“I can’t stand your religious meetings.
I’m fed up with your
conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and
goals.
I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image
making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang
to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice-oceans of it.
I want fairness-rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.”
-Amos 5:21-24
So tomorrow is my first support deadline, and I have to be honest, I’m about $1200 short. It would be so easy for me to freak out right now, to start calling everyone I know to ask for a few dollars, or try to throw together a quick fundraiser to bring in the funds. But you know, I don’t want to do that, and not just because it’s embarrassing for me to ask for money–really that isn’t even factoring into the equation right now–but because I want to be about more than that. God forgive me if I have partaken in any fund-raising schemes. I don’t want to be about image making or religion projects. I know that the Lord will provide for me in His own time and way, even if it means I don’t meet this support deadline. He’s got it under control, and none of this comes as a surprise to Him. So may my heart’s focus today be on justice, on fairness, as I go out and spend time with Bhutanese refugees. Let my mind today not be on money, on finances, on all the little details I need to take care of for this Race, but rather may I be fully present in the ministries God has called me to right now in my own neighborhood.
“Remember: A stingy
planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of
you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you
will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves
it when the giver delights in the giving.
God can pour on the blessings in
astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than
just ready to do what needs to be done.
As one psalmist puts it,
‘He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.’
This most generous God who gives seed to the
farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He
gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives,
robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way,
producing with us great praise to God.”
-2 Corinthians 9:6-11
