Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Refreshed and being refreshed

“A generous person will prosper;
Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”
--Proverbs 11:25 (NIV)

The Secret Santa has been revealed—it's Larry Stewart, a successful businessman from Lee's Summit, Missouri. Prior to the Christmas season of 2006, Stewart announced that he is the Secret Santa who has been anonymously doling out $100 bills to the needy every Christmas for the past 26 years. After years of anonymity, he decided to go public with hopes of inspiring others to become Secret Santas. So how did this practice begin?

In the winter of 1971, Stewart was working as a door-to-door salesman. The company he was working for went out of business, and he quickly ran out of money. Stewart hadn't eaten in two days when he went to Dixie Diner and ordered a breakfast he eventually admitted he couldn't pay for. Ted Horn, the restaurant owner, sympathized with Stewart. He acted as though he found a $20 bill on the floor underneath of Stewart's chair. "Son, you must have dropped this," Horn said.

"It was like a fortune to me," Stewart reflected. "I said to myself, 'Thank you, Lord.' Right then, I just made a promise. I said, 'Lord, if you ever put me in a position to help other people, I will do it.'"

Over the years, Stewart estimates that he has given away around $1.3 million. He says he has been amply rewarded in return. "I see the smiles and looks of hopelessness turn to looks of hope in an instant," he says. "After all, isn't that what we're put here on earth for—to help one another?" (1)

Stewart has been living the biblical principle of generosity. He has enjoyed the fruit of its promise. Giving of oneself leads to a generous outpouring in return. Whether it is generosity with one’s resources or being generous with a refreshing word, scripture assures us that we will experience abundant blessing in return.

Refreshing others is also a way we proclaim God’s favor and work for justice in the world. Jesus taught that the loving God wholeheartedly and loving our neighbor characterize the way of living that leads to true life (Luke 10:25-37).

God is our source of life and love. God has given to us generously. We have been called to refresh others with the resources God has given us.

Refresh us, O Lord! Grow in us Your love for all people so that we may fulfill your calling. May we be conscious of the opportunities to refresh others as they present themselves. We look to You for love, strength and generosity. Amen.

(1)Nanci Hellmich, "Santa Shares His Secret," USA Today (12-22-06).


Monday, January 14, 2013

What holds us captive?

Luke 4.14-21

At our Wednesday night Bible study we wrestled with the question, "In what ways may we be captives?"

Looking at the big picture, we are confined to a broken world. As long as we live, we live with the consequences of this broken world. Sin can captivate us, with destructive consequences. Grief can hold us captive. We can be confined by financial problems or legal problems. We can find ourselves in relationships or work situations that are confining. We can be oppressed by the consequences of illness. We can be prisoners of loneliness or depression. I have heard people describe the sense of imprisonment that comes with alcohol or drug addiction. If we are not careful we can make ourselves captive to the enticements of wealth or status or power.

Whether we are held captive by the consequences of living in a broken world or by a prison of our own making, we are captives who need release. Each and every one of us needs to experience God's favor. We need God to act!

Thanks be to God for his action. In Jesus Christ we can know the liberty and release God has promised. In Jesus, God forgives all debts owed to Him. In Jesus, God sets us free from the dark powers of sin and self that bind us. In Jesus, God gives to you and I the inheritance of eternal life as God's children.

Thursday, January 03, 2013

We Live, God Helping Us!

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5, NIV)

“How can I grow in faith?” For we who follow Christ, it’s a challenging question. I don’t think many of us are completely satisfied with the strength of our faith. You may think Jesus’ original disciples are the ultimate examples of faithful people. But it’s clear that even they recognized their faith needed to grow. We’re in good company!

Those first followers of Jesus rightly understood that Jesus is the source of our faith. That’s good news! The life of faith is hard. You and I can’t live this life of faith without the Lord’s help. With the Lord’s help we have extraordinary power to face the distress, disease, and disorder that we encounter in life. With the Lord’s help we have the extraordinary power to put blessing, wealth, and the goodness of life in perspective. With the Lord’s help we have extraordinary power to accomplish things not possible by our own strength.

While staying alone in her convent, an 85-year-old Catholic nun got trapped inside a broken elevator for four nights and three days. She tried pushing the inside elevator door, but the electricity went off. She had her cell phone with her, but there wasn't a signal. Fortunately, she had carried a jar of water, some celery sticks, and a few cough drops into the elevator.

At first she said to herself, "This can't happen!" But then she decided to turn her elevator into a personal prayer retreat. "It was either panic or pray," she later told an interviewer for CNN. She started viewing the experience as a "gift." "I believe that God's presence was my strength and my joy—really," she said. "I felt God's presence almost immediately. I felt like he provided the opportunity for a closer relationship." (1)

When the Church commissions pastors, teachers, or missionaries, a part of the commissioning liturgy frequently includes “Questions of Commitment.” Each person is asked to commit to their mission through responding to several statements by saying, “I will, God helping me.” This is a response every Christian could make every day, for every circumstance, and for every task: “I will do it, God helping me.” Perhaps this declaration captures the essence of living by faith: “I live, God helping me!”

The New Year is often a time when we reflect on our lives and make plans to better ourselves. This year make it a daily practice to ask the Lord to increase your faith. You and I cannot live fruitfully as Jesus’ disciples by the strength of our own will. We live only by God helping us.

(1) Jenny Wilson, "Nun Stuck in Elevator Survives Four Nights on Celery Sticks, Water and Cough Drops," Time.com (4-28-11)