Two Bucks of Blessing
“I want to bless you. There is one caveat: you cannot spend this. You may keep it as a reminder of how He blesses, or you may give it away to another to bless them.”
A woman sat down next to me at the leadership meeting. Immediately we clicked. Her warmth, enthusiasm, and obvious leadership experience told me this was going to be a good day. When lunchtime came we found seats by ourselves as the remainder of the group filled up the nearby tables. We began discussing the morning’s speakers, our takeaways, and then our stories.
She spoke of nearly 70 years of career accomplishments, family highlights, and a strong emphasis on her faith. After that she began telling me about the impact of scripture on her, particularly the wisdom books. She continued to talk about the vision for empowering others through the words of scripture. The details about open doors, ah-h moments, and the sense of God’s tailwind carried us through Texas barbecue and way into the afternoon program. The lunch tables filled, and emptied as we sat there.
We finally headed for the parking lot nearly two hours later. She stopped me and said, “You have blessed me by listening. You allowed me to talk through some of the cloudy places in my dream. I want to bless you.” She opened her purse and pulled out a stack of crisp, new bills. Feeling very embarrassed I protested. Then she handed me a brand new $2.00 bill.
“I keep these with me all the time. When I am blessed by the Lord through someone I give them one. It isn’t a tip, it is my way of saying, ‘thank you for being used by God to bless me.”
Her admonition followed about the way to use it. I will keep that $2.00 bill as a sweet reminder of the precious time on a day when nothing like that was expected. And even more, it will prompt me to thank others for blessing me.
That bill touched a deep place in my heart. When I was young my widowed paternal Grandmother with very few financial resources would send each of her numerous grandchildren a birthday card with a $2.00 bill enclosed. As a child I thought little of it – I discounted the value of such a small amount. But as I grew older I knew it was treasure because it was the “widow’s mite” indeed. She blessed me.
Prayer Network
by Brenda A. Smith, BWFLI.com, BreakfastWithFred.com
“Put on the truth belt.”
The King James Version tells us to “gird our loins with truth.” Current culture tells us to go with your gut and follow your feelings. The Bible tells us to adhere to His truth. In a world that rewards relativism abhors God’s absolutism, we are called to pray diligently for our friends and co-laborers in Christ who serve in Christian higher education. Beating at our door are the philosophies of godlessness, but they are standing steadfast on the Word.
Remember to rejoice with them when they demonstrate academic, athletic, and spiritual excellence. Write to them when you can, and support them financially. Lift up each and every member of the administration, staff, faculty, and student body. Pray for strength and protection giving thanks to God for their work.
And be sure and pray for them to “guard their guts” as they live in a world that denies God’s truth and wants them to substitute false values, hopes, and behavior.
Faithfulness in the Little Things
by Bob Deffinbaugh, Bible.org, BWFLI.com
42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. 43 Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:42-44, NAU).
10 “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. 11 “Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? (Luke 16:10-11).
It sounds like an easy out:
“I don’t have much time. . .”
“I don’t have much money. . .”
“I don’t have much experience. . .”
I am continually impressed by the way God delights to take something small and insignificant (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-27) and make something great out of it. Let us pray that our students will not find their limited resources as an excuse not to serve, but will look to God to use that which is seemingly insignificant to do great things.
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Thinking Clearly About God
Weekly Thought – March 21, 2023
Fred would often say “there’s magic in believing if you don’t believe in magic.” He firmly believed in the power of the Spirit, but he did not support superstition and what he called “over spiritualizing.” In a speech given forty years ago he gave illustrations of healthy, mature thinking about God’s direction in our lives.
Thinking Clearly About God
After I spoke at the Reformed Seminary one of the students said to me, “Mr. Smith, God’s got me just where He wants me.” When I asked him where that was he answered, “Broke.” I told him my wife and I have a son and I would feel very disappointed if he said I had him just where I wanted him when he was broke. I don’t really see that as the proper image of a heavenly Father.
I think I told you of the lawyer who came to see me about five years after becoming a Christian. He said, “God is disciplining me. I became a Christian and decided to make my practice of law a ministry rather than a profession and so I have been letting Christians pay me what they felt I was worth.” I replied, “You’re broke, aren’t you?” He was surprised at my response. I told him the Lord wasn’t disciplining him – “you are suffering the consequences of your own stupidity.” Then I gave him $2500 to pay his bills. He went back into the practice of law as a professional and grew a successful firm. He had spiritualized a bad decision.
I believe problems should be analyzed. I don’t believe we should over spiritualize but understand the concept of cause and effect. While I do not think the problem should be spiritualized. I am going to surprise you and say I do feel the answer should be.
Let me give you four examples of spiritualizing correctly. The key is letting faith do these four:
1) Create a positive environment in which you feel the problem can be solved. I have never found an answer that I didn’t believe had a solution.
2) Faith gives us concentration, and we can’t reach our potential until we concentrate;
3) Faith gives us energy, for it is so much easier to work with a problem you feel you can solve than one you can’t.
4) Faith affects our attitude. It lets us accept winning or losing with equilibrium after we have done our best.
To me, spiritualizing the answer isn’t making up some spooky ritual or strange way of thinking, but it is bringing into our solutions the divine help which is available to us through the Spirit. It is not asking for miracles or devising irrational ways of thinking but asking for His divine presence in the process.
This week think about: 1) How careful am I to keep my mind disciplined to avoid wrong views of God? 2) What is my process for finding answers? 3) What role does spiritual help play in decision making?
Words of Wisdom: “I don’t believe we should over spiritualize but understand the concept of cause and effect.”
Wisdom from the Word: “Yes, I find delight in your rules; they give me guidance.” (Psalm 119:24 NET Bible)