.
And, let’s just assume that you’re greatly blessed and good at what you do. Your business has prospered as you have prospered others.
And, while we’re assuming, let’s just assume that you recognize the source of all your blessings, and seek to live gratefully and humbly before your Creator.
Too bad.
Storm’s coming anyway.
[click to continue…]
