May 2012 — God Provides

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“April showers bring May flowers.  April, traditionally a rainy period, gives way to May, when flowers will bloom because of the water provided for them by the April showers”  (According to Wiktionary—a wiki-based Open Content Dictionary).  In many parts of our country this old idiom still rings true.  Proper amounts of rain and sunshine combine to produce beautiful flowers.  It is a kind of “action/reaction” thing.

There is an application for our lives as God’s stewards and managers of all of life and life’s resources for His purposes.  Dr. Martin Luther’s explanation to the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed states it so well when it credits God with being our Maker and Provider.  God richly provides us with all that we need to support this body and life.  All is used nine times in Luther’s explanation.  Our Almighty Father in heaven has made us and all creatures, gives us all we need and defends us against all danger and guards and protects us from all evil.

The clincher for us as God’s stewards comes in the closing paragraph of Luther’s explanation of the First Article as he writes:  “All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.  For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.”

The truth of the matter is that our Heavenly Father provides everything that we need in this life.  His greatest gift is His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who came willingly to this sinful world to offer up His holy life for the sins of the world—yours and mine included.  That takes care of our spiritual welfare.  That is the most important gift, but God also lavishes all kinds of physical gifts upon us as His people.

God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 6:17b), but He also wants us to use all these blessings in unselfish ways to bring glory to His holy name and blessings to those people around us, just like April showers bring May flowers.  Our faithful management and use of God’s gifts makes life more beautiful and fragrant for us and others.

How we use our time, abilities and financial resources makes a big difference for us and others.  How we manage our relationships, God’s creation, our own bodies and the privilege of sharing the good news of Jesus also makes a big difference for us and others.

We give thanks to God for calling us to be His maturing stewards who are privileged to manage all of life and life’s resources for His purposes!  May God’s Holy Spirit work richly in, with and among us so that we live each day as God’s redeemed children who are growing in the divine traits of loving and giving!

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April 2012 — “Alleluia!”

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April is a very special month during this calendar year of 2012 for a number of reasons.  The most important reason is that we celebrate Easter on April 8^th.  This special day and this Easter season remind us that we are Easter people, that is, people of hope.  At Easter time we join with the saints of old and the saints of today in greeting each other with these words:  “Jesus Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Allelulia!”

The victory of Jesus over sin, death and the devil is at the very center of the Christian Gospel.  If Christ had not been raised from the dead we would have to say with St. Paul that “our faith is futile and we are still in our sins and if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.”  (1 Corinthians 15:17-19).

With confidence we believe with all the saints that because Christ lives, never to taste death again, we too shall rise to a new life that will never end!  What hope and joy we have in Christ, especially when life on this side of heaven becomes painful with many disappointments and tears.  In Christ, the best is yet to come!

Another reason why April is special is that the deadline for filing our income taxes occurs during this month.  Of course, for those who were looking for tax refunds, they filed early.  For others of us who choose to wait we will have one more day of grace since April 15^th is a Sunday.  Our deadline is April 16^th.  Big deal, right???

Taxes have been a cause of pain and stress for many generations, even centuries.  It was that way in the time of Christ.  When His enemies tried to trap Jesus with the question of whether or not it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, Jesus wisely asked them to show him a coin.  He asked them whose portrait and inscription was on the coin.  “Caesar’s,” they replied.  Then Jesus said those famous words:  “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”  (Matthew 22:15-22)

The words of Jesus remind us that all authorities (even those we may not like) have been instituted by God.  For the Christians of the early New Testament times the governing power was from Rome, a very corrupt and anti-Christian power, and yet Christians then and now are to submit to the governing authorities, even those which seem so corrupt.  So, we pay our taxes as Christians, but we also pray that our leaders would lead in God-pleasing and people-blessing ways.  Therefore, we vote, we stand up for our faith and values, we make our voices heard, and we do whatever we can to help raise our nation to higher moral and spiritual ground.

April is also a special month because it provides us with 30 more days to follow the second command of Jesus to give unto God what is God’s.  We do this by being wise and faithful stewards of all that God has entrusted to us to manage in a way that brings glory to him and blessings to those around us. This stewardship includes the good management of the seven “T’s”—time (86,400 seconds each day), talents (abilities), treasure (money), testimony (our sharing of the good news of Jesus), touch (our relationships), tissue (care of our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit), and trash (care of God’s creation).

With the power and presence of the Holy Spirit let’s go for it, Christian stewards, because our calling is to manage all of life and life’s resources for God’s purposes, and strive for excellence in all we do.

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March 2012 – “Times and Seasons”

Genesis 1:14 (NIV) reads:  And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons, and days and years…”

In the month of March we experience times and seasons close up.  On Sunday, March 11, most places in the United States will begin daylight savings time.  On Tuesday, March 20, spring begins.  Times and seasons are very clearly the creation of a God of order and the Maker of heaven and earth.  The seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter bring a lot of variety to our weather and to our natural surroundings.  The seasons are connected to seedtime and harvest.  The days that were so short in the winter stretch out in the summer.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV) says:  “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…”  As Christian stewards who have been given the privilege and responsibility of managing God’s creation, we understand that we are stewards at all times and in all seasons.  Perhaps farmers understand stewardship better than others of us but, regardless of our station in life, we are to make the most of the times and seasons and manage them in ways that are pleasing to God and provide blessings for others as well as ourselves.

The last of our LCMS Biblical Stewardship Principles states:  “God’s stewards live with an awareness of the present and future, of time and eternity.”  This means that we live intentionally in the light of God’s eternal purpose while being firmly committed to His rule in the here and now.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NIV) explains our stewardship in these terms:  “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.  In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

Wouldn’t it be something if everyone lived according to these words!  As God’s stewards we can lead the way and provide a living model of what it means to be stewards, or managers, of all of life and life’s resources, including money, property, talents, time and so much more.  Our good stewardship will bring glory to God and many blessings to others as well as ourselves.  Let’s resolve, with the Holy Spirit’s power and leading, to be good stewards of all things in all times and seasons!

Enjoy the beautiful season of spring and the longer days of sunlight.

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February 2012 – “I Love You”

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January 2012

December 2011