Category Archives: Faith and Finances

Brokenness and Wholeness, Community, Faith and Finances, Social Commentary

Coldest Night of the Year

I remember when I first heard about Jericho Road Ministries from its founder, my friend Ray Desmarais. A compassionate man with a big heart for the hurting and homeless, Ray wanted to do something practical to help. Over the years, his relentless drive and passion led to the birthing of a ministry that has demonstrated the love of Jesus to hundreds of broken people in Ottawa’s core. While appreciating the need for shelters such as Shepherds of Good Hope and the Ottawa Mission, Jericho Road has chosen to offer smaller-scale, discipleship-based group homes with the aim of helping mentally ill or addicted men and women get off the street and learn practical life skills in an atmosphere of structured Christian community.

For several years my wife Marion and I were among the regular performers at a weekly coffee house offered by Jericho Road. We loved it! At the time, we lived in the rural community of Russell, and the coffee house gave us an opportunity to serve and rub shoulders with people that we wouldn’t normally have any contact with. Now that we live in the historic neighbourhood of Vanier, so close to downtown, I have a whole new appreciation for the work done by ministries such as Jericho Road.

I no longer sing at the Jericho Road coffee house, as there are now plenty of musicians to fill the roster, but on February 20, I’ll be joining a team led by Jericho Road director Hope Versluis in a walk in support of this great ministry, along with dozens of other Ottawans. The event is known as The Coldest Night of the Year, and takes place in cities across the nation in support of various charities that serve the hurting and homeless. In Ottawa, your donations will go to support Jericho Road. I’d be grateful if you would consider supporting me with a donation.

If you would like to donate, or would consider joining the walk yourself, you can do so by going to my personal home page. All donations are tax-deductible.

God bless you.

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Faith and Finances, House of Prayer, Intimacy with God, Neighbourhood, Reflections on Life, Seasonal Thoughts

New Years Resolutions

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I am not a big fan of New Years Resolutions. I haven’t made one in several years, that I can recall.

It’s not that I don’t like making commitments. It’s just that I prefer to let the Lord lead me into new seasons in his timing, and in my life, those new seasons don’t always correspond with the beginning of a new calendar year.

This year, however, many things are changing as the new year begins. I am re-entering the world of Information Technology contract consulting after a nine-month hiatus. Marion and I are also at the beginning of a new venture in our neighbourhood, as we take our first tentative steps towards the development of a community House of Prayer in the heart of Vanier. In addition, I have taken on a role as a worship leader on a once per month basis in a small church that is being planted here in Vanier.

Marion and I have always been good with money and we have never had problems limiting our expenses, but for the past few years we have had a fair bit of discretionary income.  The new consulting contract, while a blessing, does not pay as well as the ones I have had for the past several years, with the result that our discretionary income will be somewhat reduced. And so, for the first time in several years, I have made a budget.

Along a similar vein, as I have considered the new ministry involvements that are starting up shortly, I have realized that they will require me to be more intentional about my use of time. So, for the first time in several years, I have found it necessary to create a weekly timetable, allocating specific chunks of my days and weeks to Bible study, prayer, worship, exercise, work, rest and recreation.

This may not seem particularly noteworthy or exciting. In fact, to some of you it may sound downright boring. But as I was considering all this, I realized that there is something else going on which is more profound. During the closing days of 2012, Marion and I followed several of the sessions of the year-end OneThing conference at International House of Prayer. For me, a key insight came as I listened to Misty Edwards speak about what it means to bear the easy yoke of Jesus. She made the simple observation that although it may be an easy yoke, it is a yoke nonetheless, and a yoke is a form of discipline. To bear a yoke means that I do not belong to myself. I am the bondservant of the One who gave his life for me.

As I listened to her words, I realized that the Lord was calling me to a more disciplined, more focussed life. For the past several years, although I have not stopped praying, giving, worshipping or serving, I have in a sense been waiting for a new assignment from the Lord. I had been thinking of this assignment largely in terms of an identifiable ministry role. During the OneThing conference, the Lord made it clear what my assignment is. Until He returns, my assignment is to love Jesus with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, and to live my life for his pleasure.

I already knew this, of course; the Spirit has been working this understanding into me for many years. Yet somehow, the pieces fell into place more clearly and decisively as I listened to Misty Edwards a couple of days ago. Maybe her words had such impact because for the past thirteen years, she has given her life as an intercessory missionary, serving in a place of relative obscurity.

Whatever the reason, I now know in a way I did not know before that I have only one assignment. It is to live for his pleasure, to live before His eyes. There will be other secondary assignments, of course, flowing from that primary one. But the secondary assignments should never become my identity, should never be allowed to take over the primary place in my heart. All that matters is loving Jesus and living for his smile. For me, the budgeting of time and money is an expression of what that assignment currently requires.

As I was finishing this post, I received a phone call with the news that a friend from our church had died suddenly while on vacation with his wife. He was in his middle years, and full of vitality.

Such news is always sobering. Whenever someone dies, it reminds me that my life is not my own, and I can’t put off serving the Lord until tomorrow. It seems like yesterday that I turned fifty, and yet my sixtieth birthday is only a few months off. I want to live the years that remain to me with my eyes locked in on Jesus. And by God’s grace, that is what I will do.

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Eschatology, Faith and Finances, House of Prayer, Reflections on Life

Resident aliens

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When my son Simeon moved to the United States a few years ago, I was a bit surprised to learn that according to the United States Government, he was an alien. Even after getting his Green Card, which allows him to work in the USA, the correct term for his new status was not Permanent Resident or Landed Immigrant (terms that I was familiar with from Canada). According to Uncle Sam, even though Simeon has now lived and worked in the USA for several years, owns a house, has a bank account and pays taxes there, he is still an alien, and he will continue to be an alien until the day that he swears allegiance to the United States of America and becomes a United States citizen.

When we hear the word alien, for many of us the first thought that comes to mind may be of creatures from outer space.  But according to TheFreeDictionary.com, the word alien can also mean a person from another and very different family, people, or place. That’s an excellent description of what it is like to be a Christian in a hostile world. We are aliens. We belong to a different family, people and place than the children of the world. We have a different king, a different government, a different identity, a different value system and a different hope. Paul wrote that our citizenship is in heaven. We are citizens of a kingdom that will totally replace the current world system when Jesus returns to restore the earth and reign openly as king. In the meantime, we are strangers and aliens in the world system, living by the values of a kingdom that most people don’t see yet. One day the whole world will see this kingdom because it will be fully manifested on the earth. With the eyes of faith, friends of Jesus see it now, even though dimly, and we seek to live by its light.

The first Christians lived in a culture that was openly hostile to their faith, and some of them suffered greatly for it. The Apostle Peter was so aware of this that he wrote an entire letter to strengthen and encourage these embattled believers. He didn’t tell them to try hard to fit in and accommodate themselves to the culture they were in (which seems to be the strategy of much of the North American evangelical church these days). And significantly, he also didn’t tell them that their assignment was to take over the power structures and change the culture by force. The Zealots had tried that in Israel, and Jesus completely repudiated their approach, as Peter no doubt well remembered. Instead, Peter told them to be different, to live lives that were in stark contrast with the values of the world around them.

These were his words :

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

Basically, he was warning Christ followers not to adopt the standards, values, goals or desires of the people of this age, because this would dilute their witness and had the potential to destroy their relationship with him.

My personal circumstances have given me plenty of cause to think about these things in recent weeks. For fifteen years now, I have made my living as an IT sub-contractor. Some people think that consultants make a lot of money, but that’s not always the case. Marion and I home-schooled for most of those years, so my income was the only income for the family. As a fairly junior programmer, in my first few years my income was barely enough to meet our expenses. It was always enough, but there was never a lot extra. Gradually this began to change, and in the past few years our life became somewhat more comfortable. In an earlier phase of our life together, Marion and I had lived below the poverty line as church planters for years, and our personal tastes are quite simple, so we can quite easily be content on a limited income. However, I had been given a promise several years ago that the Lord intended to prosper us both financially and spiritually so that Marion and I could be a financial and spiritual blessing to many, and this had been repeated a couple of years ago by a prophetic minister who knew nothing of our circumstances, goals or visions, but told me that I would be a storehouse like Joseph.

With these promises in mind, when my last contract came to an end almost nine months ago, I was full of confidence in the Lord’s provision. Interruptions in work are commonplace for people in my line of work, but we had a financial buffer that was more than adequate for three months. My longest layoff ever had lasted three and a half months, so I was confident that I would soon have work again. Not only that, I had numerous indications that with my fifteen years of experience, my knowledge and skills were in demand and my prospects looked quite good. There were several possibilities on the horizon. I had been journalling and seeking the Lord, and had asked him whether He wanted me to continue in the IT field or step out into ministry on a faith basis. I sensed that He was saying I should expect to stay in the IT field for a few years longer. So, based on everything that I sensed God had been showing me, and the prophetic words I had received about being a storehouse, I confidently expected that my layoff from work would be brief, and that my new contract would be financially lucrative, providing additional seed for the storehouse that the Lord had spoken of. I even had sufficient confidence to turn down a couple of contracts in the early stages of what proved to be a nine-month waiting period, because I sensed that the Lord had assured me he had something better for me.

Since then I have gone after fifteen different contract opportunities, some of them very attractive, financially and in other ways. I was well qualified for many of them. I had so many near misses that I can no longer write them off as coincidences or “the luck of the draw” (not that I really believe in these concepts anyway : for one who belongs to Jesus, nothing happens purely by chance). The Word of God tells us that it is God who promotes one and brings down another. These matters are in his hands. I can only conclude that the Lord was making me wait for a reason.

Along the way, I did a lot of journalling, bike riding and prayer walking. I prayed alone and with Marion. I fasted. I worshipped. I wrote songs. I studied the Word and listened to many excellent Bible teachings which have had a profound impact on my relationship with God. I read through the Book of Psalms over and over again. I knew that God was doing something new in my life, preparing Marion and me for a new season. I found the extra time with God extremely beneficial, even though I found the waiting (without a defined end date in sight) to be a significant trial to my faith. In my times of seeking the Lord, I cried out to God; I argued with Him; I asked Him questions; I humbled myself and surrendered time and again. Many times I would ask him the same questions over and over again. “Have I been hearing you correctly? Is there anything I am missing? Is there anything else you want to say to me? When will the provision come?” And as I journalled and prayed, over and over again I received the Lord’s assurance that His provision would come at the right time, and that when it came, it would be just right.

In the end, I took a contract that was financially less lucrative than any of the other fifteen that I had pursued or been offered at one time or another over the past nine months. I am now going to be compensated at a level lower than I have been at for seven years. Some of my colleagues tell me they have not had a contract at these rates since the late 1990s. In fact, many of them would refuse to work for these rates, and some have implied that I should not take this contract because I am selling out. Yet, I have the Lord’s assurance that this is His blessing and provision for me. Along the way I have seen promises broken and colleagues blessed with positions that I can legitimately say I should have had. When I have prayed about this, the Lord has reminded me that these people don’t have the blessing of a relationship with Him, so I now have an opportunity to pray for them to see God’s goodness in their circumstances and turn to Him. I also will have the opportunity to work in an environment where I have worked before, with at least two people (a manager and a team leader) who are potentially open to the gospel but have not yet received the Lord. This too is an answer to prayer, but I can only be a blessing to them if my own heart is in a place of gratitude and contentment. So the Lord has given me an exquisitely designed test. No-one is able to design more elegant tests than the Holy Spirit.

Suffice it to say, this has been a time of humbling for me. I realize now, with the 20-20 vision that hindsight sometimes affords, that when the Lord told me the provision was going to be just right, he wasn’t primarily thinking of finances. Marion and I know how to budget, and the financial provision will be more than enough. It always is. And since finances are not my primary goal anyway, it really doesn’t matter. We’ll have less excess to give away – at least from employment income – but that’s up to God, not me. If He wants me to be a storehouse, he’s not limited to employment as a way of getting me there. Joseph didn’t get raised up to be the second most powerful man in Egypt through his own efforts. It was entirely through God’s grace and mercy. But he did have to go through a significant period of humbling, and he had to be faithful. In the end it was his faithfulness, integrity, and spiritual perceptiveness that drew the attention of the king.

This chain of events has served to remind me that as a Christ follower I live by a different value system than the world around me. I knew this of course, but when you work for years with the children of this world, it can affect you without you even realizing it. The nine-month layoff provided sufficient time for the gestation of a new ministry vision. It allowed me the opportunity to take my hands off some things that I had looked to for security, which the Lord told me to sell to provide for our needs while waiting for work. It provided a time for me to refocus and get my eyes onto Jesus again. I didn’t think I had taken my eyes off of him, but I have seen that I had become more dull and compromised than I had realized, and the Lord wanted to sharpen me, humble me, make me tremble again in His presence. There are things He wants me to do in the years to come, and to fulfil his purposes for the remainder of my earthly journey, I need to be a sharp instrument in His hands.

Like my son, who is a Canadian citizen living in the United States, people who belong to Jesus are citizens of a different kingdom. We are in a war with our own fallen nature, the world system and the Prince of Darkness, and that war will continue until the Lord Jesus returns to claim his Bride and rule the earth openly.

In the meantime His people look for his kingdom as from a distance, and live by its light in the shadows of a mostly dark world. That’s what it means to be a city on a hill. We are called to be different, not motivated by earthly power or the world’s approval but motivated by the smile of Jesus, the crucified one, our lover, our friend and our king, who is coming to reign.

The experiences of the past nine months have shown me again that I am an alien and a stranger in this age. I am looking for a heavenly kingdom that is coming to earth, and I belong to a king who is a passionate lover of my soul, and who will tolerate no rivals for my affections. A financial loss – which He is well able to replace – is a small price to pay to have my vision refocussed, my heart reawakened and my priorities clarified again. Thank you Jesus.

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Faith and Finances, Faith and Relationships, Faith and Suffering, Intimacy with God, Reflections on Life, Seasonal Thoughts

Seeds of life

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Today Marion’s parents celebrated sixty-five years of marriage. A simple family celebration marked the occasion. Later, as we said our good-byes, I thanked my parents-in-law for getting married, pointing out that had they not done so, I could not have met and married my wife, nor would Marion and I have had our own four wonderful children or our two beautiful granddaughters. I looked at my father-in-law, gestured at the family members around the room, and said “See what you started?”

Towards the end of the day I went for a bike ride by the river. I needed to clear my head and get some perspective. It was a beautiful October day, and the water sparkled in the sun’s rays. The pathway was full of people enjoying the final hour before sunset. I thought about seeds. Each of the trees that line the river began with a seed. Each human life begins with a seed. At the beginning of all things, when God made man and woman, he told them to multiply and fill the earth. When Marion’s father and mother pledged their vows sixty-five years ago, they made a covenant to be seed-planters.

When a couple conceives a child, they don’t know the details of what that child will become. There is an element of mystery involved. But in hope, they look for their creative act of love to bear fruit and give rise to a child who will be a bearer of their hopes and dreams.

In a less literal but no less real sense, we plant seeds every day with our words and our actions. We impart to others what has been worked into the soil of our own lives, for good or for ill. We do this whether we know it or not, but as we co-operate actively with God’s purposes, uprooting the plantings of the evil one in our lives and cultivating the plantings of the Lord, we can become more effective and fruitful sowers of good seed in the lives of others.

As I have been waiting on the Lord for an answer about work these past six months, I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of reflecting. At the beginning of this waiting period, I kept myself occupied with several small projects. But as time went on, both Marion and I became increasingly convinced that the Lord was telling us both to use this time to rest in Him and seek His face – to meditate on the Word, to pray, to worship, to listen to teachings, and to allow Him to work some new seed into the soil of our hearts.

Along the way, of course, we have wrestled with God about the issue of work and provision. We have been in no real financial distress, but we’ve had to make several adjustments. I had no idea that I would be out of work for this long, yet all along the way Marion and I have received clear and repeated assurances from the Lord that His provision would come at just the right time and that it would prove to be just the right thing. Although we have been walking the road of faith for many years, we are not immune from temptation, and we’ve had plenty of opportunities to embrace worry, fear and anxiety. But thanks be to God, every time we have recognized those ugly tentacles seeking to drag us down, we have found grace to resist the tempter and place our hope in the Lord.

As our time of waiting has been extended well beyond what I had expected, I have found it humbling to recognize how little control I have – humbling to have an explicit, specific promise from God but no explanation as to why it is not yet fulfilled – humbling to explain to people why I turned down two contracts three months ago (“I sensed the Lord telling me not to take them because he had something better for me”), even though the ‘something better’ has not yet become visible – humbling to have no explanation for my circumstances and choices other than “God told me” – humbling to have to sell the camping trailer that Marion and I had bought less than two years ago. But, praise the Lord, it’s only a trailer – it doesn’t own us – and as always with these things, it was liberating to let it go. We got to enjoy it for two summers, and then we got a good price for it, so we are able to ride this wave a while longer without having to make more major adjustments. And it is truly wonderful to sense the Lord stretching me, working faith in me, increasing my capacity to endure a test that seems to go on and on, with no clear exit in sight. God is faithful, and He has given us a promise, but He hasn’t given us a schedule. When I ask him for dates, he says “soon” and “trust me”. He’s been saying “soon” and “trust me” for the past three months. But, praise God, His provision has not run dry during that time.

The past few days I have thought about what it must be like for those who are in prison because of their faith. Like me, they have no control over when their waiting period will come to an end. Unlike me, they face verbal and physical abuse, separation from their families, and possible death. Although my test is light compared to theirs, I have been able to pray for them with increased understanding of what it must be like to face each new day with no idea how long they will be in prison. From a human perspective their situation may seem hopeless, yet every day they choose to cultivate hope and faith because they know that the One who has called them, and holds them in his hands, is faithful.

The Apostle wrote that none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. Periods of testing are never appointed for our benefit alone. They are appointed for the benefit of those whom God has called us to serve. And so, as well as increasing my capacity to endure tests, I also see that He is deepening and strengthening my capacity to impart hope, faith and courage to others. I have fewer answers, but I sense that the answers I have are becoming more deeply anchored in my life, so that I can speak them with greater integrity, from the core of my being, as it were.

All of us are seed-sowers. I want to plant good seed in the lives of others. And so, though periods of testing by definition are never truly welcome – at least, not to our flesh – I can now say that I am truly grateful to God that he has appointed this season of testing in my life. I am also grateful that he has chosen at several junctures to ignore my advice as to when it would be best for him to bring this test to an end. I will be glad when this particular test has come to an end – in His timing, not mine – but I am deeply grateful for what it is producing in Marion and in me. Because of this period of testing, fallow ground is being broken up, our hearts are becoming softer and more pliable, new seed is being planted, we are seeing new possibilities for the future. And so on this Thanksgiving weekend, my bride and I have many reasons to praise and thank the Father of lights from whom comes every good and perfect gift.

Thanks be to God.

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Basic Principles, Eschatology, Faith and Finances, Intimacy with God, Reflections on Life

Why we wait

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Many of you know that my last IT consulting contract ended almost three months ago. Since then, Marion, Bethany and I have been living on reserves, and I have been waiting on the Lord for new work.

There have been several “near misses” in this process. There were a couple of contracts that I could have had, but turned down. Others, however, seemed attractive to me. I was confident that I could have done the work, and I wanted to win the bid, but it went to someone else. Since no circumstance in my life is outside of God’s control, and I have been actively and intentionally submitting this whole process to Him, I can only assume that the delay is part of God’s provision.

Let me be clear. My family and I have been in no real financial distress during this time. The wrestle for me has not been about managing finances, but about trusting God’s promises and fully co-operating with His purposes. A little over a year ago I received a major prophetic word while visiting International House of Prayer. Part of the word was that I would be like Joseph, a financial storehouse for others. So, my rational mind tells me that it is not helping me achieve this goal to see my reserves get eaten away by a three-month hiatus in work.  But sometimes God allows us to go through a season where our circumstances seem to contradict the word we have been given. This is not a bad thing. In fact, waiting for God’s promise is a necessary process. It’s part of how God builds faith. He is the one who will fulfil the word, and He will do it in His way. My part is to be a man of faith, to act on the word I have been given.

There are preachers and teachers who would like you to believe that faith means expecting all your hopes to be fulfilled in this life, in this age, without any delay. That may be what our human nature would like to believe, and it may be how Hollywood celebrities like to live their lives, but it’s not what the Bible teaches and it’s not true to the experience of God’s people, past or present.

Yes, it is true that when Jesus healed people, he didn’t make them wait. He healed them on the spot, no delay. But it’s also true that Jesus himself had to wait for his most important desires to be fulfilled (see Luke 12:49 for one example of this).  He knows what it is like to long for something that is coming, but is not here yet. Jesus longs for his wedding day – the great day when he returns to claim the earth as His own, wed his Bride, banish evil and establish his throne openly. But he is waiting for the Day appointed by his Father (Matthew 24:36).

The other day I saw a video clip produced by Voice of the Martyrs in Nigeria. That beautiful, fertile, potentially prosperous yet troubled land is increasingly being plagued by the scourge of militant Islam. Boko Haram, a jihadist group that has already killed hundreds of Christians in the northern part of Nigeria, is now threatening to start attacking the mostly-Christian south as well, using methods such as food poisoning. Their declared goal is to turn Nigeria into an Islamist state by killing all the Christians in Nigeria who refuse to convert to Islam (there are over 80 million Christians in Nigeria, about half the population of the country).

The video clip showed numerous heart-wrenching examples of the suffering of Christians in the areas where Boko Haram’s campaign of terror has already been unleashed. But it also showed signs of hope. VOM has been standing with the church in Nigeria, providing help to displaced persons and the families of martyrs so that they can rebuild their lives. I was struck by the determination of Christian leaders in Nigeria not to give in to intimidation. One of the leaders interviewed on the video clip declared that the reason for the campaign of terror is that Christianity has been growing through evangelism in the mostly-Muslim north, and Muslim leaders are afraid of losing control, so they resort to fear tactics.

Why does God allow such things? Because the Day of the Lord is not yet here. In the meantime, we have an opportunity to testify to Jesus’ death and resurrection, and invite people to put their hope in Him. For those with eyes to see, there are signs of the Kingdom everywhere – but there is also great suffering in many places. This is nothing new or strange; in fact Jesus predicted it. The battle between darkness and light will not be resolved until Jesus returns.

In the meantime, in both easy and difficult times, we live in hope. God is calling us to be a pure bride, free of mixed motives, with our eyes fixed on our bridegroom who is surely coming. If we are in a season of peace and prosperity, we thank God for it, and seek to use it for His glory (a real challenge in a culture that constantly tempts us with immediate self-gratification in myriad guises). If we are in a season of adversity, we place our hope in Him and seek the grace to remain faithful. David advises us not to fret in such times, for “better is the little that the righteous has, than the abundance of many wicked” (Psalm 37:16). Even in adversity, like Elijah with the ravens, God’s people can expect provision as they exercise intentional faith. At all times, we place our hope in the One who is coming to make all things new.

Would I prefer to prosper while I wait? Of course – who wouldn’t? But there are seasons of plenty and seasons of adversity, and in both, God is faithful. I believe that God will bring to fruition the word I was given about being a storehouse. I want that with all my heart, because I believe it’s part of God’s destiny and purpose for me. But I also realize that the waiting is part of God’s preparation. He wants my hope, my security and my desires to be fixed on Him, not on specific outcomes that I (fool that I am) imagine I can control.

Why do we wait? Because we serve a God of hope – a God of resurrection – a God who is bigger than we are, and who will fulfil His promises in His way and in His time. We serve a God who is faithful when we have plenty, who is faithful when we suffer loss, who is faithful even when His people are being murdered for their faith. At all times He is good.

I’m glad I’m not in control.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

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Faith and Finances, Reflections on Life

Another fork in the road

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Sixteen years ago this month, I embarked on a new chapter of my life. Having closed the door on eleven years as a United Church pastor followed by a five-year adventure in church planting, I enrolled in business college to learn a marketable skill other than ministry. A year later, I had emerged with a certificate in computer technology, and a contract working for a small software company whose local office was managed by Graham, a friend of mine from church.

Since then, I have made my living in the field of information technology. After a couple of years working for Graham’s company, I launched out on my own and began working as a consultant. Though I felt very green and still had a lot to learn, the Lord has blessed me in this new field of endeavour. He has provided work for me time and again, and I have had numerous confirmations that the world of business and technology – which at the time seemed like totally foreign territory to me – was a field in which he wanted me to grow and prosper.

A few days ago, I heard myself described as someone who “used to be in ministry”. The label prompted some reflection. Since “ministry” simply means “service”, am I less of a minister – less of a servant of God – because I now make my living in the world of business? I don’t think so. In fact, I am more and more convinced that God placed me in this field so that I could serve Him there.

I’ve re-examined this decision at numerous forks in the road – in fact, pretty much every time a work opportunity comes to an end, which has happened multiple times since I’ve been in this line of work. Do I bid on new IT work, or is there something else the Lord has in mind for me? So far, His consistent leading has been to keep doing what I’m doing. Last year when Marion and I were in Kansas City visiting International House of Prayer, I received a major prophetic word – from someone who knew none of the details of my life – identifying and confirming some of the purposes of God in my life that could only have been fulfilled through involvement in the worlds of business and finance.

I used to have a very religious view of money. Although I might not have said this out loud to anyone (or even acknowledged it to myself), I believed that prosperity was somehow unspiritual. I now see that money is simply a tool, which can be used to do good or evil. If I make it the aim of my life to accumulate wealth, then I have become a slave and have totally missed the point of my existence. But if I make it my aim to serve the Lord, prosperity can be a means of great blessing to many. One of the goals that Marion and I have adopted is financial freedom – not so that we can spend an easy retirement on the beach, but for the sake of increased capacity to serve the Lord both with our finances and our spiritual gifts.

This morning Marion and I had coffee with our good friends Mark and Jane, who have just decided to spend the next six years of their lives living in Indonesia, serving as long-term volunteers in a mission assignment with Mennonite Central Committee. We are excited for them. They were free to make this choice because they are not owned by their stuff. They have placed their hope in God, so they are free to do whatever He leads them to do.

Their decision is a challenge to us. Could we lay everything down, and contemplate such a radical change of direction? It seems like an important question, and yet in reality, it’s a bit of a phony question. I mean, it’s not as if I had any real control anyway. All around me I see people working hard to control their world – and for what? Control is an illusion anyway. People die unexpectedly every day, and when they do, all their plans come to an end. Since I have no real control over my future, it’s best to settle the issue of ownership at the outset. My life is not my own, and I’m glad it’s not. I can make good business decisions without being owned by my business, because I’m only in business as long as Jesus wants me there.  As long as I’m there, I’ll give it my best shot, and seek to be a faithful representative of my King where he has placed me. When he has a different assignment for me, he’ll tell me.

Another fork in the road? How exciting! Thank you, Lord, for the freedom to follow.

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Faith and Finances, Reflections on Life

It’s only money

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I was meeting with my financial advisor over tea and chocolate chip cookies one afternoon a few years ago.  Jim was also a brother in Christ and a good friend, and we used to talk not only about investing but also about life.  During one conversation we talked about how to manage finances while keeping one’s heart free of worry.  I will never forget his comment :  “After all, it’s only money”.

How many financial advisors would tell you this?  Probably not many.  Yet Jim was right, and I’ve never forgotten these simple but powerful words.  Being a good steward (or manager) is a worthy undertaking, but in the end, when all is said and done, money is only money.   It is not God, and has no ultimate power over my life.

Psalm 112 is a tribute to those who have put their hope in God.

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.
Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely,
who conducts his affairs with justice.
Surely he will never be shaken;
a righteous man will be remembered forever.
He will have no fear of bad news;
his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.

I determined years ago that this is the kind of man I want to be – a generous man who trusts in God’s sufficiency and is therefore free enough to be gracious to others; a man whose heart is steadfast, with no fear of bad news, trusting the Lord.

I’ve had reason to remind myself of these things over the last couple of weeks.

Two days after Marion and I returned from our thirty-fifth anniversary road trip,  our son Reuben and his bride Jess borrowed our 2002 Toyota Highlander SUV for a road trip of their own.  The Highlander, although 9 years old, seemed to be in great shape and had been a reliable, trouble-free vehicle since we bought it last fall.  We were somewhat surprised to learn that the oil was quite low when we had it changed after our trip, but since we had never had problems with the engine, and had noticed no symptoms of burning oil, we agreed that it was probably OK for Reuben and Jess to go ahead with their trip.

Trouble began to surface on their second day.  The vehicle didn’t display any symptoms of burning oil, but they had to add a litre and a half of oil every day they were on the road.  Research revealed that 2001 and 2002 Highlanders had a history of developing problems with oil gelling.  At this point Reuben and Jess were in Thunder Bay, on their way to the West Coast, and they were getting concerned about crossing the Prairies.  By the time they had reached Winnipeg, we all reluctantly agreed that instead of continuing West, they would head south to Minnesota where our son Simeon lives with his wife and family.  They made it to Bloomington and the car went to the local Toyota dealership, where we learned that it would need a new engine.  Over a week later, they are still there, waiting for the repair to be completed.   So, Marion and I are dealing with a hefty financial hit, Reuben and Jess are dealing with disrupted honeymoon plans, and Simeon and Heather are dealing with much-loved guests who arrived a lot earlier than expected and have had to stay longer than anyone had counted on!

I have gone through a range of emotions and shifting concerns as I’ve processed these events.  I was briefly concerned about whether Simeon and Heather could handle an unplanned visit, but they rose to the occasion admirably.  My next concern was for Reuben and Jess, as it became clear that they would not be able to complete their planned trip to the West Coast.  At the same time, I was very grateful that they made it safely to Simeon and Heather’s place.  It’s not the Rockies – but it’s way better than being stranded!

Once we got the garage’s diagnosis and their estimate for the repair, my concern shifted to the financial impact of this situation.  As I began talking things through with Marion, we reviewed our options.  Should we have the SUV repaired in Minnesota?  Should we ask the dealer for a trade and get them home in a different vehicle?  We soon realized that having it repaired was our only option, since a US dealer cannot take a Canadian-owned vehicle in trade.  This was what we needed to do – but the price tag was high.

As I went to the Lord with my concern, He reminded me gently of Jim’s words : “It’s only money”.   It is so good to remember this.  Yes, we got an unexpected hit.  Yes, Reuben and Jess had their plans disrupted.  But in the end, these things do not need to define our lives.  How we respond – the spirit in which we choose to respond – that is what defines our lives.  I knew that I was able to respond with faith, because God is our provider and He is faithful.  So, my peace was restored.  Everything would be OK.

So we had a way forward.  The car would be fixed and Reuben and Jess would be able to continue their trip – no longer to the Coast, but at least they’d be able to get in a week and a half of camping before heading home.  Then we discovered that due to mistakes on the part of the dealership, the repair would not be completed on schedule.  The dealership had promised that they would have the SUV ready by last Friday, a week after they had first looked at the problem.  Now it appears it will not be ready until this coming Tuesday, four days later than promised.

When I first learned that there might be a further delay, I got mad. This wasn’t right!  I had been promised that  Reuben and Jess would have the car on Friday!  I left the service manager a voicemail message that was less than gracious.

Then I remembered that God loved this man.  I began asking the Lord for His heart and His perspective on this situation.  I heard back from the service manager – not once, but several times, even on his day off – who evidently felt very badly about the cascading delays which had been caused by several errors on the part of his staff, and offered to give us a discount (although the price tag was still going to be considerable).  In the end, I decided that although I might be able to justify tearing a strip out of him over these further delays, possibly leading to a further discount, God was giving me an opportunity to show him mercy so that I could speak to him about the kindness of Jesus and how He had shown mercy on me when I was far from Him.  This is what I plan to do when I talk with him one more time on Tuesday.  Compared to the eternal value of one man’s life, the cost of the engine repair is a small thing.

I have learned that as I go through life, things will happen that I cannot prevent or control, no matter how carefully I plan.  Life is full of upheavals of one sort and another that upset my carefully laid plans, sometimes in small ways and sometimes in large ones.   In fact, events that we cannot control are one of the main tools that God uses to call our hearts back to himself.  What we can control – by the grace of God – is our response to these situations.  These events have reminded me that when I anchor my hope in God’s promises, he can establish His peace in my heart, and give me the ability to respond with grace and mercy even when things seem to be going all wrong.

We forget sometimes that God has a bigger agenda than we do.  He has made us for glory, and we’re not going to get there without being changed.  If I need to take a financial hit to grow in faith, I’ll take it.  God is well able to replace the loss – after all, it’s only money.  Every time I choose the path of faith, hope and love in the midst of unexpected troubles, I am allowing God to develop my capacity to walk in His blessing and give it away, and He promises to reward me with an inheritance that, unlike money, lasts forever and can never lose its value.  Sounds like a good deal to me.

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Faith and Finances, Reflections on Life

What? Me, retire?

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Sometimes it hits me that I am actually getting older.

You too, eh?  Thought so.  The years fly by, and our lives rush past.  But what are we rushing towards?  Are we living with purpose, or just filling our lives with activity?

My oldest son will be thirty this year, and my daughter – the baby of the family – will soon be nineteen.  Two of my four children are now married, and Marion and I are looking forward to the birth of our second grandchild in June.  Each of our children has a clear sense of purpose and direction.  They have set their course in life.  Marion and I find that our responsibilities as parents are rapidly diminishing.  We are entering a new season of freedom.  This raises a question.  Assuming that God grants us good health and the Lord delays His return for a few years yet, what kind of life do we want to live in the interim?

This is a question that only people who are somewhat prosperous get to ask themselves.  Last Friday evening, Marion and I, along with maybe 30 other people, enjoyed an evening at Le Nordik Spa in beautiful Chelsea, just north of Gatineau, as guests of an investment company in which we are relatively small-scale participants.   We enjoyed the free drinks and hors d’oeuvres, and found the presentations informative.   We also enjoyed getting to know a delightful couple about our age who run a small resort near Plevna, Ontario. Like us, they are looking to divest themselves of some of their present responsibilities so that they can have more free time.

Our conversation with D. and H., however, revealed both similarities and differences in our approach to investing.  Like them, we have been self-employed for years, have no pension plan, and have relied on investments to provide for our future financial needs.  Like them, we look for investments with inherent value, investments that are based on something more substantial than just the mood swings of the marketplace.  However, unlike them, we don’t place our hope in even the best investments, because we know that our lives are a vapour, and all our plans are subject to God’s sovereign counsels.  In view of this, we place our hope in His faithfulness.

D. and H. told us that their reason for buying into this particular investment was so that they could sleep at night.  When I heard this, I realized that we were coming from a different perspective.   I shared my investment philosophy with them:  I try to pick investments that are fundamentally sound, and then once I’ve made my decision I make an intentional, conscious choice to leave the results in God’s hands.

As a result, I rarely have problems sleeping at night.  After all, in the end I’m not in control anyway.  If God sees fit to turn all my carefully-chosen investment targets belly-up, that is His perfect right.  He is God, after all.  He’ll just have to provide for me some other way – because He did promise that if I seek His Kingdom first, everything else I need will be provided for, one way or another.  So, why should I worry?  I do need to plan, as best I am able – that is my responsibility – but having done that, I need to put the plans in His hands and leave them there.  I’ve come to the conclusion that this is the only approach to investing that leaves me free to devote my time and energy to living for God instead of worrying about my future prospects.  One way or another, my future is with God.  In view of this, worrying about finances (or about anything else) is a total waste of time and energy.  It’s completely unproductive, and Jesus warned that if allowed to take root in a believer’s life it will make the Word of God unfruitful.

Let me be completely clear.  I have no apology for having funds to invest.  As a young man, I thought all capitalists were evil (conveniently overlooking the irony that some of those evil capitalists had helped me financially).  I have come to see that this view is much too simplistic.  Jesus counted both the poor and the wealthy among his followers, and he didn’t condemn those who were wealthy for being prosperous.  What mattered was where they placed their hope.  Our hope is the anchor of our lives; it determines how we live.  As a believer in Jesus, my hope is in the resurrection.  I am looking for a new heaven and earth, the home of righteousness.  I know that I am accountable to God for whatever I do with what He puts into my hands.  Some would say that if I believe this, I should just give it all away.  I used to think this way myself, but I’ve come to see that this is not the only faithful response to God’s gift of prosperity (for more on how my thinking changed about finances, click here).   Marion and I have come to believe that it is part of godly wisdom for us to seek out sound investments, with the goal of being completely financially free in our older age, so that we are able to be a blessing rather than a burden to our children, and so that we are free to serve the Lord with the years that remain to us.

But here again, I find that my vision differs from that of many investors.  Money truly is not all that important to me.  It is really only a means to an end.  Financial freedom allows Marion and I to decide how to use our time.  We are already much closer to this goal than we were a few years ago, and I am enjoying the flexibility of being in a form of business that allows me to take increasing amounts of time off without leaving the business entirely.  I am sure that I will not find it difficult to fill this extra free time.  Most of my friends who are already fully retired tell me that they have plenty to do.  So I have no concerns at all about finding ways of filling my time.

My concern lies in a different direction.  I don’t just want to fill time, I want to fill it well.  Leisure time, after all, is a form of wealth.  It is a trust from God.  What is the point of being financially free if I waste my freedom on living for myself, with no higher goal than satisfying my own desires and whims?  What a waste of all life’s hard-won lessons!  That kind of life is not worthy of the one who gave His life for me, and it will bring nothing but shame and regret when I stand before God’s judgment seat.

Financial freedom is a perfectly valid goal for a disciple of Jesus – but only if I use my freedom to serve others.  Jesus has set me free from the control of sin so that I can bear fruit for Him.  I am so thankful for God’s mercy and goodness that if He grants me financial freedom, I want to use the opportunities that He gives me to be as fruitful as possible.

So, what will Marion and I do as we move closer to financial freedom?  To maintain our health we’ll undoubtedly live at a somewhat slower pace than we did when we were in our thirties, but our intent is to devote our time and energy – and as much of our annual income as we are able – to making disciples and proclaiming the Kingdom of God.  Of course, we’ll also take time to enjoy our relationships with our children and grandchildren – after all, God is a God of relationships, and the family is one of the fields of ministry in which He has called us to be stewards.  We will probably also be looking for opportunities to do some travelling.  But because we just aren’t wired to live a life of perpetual leisure, we will be looking for travel opportunities that allow us to use our gifts to strengthen the people of God and serve the needy.

I’m not looking forward to retirement.  How boring!  I was made for the glory of God, so I intend to live out my years seeking His Kingdom and living for His glory.  No, I’m not looking forward to retirement.  I’m looking forward to being redeployed.

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Basic Principles, Faith and Finances, Reflections on Life

Jesus’ investment advice

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It was the spring of 1998, and I was 45 years old.  After having spent almost 20 years of my life either pastoring or planting churches, my life had recently taken a radical shift.  I was fresh out of school again, a rookie in my new line of work as an Oracle application developer (see Life in the Hallway).  I was also a new homeowner, after having spent most of my adult life in either church-owned or rented properties.  Marion and I had recently moved with our four children from the city to the country, at the invitation of a couple from our church, to partner with them in planting a cell-based church in the village where they lived.  So I had a new job and new house, was living in a new community, adjusting to a new lifestyle, developing new relationships, attempting to walk in a new model of ministry, and learning to think in new ways.

I hadn’t been finding the transition an easy one.  I was on a steep learning curve at work.  Marion and I were missing our friends from our church in the city.  The adjustment to country living had its challenging moments.  To top it all off, we were stretched financially.  Although having a real job had meant a significant increase in income, buying a house in the country and commuting to work in the city meant our expenses had also increased significantly.  We were home-schooling, so there wasn’t a second income.  We weren’t in debt apart from our mortgage, and we were pretty good about staying within our budget, but our car was ageing and there were many things that needed doing around our house.   We always had money for groceries and the bills always got paid, but things were tight.

As a young pastor, I had been somewhat conflicted about money.  I knew that money had its uses, and enjoyed the generosity of the more prosperous among our church members.  At the same time, I saw the prosperity gospel as a front for American materialism, and believed that to be a rich Christian had to be some kind of contradiction.  After all, hadn’t Jesus said that we should avoid storing up treasures on earth?  From 1991-1997 our family had lived on a very low income, first as church planters and then during my year at business college, and we had been content.  Why couldn’t others be like us?  To be honest, I think I felt very virtuous in my insistence that money really wasn’t all that important to me.  This, of course, was pride – but I wasn’t ready to admit this to myself just yet.  Other people might be self-righteous, proud and hypocritical, but not me.  I was much too spiritual for that.

But some cracks were starting to form in the fortress of my beliefs about money.  I had been getting some teaching on finances from my new friend Brian Sauder, who was giving apostolic oversight to our church-planting efforts.  He was teaching that God wanted his people to prosper, both because He is good and also so that we could have the necessary tools to do the work of the Kingdom.  I was starting to see a bigger picture and was beginning to think that maybe I hadn’t been right about everything after all.

Brian didn’t fit my stereotype of a prosperity preacher.  He didn’t wear a gold Rolex, an expensive Italian suit or crocodile shoes.  He didn’t have his own TV show, and he didn’t send out letters promising answers to prayer if we purchased his special anointing oil or prayer cloths.  He didn’t promote his own ministry, and he wasn’t out to sell me anything.  Instead he spent time in our home, got to know my wife and kids, gave us practical encouragement, shared Biblical wisdom honed in the school of experience, and genuinely cared about how we were doing.  He was a very down-to-earth, believable guy – a man of integrity.

More than that, his teaching on the topic of finances was having an impact.  I liked what I was hearing!  Still, I had some concerns to work through.  One beautiful spring day, I was on a break at work and I went for a walk to clear my head.  My office was on a military base that had recently been shut down, so there was lots of open space and it was easy to be alone.  While I was walking, I was crying out to God for his help with the various pressures I was experiencing, and I heard the voice of the Lord speaking to my spirit.  I say “heard” because I really did hear very distinct words, although not with my physical ears.  I was pretty sure this message had to be from God.  Not only was it consistent with Biblical truth, I also recognized that it could not have arisen from my own mind because it was totally contrary to my feelings, my expectations and my natural mindset and ways of thinking.

The words that I heard in my spirit were these :
        I intend to prosper you, first in the natural and then in the spiritual.

This message had the unmistakeable ring of truth.  I knew Jesus’ promise that His sheep could recognize the difference between His voice and the voice of a stranger.  From years of listening to the Lord I did not think I had been hearing the voice of a stranger.  Still, I needed to test this.  Was I deceiving myself?  Was this wishful thinking?  I asked Father if this was really His voice that I was hearing.  Didn’t Jesus say that it was hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God?  What about that?  Well, He assured me, it is hard but not impossible.  It’s hard, not because wealth is evil, but because our hearts are prone to fall into the deception that we don’t need God, and wealth makes this illusion easier to maintain – at least for a time.

As I continued to dialogue with the Lord, I sensed Him telling me that because Marion and I had made his Kingdom the goal of our lives, He could trust us with financial prosperity.  This, I recognized, was consistent with Jesus’ words of assurance to his disciples, as recorded in the gospel of Matthew and beautifully paraphrased by Eugene Peterson:

If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.  (Matthew 6:30-33 MSG)

That day, a big chink came out of the wall of the fortress of poverty thinking.  I knew that I was being changed.  My whole outlook on finances – indeed, on life – was in the process of being transformed.

I still recognize that our hearts can be deceived by wealth, as they can by any addictive substance.  I take Jesus’ warnings seriously, but I now realize that the real issue is not wealth or poverty, but Lordship.  If my allegiance is to Jesus, and I have learned to value and walk in the freedom that He promises to the children of God, then I can handle prosperity without being corrupted by it, and I can use it to bless many and to do the works of the Kingdom of God.  One of the ways of testing ourselves on this point is to ask ourselves whether there is anything that we couldn’t let go if Jesus asked us to.  He always gives back more than He asks of us!

So what about the title of this post?  Does Jesus give investment advice?

Yes he does.  It’s very simple.  Sow your seed boldly and courageously! Everything that is in your hands has been entrusted to you by the King.  It’s his, not yours – you are a steward, not an owner.  The owner, however, is generous and will reward those who are faithful.  Don’t let fear drive you to dig a hole and bury your wealth – natural or spiritual – in case something goes wrong.  Because you know His character, don’t hesitate to invest everything you have in His enterprises, and expect Him to bring an increase.  Be willing to take risks for the sake of the King, trusting that He wants to bless you.  (See the Parable of the Talents, Matthew 25:14-30)

That doesn’t mean I ought to take stupid, uncalculated risks.  Jesus also told his disciples not to build on sand, and to count the cost before embarking on any enterprise.  Although he applied these lessons to the Kingdom of God, he knew their natural meaning.  Stupidity doesn’t make us better disciples; planning wisely can be an expression of God-honouring faith.  Having said all that, I have come to see that my Father wants confident, bold sons and daughters who are not paralyzed by fear, but are willing to take risks – even if some of those risks don’t work out exactly as we expect.  This mindset is a key to Kingdom living, and is as true in the financial area as in other areas of life.

On that spring morning in 1998, I desperately needed to hear the voice of the Lord telling me to prosper, because up til then, even though I had stepped out in faith many times, I had also often been dogged by a nagging fear of failure, and deep down I found it hard to believe that God really wanted to bless me.  Since then, many things have changed in my life.  God has indeed prospered me financially and spiritually. More than anything else, it is my view of God that has changed.  I now realize that since I am a child of God, forgiven and cleansed because of the shed blood of Jesus, my Father delights to bless me and wants to see me succeed.  He delights to fill me with His Spirit so that I can do the works of God.  Why would he not also give me all good things – including financial prosperity?  At the same time, prosperity, like healing or any other form of blessing, is a secondary goal, not a primary one.  So, my focus is not to be on these secondary blessings but on the Giver of all good gifts.  This is the battle that I need to fight daily : to keep my gaze fixed on God, His goodness and His priorities, and to boldly invest and cheerfully give out what He has freely supplied.  If I do that, He promises to richly supply me over and above what I need for every good work.

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Basic Principles, Faith and Finances, Reflections on Life

Money – blessing or curse?

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Someone once asked John D. Rockefeller, a multi-millionaire industrialist of a past generation, how much wealth was enough.  His famous reply? “Just a little bit more.” In his day, Rockefeller was one of the richest men on earth. He was also one of the most generous, believing strongly that he had a responsibility to use wealth to improve the lives of others.

By contrast, I recently read a news piece about Karl Rabeder, an Austrian millionaire who is currently in the process of giving away most of his fortune.  He plans to use the proceeds to finance a microcredit charity (see Leaving an Imprint – January 6).  He has taken this radical step after coming to the realization that money could not make him happy.  Having grown up in a poor family, and having spent most of his lifetime striving for wealth, Rabeder says he is now finding peace and genuine satisfaction through giving away his wealth to others, living very simply and renouncing luxury.

Rockefeller was a Christian and his views on wealth and its proper uses were motivated by Christian convictions. I have no idea whether Rabeder is a Christian, but his decision to renounce wealth and give most of his substance to the poor is consistent with some interpretations of Christian obedience. Taken together, the actions and viewpoints of these two wealthy men highlight an issue that has always posed a dilemma for those who seek to follow Jesus.  What is the proper attitude of the Christ follower towards wealth and property? Should we seek wealth, as Rockefeller did, or renounce it as Rabeder has done and is doing?

Attitudes towards money vary widely. Sadly, like the man in Jesus’ parable who built bigger and bigger barns but was not rich toward God, many make the pursuit of financial security the major goal of their lives. Others, reacting to the evils caused by greed, conclude that money and the pursuit of wealth are inherently evil. Ironically, however, it is often wealth gained through business that ends up being used to finance works of charity – as in the case of both Rockefeller’s and Rabeder’s fortunes.

There is no Biblical support for the claim that money in itself is impure or evil, or that the wealthy are wicked by definition – nor did Rabeder make any such claim when he decided to give up his fortune. What the Bible actually teaches on this subject is not that money is evil, or a source of evil, but that the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. This observation is not actually a statement about money at all, but rather about the human heart. The Bible speaks in very positive terms of those who walk uprightly, gain their wealth honestly and use it to bless others, and in very negative terms about those who gain wealth by oppression or unrighteousness or who place their ultimate hope in their riches.

One of the ironies of life is that you can be in financial bondage whether you are rich or poor. Some are in slavery to poverty, some in slavery to wealth. Some reject all wealth as evil, others are addicted to it.  Some fear poverty because they are afraid for their own survival and that of their children; others fear prosperity because they are afraid it will corrupt them.  Strange as it may seem, both these maladies stem from the same root.  They are the work of a spiritual power that feeds our minds with lies,  tempting us to assign ultimate power to a created thing rather than to God, thereby diverting us from walking in faith and love.

When I was a young man I had a very one-sided view of this issue.  I knew the words of Jesus about not serving two masters, and was famliar with his instruction to the rich young man to give away all his possessions to the poor.  I saw the dangers of materialism, and saw the church of my upbringing as hypocritical, filled with middle class people who from my perspective had given their lives to the pursuit of Mammon.  I did not yet see how judgmental I was, or how dependent on the generosity of those who were more prosperous than I.  More recently I have come to see that prosperity can be used in the service of the Kingdom of God, and that while Jesus warned against the dangers of pursuing wealth as a primary goal in life, he was quite willing to accept financial support from those who worked for wealthy people.  The key to a right understanding of wealth, I now see, is a Biblical view of stewardship.  If God has entrusted wealth to me, I am not the owner but the steward, and I am accountable to Him for what I do with whatever He has entrusted to me. Wealth is a tool which can be used to accomplish much good – but only if we first settle the issue of Lordship and decide who will have our primary allegiance.  In Jesus’ words, No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.  In other words, you can only have one Lord, not two – or three or four.

When we believe the lie that our lives are controlled by money, or wealth, we make money into a god, and submit to the control of the principality, or spiritual power, that Jesus called Mammon.  If you think this doesn’t apply to you, consider how many times you have said that you would do thus-and-so if only you had the money. Consider also how much of your energy goes to getting more wealth than you have, and how much of your hope is fixed on things that money can buy. Yes, God can use financial plenty and financial lack to open and close doors, but often we live as though our primary allegiance is to Mammon, and the true God has to get Mammon’s approval before we can step out in faith – rather than the other way around. Jesus, on the other hand, lived in a culture where needs were great and wealth was comparitively more scarce than it is in North America today, yet he never acted or spoke as though provision were lacking for any undertaking that his Father had ordained. To use a phrase that I first learned from my friend Brian Sauder, Jesus had a prosperous soul – he believed that Father’s provision for him would always be more than enough, and he lived in confident expectation of that provision. This is Biblical prosperity – staying in the center of Father’s will, and living our lives as though His provision will always be more than enough.

There is nothing wrong with having an abundance.  There is also no sin in being poor. The key to staying blessed in both sets of circumstances is to recognize the Lordship of Jesus – to recognize that God is the owner, everything comes to us from His hand and we are his stewards. The only way to freedom is to give control of our finances to the One who is the only rightful Lord of everything in our lives, including our finances, place our trust in His goodness, and let His word renew our minds with regard to wealth and finances. This act of surrender may or may not result in a change in our financial circumstances, but it will certainly result in a change in our attitude towards wealth and property. In the early church in the Book of Acts, no-one said that anything he had belonged to him.  This is a key insight.  Jesus said that if we seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, everything else we need will be provided for us. He also told us to be content and to give generously. Giving control to Jesus means learning to live our lives by the values of the Kingdom, not the values of the world system.

I have learned to fear neither prosperity nor poverty. Due to a ministry commitment, for several years when our children were young Marion and I lived in relative poverty (at least by Canadian standards) and we found that these were good years in the life of our family – years when we grew in faith and experienced much blessing. We have now come into a much greater level of financial abundance, and have discovered that it is a tremendous blessing to be able to do for others what many did for us during the years when our income was more limited. I have also discovered that no matter how prosperous we may be, we always tend to make commitments in accordance with our wealth – so a wealthy man is just as dependent on a constant flow of provision as a poor man. This posture of dependency and humility coupled with confident expectation is a good posture for a believer – it is a posture that allows us to walk in freedom, faith and joy with regard to finances.

My church is currently in a financial crisis. I believe this financial crisis is the result of a crisis of vision, and that God is dealing with us sovereignly to bring us back to where He wants us to be. There is no lack with God. If we respond to him in faith and obedience, there will always be more than enough to do what He wants to do in and through us. Consequently I am not worried about this crisis. Of course this circumstance has created some pressure, but pressure is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be one of God’s choice instruments to purify our hearts and bring us to a place of greater surrender, greater obedience and greater faith. Yes, God is capable of providing in abundance, but there are conditions on receiving and walking in that abundance. Increasingly, when it comes to finances, my own prayer is for wisdom to steward well what God has entrusted to me, and a faithful heart that will rightly discern and respond to what He wants to do with what He has placed in my hands.  In the end, nothing else brings any lasting satisfaction.

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