Nancy Wilson's Blog, page 10

The Blessing of Stuff

The most obvious area of stewardship is our finances and resources. This is what people are usually talking about when they refer to stewardship, and the Bible is full of directions regarding our money. I’d like to simply take one section of Scripture and makes some applications about stewarding our money.

“Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:17-19).

1. The first point is that we are rich in this present age. We have incredible wealth, especially if you compare what we have to the rest of the world. We sometimes do not feel very rich because we see the mounting bills, and we’re stretched to make the money go the distance. But when it comes to luxuries like indoor plumbing (hot and cold), grocery stores with every possible choice for us, entertainment at our fingertips, multiple means of travel, and modern medicine (just to name a few), I hope you’ll see my point. We are blessed.I am not saying there are no poor in our country. But of those reading this blog post, I’m just saying, if you have access to a computer, you are probably what most of the world would call rich.

2. So we ought not be haughty. Who gave us all these blessings? They are gifts of grace and not anything we deserve for being good people. God is to be thanked, and we are to not look down on those with little. Far from it.

3. We should never trust in our riches, our houses, our possessions.  Why? Because these things are uncertain. They can vanish in a heartbeat, and so can we. This means we have to keep the right perspective on all our stuff. We are to be thankful for it all, but never presumptive. We have these things at our disposal right now, so we should be eager to turn a profit on them, making good investments, using it all in a manner that will please our good God. But if we start trusting in our bank accounts and not in God, planning our future based on our retirement plan and not in God’s faithfulness, then we need to make a heart adjustment. We must trust in God and nothing else, because nothing else is trustworthy, least of all riches.

4. However, notice that God “gives us richly all things to enjoy.” He is not a scrooge. We should imitate Him in how He gives to us. He is lavishing His love on us richly, and we ought to enjoy it. This means no guilt. If God has blessed you with more than your neighbor, enjoy it and bless God. If God has blessed you with less than your neighbor, enjoy that he has more and bless God. Enjoy what you have! I think this means have fun with your money, and a big chunk of that fun comes with bestowing it creatively on others. Serve God wholeheartedly with your money because He has given you all this stuff, and He wants to see you enjoying it all before Him.

5. Our riches are given to us for doing good. The tithe is the minimum of our giving. I have heard people say they don’t make enough to tithe and others say they make too much to tithe. It doesn’t matter what your income, give God ten percent as a way of demonstrating that He really owns it all. He has loaned all this stuff to you and He wants to see what you will do with it. Hoard it? Squander it? No, that’s what the pagans do. Spread it. Matthew Henry quotes a man as saying that money is like manure, good for nothing in the heap, but it must be spread. Heaping it together does good for no one, and it stinks.

6. We are to be ready to give. If we are going to make a mistake with our money, let it be giving too much rather than giving too little. God loves a cheerful giver. “Freely you have received, freely give” (Mt. 10:8). How do you react when you receive an unexpected financial gift? Happily? Then give the same way.

5. We are to be willing to share. Even when we don’t think we have enough. God will enlarge our capacity to give and share. “The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself” (Prov. 11:25). Sharing may include your stuff and not just your money. Use your home, your car, all your stuff in a way that honors God and doesn’t worship the stuff. Your stuff may get beat up or scratched or destroyed. Let it go. God has more where that came from.

7. God watches what we are doing with our riches. When we are using them wisely, He says we are storing up a good foundation for the time to come. This is the real bank account. This is the one we will wish we had put more into when we get to “the time to come.”

Finally, a few other practical thoughts. Don’t try to buy affection by giving, whether it is stuff for the kids or grandkids or stuff for friends or stuff for your pastor. Give it to God first, then give your gifts with no strings. Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. So what if you can’t get a tax-deductible receipt if you give your money to someone needy in the church. Don’t let that stop you. Remember that God is putting it in your account. It’s not about your taxes, though it’s tempting to think it is.

“He who has a generous eye will be blessed” (Prov. 22:9). This is the man who has an eye out for his opportunities, looking for ways to be generous. When we live this way, it is hard to trust in our riches and much easier to do good with them.

 

The Lord’s Business

Jesus’ famous parable of the talents (Matthew3 25:14-30) is an obvious place to start when talking about stewarding our gifts (or talents). And the obvious application is that God gives us gifts and abilities (some one, some ten), and He expects us to turn a profit on these gifts. They are not the kind of gifts that should sit on the mantel for display. In the parable they are called talents because that was an actual unit of currency at the time. Talents are money. In fact, our word talent comes from the Greek word for money.

Much has been said about how to determine what your spiritual gift is, and it’s possible to stall out right there and never get around to using our gifts because we can’t figure out what they are. But think of the money metaphor again. What ever you’ve got, even if it’s loose pocket change, get going on turning a profit. Move forward by faith.

God has bestowed a gift on each believer, and the purpose of these gifts is to “minister it to one another, as good stewards” (1 Peter 4:10). We are not to let our gifts tarnish in the drawer, but we are to be handling them, industriously using them, blessing others by means of them. Matthew Henry said, “These gifts improve by exercise, and brighten by being used.”  We use our gifts and talents for God’s glory and for the good of others, not for ourselves. But the gifts are like perishable food, and if they sit idle, they will rot.

We are called to be “about the Lord’s business” (Matthew Henry again) and “the more we do for God, the more we are indebted to Him for making use of us, and enabling us, for his service.” In other words, it is more blessed to give than receive. As we use our gifts for others, we are doing good to our own souls.

“Stir one another up to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24). “Stir up the gift of God which is in you” (2 Tim. 1:6). Why do we need so much stirring and prompting? If we have gifts, why are we not always eager to invest them and anticipate a big return? I think we are reluctant because of fearfulness. We might be afraid of success. We might be afraid of failure. Maybe using our gifts and talents will take us right out of our comfort zone. So we bury our talent. We hide our light under a bushel.

The lord in the parable was not pleased with the servant who hid the talent. He was called “wicked and lazy” (vs. 26). It sounds so much better to say we are shy or nervous or “not good at it” than to admit that we are wicked and lazy! The man who buried the talent said, “I was afraid” (vs. 25). But we must remember who spoke this parable. Jesus is the One who called him wicked and lazy. So that’s what’s really at the bottom of our fears after all.

So what kind of gifts and talents do we women, what ever our age, have that we can minister to others? And who are the “others” we are to invest our talents in?

 

I love that God always lays our duties out right in front of our eyes. He does not play tricks on us, but makes things plain. Do you have abilities? Can you cook or quilt or garden or write or teach or visit a widow or care for the sick? Can you write a note of encouragement or offer counsel? Are the little kids in your neighborhood at your front door asking for a drink of water?  Spend some talents. Invest lavishly. Be generous.

Who is right in front of you? Your family is nearest, then your friends and the church community, your neighbors, the unbelievers. You work your way from the center outward. As you use your gifts, God increases your confidence and skill, and gives you more opportunities to use them. Don’t start with those farthest away, though it may sound more glamorous or more “godly.” Start with those right in front of you. They may be the least glamorous, but ministering to them is far more pleasing to God than looking elsewhere. Don’t serve discontentedly. “Be hospitable without grumbling” (1 Pet. 4:9). It turns out this is the verse right before the verse I  quoted above (vs. 10). We need to be reminded that serving God is using our hands and gifts in very mundane ways with mundane temptations.

You have talents. What do you do well? Look for opportunities to use your gifts and abilities for the benefit of others. Invest them in people.But what if I look stupid? What if they don’t like the meal I prepared? What if my hospitality isn’t picture perfect? What if I am too shy to invite a stranger home? What if I make a mistake? I’m too old. I’m too young.

These fears and doubts should not succeed in stopping you from using your gifts. You will learn from your mistakes and get better at it. Remember, it’s not really about you, but about the others you are ministering to. Just because you have a gift does not mean you are perfect. You have to be willing to take a risk if you are going to invest your talents. Sometimes you will belly flop. Do you think all the great preachers felt good about every sermon they preached? Did one ever make a mistake or stick his foot in his mouth? They were human after all.

If we use the talents He gives us, He will give us more. If we squander what we are given, He will take away even the little we have. We render our talents, enterprises, and offerings to the Lord. When we use our gift to minister to one another, we are putting our labors on the altar.

So stir yourself up. Be about the Lord’s business.

 

 

 

 

 

Good Days

What does it mean to be a good steward? In fact what is stewardship? I found this definition: “Stewardship is the responsibility to manage all the resources of life for the glory of God, acknowledging God as provider.” I would add that a godly stewardship looks to turn a profit (thirty, sixty or a hundred fold). This profit will prosper my own soul, and it will bring a blessing to those things (or people) for which I am responsible.

1 Peter 4:10 says that we are to be “good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” 1 Cor. 4:1 refers to “good stewards of the mysteries of God.” The next verse says, “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” So we can see from these verses that a steward should be good and a steward should be faithful.

What are these “resources of life” we’ve been given? These are the categories I’d like to consider over the next few posts: our time, our talents and gifts, our resources, our relationships, our afflictions, and our blessings.

Let’s begin with time, that daily gift of grace. How do we steward our time?  We all want to “love life and see good days.” How do we do it? What’s the secret to loving your life and seeing good days? Can you imagine the many answers the world might have to this question?

But 1 Peter 3:10-12 says “He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.” In other words, the short answer is this. Want to enjoy life? Then watch your mouth.

Being a good steward of our time means watching our words, whether written or spoken, and we should even watch the unspoken ones.

Time is something we are to use, enjoy, share, and steward. Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days that we might apply our hearts to wisdom.” We can’t count backwards. We don’t know how many days we have left in this life. I think numbering our days is counting forward, looking at the Lord’s Day as the foundation of each week and orienting our lives around God’s worship. We number our days, Sunday to Sunday. We apply wisdom. As we worship God, we are fulfilling our purpose. He created us to worship and enjoy Him, and the Lord’s Day is the perfect beginning to another week of stewarding His gifts to us.

We creatures can manufacture a skewed idea of how God wants us spending our time. We may feel guilty because we don’t think we got anything done today. We have nothing to show for it. And yet it may have been one of our most fruitful days ever. We may have been feeding children, reading stories, wiping away tears and runny noses, cleaning up messes, and making a big pot of mac and cheese. What a glorious day! But from our perspective, we didn’t get anything done. To see it from God’s perspective is to apply our hearts to wisdom. What resources did He bestow on you? Toddlers? And how did you manage those resources today? Did you turn a profit?

Finally, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 is the beautiful poem about time: “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” Our time is in God’s hands. We should embrace each phase of our life, loving our life and seeing good days: the young years, the middle years, and old age. We should not be sentimental about time, but see each season as a gift with its own glories. Ecclesiastes 7:10 says, “Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.” The glory days are now, not ten years behind or five years ahead.

God’s time management program of loving life and seeing good days means speaking the truth, worshiping God, believing in His purposes and plans, and glorying in each season with wisdom.

 

True Beauty

I’m so pleased that Carolyn Mahaney and Nicole Whitacre have tackled the subject of true beauty, a topic we need to think and learn about from a Christian perspective, particularly in our beauty-crazed, beauty-obsessed age. The world is always trying to press women into its mold, particularly on this point, and this book helps us think about beauty in a completely different way. True Beauty is for all women, no matter what your calling or age.  You can buy it here.

re:flect-I

I’d like to introduce you to a new blog called re: flect-I that some of the women at Christ the Word Church in Toledo, Ohio have started. Here’s what they say about it: “re: flect-I is an unusual name, isn’t it?  It was created because of our desire to reflect our heavenly Father more and more as He conforms us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.“

Faithful Waiting

Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord! (Ps. 27:14)

My Bible has a note that says wait in faith; “In the midst of present trouble, do not give up; give God time to answer.”

Waiting is a spiritual discipline. We pray, we lay out our requests, we ask for deliverance, and then we wait. And wait. And wait. To wait means to stay put, to look forward with a definite end or purpose in mind. We keep it in the forefront of our mind. We don’t forget and we don’t change the subject.

Waiting is not something that the flesh does easily. We want to see it now. We want quick answers and instant results so we can move on. But the Scripture is full of verses about waiting. And waiting some more.

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him” (Ps. 37:7).

“And I will wait on the Lord, who hides His face from the house of Jacob; and I will hope in Him” (Isaiah 8:17).

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

Matthew Henry says, “They shall press forward, forward towards heaven. They shall walk, they shall run, the way of God’s commandments, cheerfully and with alacrity (they shall not be weary), constantly and with perseverance (they shall not faint); and therefore in due season they shall reap.”

“I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry” (Ps. 40:1).

“It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lam. 3:26).

Just from these few verses we can see that we must rest as we wait, hope while we wait, be quiet while we wait, and wait patiently. How many of us are good at waiting? How many of us wait quietly, patiently, and hopefully? Or are we tapping our foot, watching the clock (or the calendar), and grumbling about how long this is taking?

Waiting on the Lord bears good fruit in us. Waiting results in renewal and fresh strength. Faithful waiting is watching expectantly, looking for the Lord to come with His answer any minute. Faithful watching keeps on waiting, knowing that the waiting on the Lord is a good thing in itself. And waiting for the Lord is a means of getting His attention.

“I’m still here Lord. I’m still asking, watching, waiting patiently for You to act.”

When we start to give up waiting, our hearts get hard. We become weak and weary. But the act of waiting in faith strengthens our faith. Then we can say with confidence, “Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me” (Micah 7:7).

 

 

Reading For Fat Souls

One of the comments on the last post asked me about my favorite Puritan writers, so I have taken a short, very non-intimidating pile off my shelf and stacked them here for you to browse.

On the top is my red leather edition of The Loveliness of Christ. I  have an older copy that Diane Garaway gave me a few years back, but it sits with some of our other old book treasures on top of the piano. This edition is in my bedside table. Samuel Rutherford was a 17th century Scottish pastor, one of the Westminster divines, who was expelled from his church and forbidden to preach any where in Scotland (which tells you right off that he was a powerful preacher). This little book contains excerpts from his many pastoral letters.

Next is The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs. This is a well worn copy and has seen me through at least four book studies with the women in our church. It is a treasure, full of solid, biblical teaching on attaining contentment.

Then you see All Things for Good by Thomas Watson. This book, combined with the book on contentment, has blessed me immeasurably. I truly thank God for these men and their sermons that have been preserved for us.

A few other Watson titles that I have used for book studies are in the stack: The Godly Man’s Picture, The Art of Divine Contentment, Harmless as Doves, Religion Our True Interest, and Heaven Taken By Storm. I see now that I got The Art of Divine Contentment in twice, once in paperback and once in hardback. It is that good. Read it twice. It is a toss up which book on contentment I prefer. They are both fantastic.

Finally, just so I don’t wear you out, is The Quest for Meekness and Quietness of Spirit, by Matthew Henry. He is a wonderful writer, and I love his commentary on the Bible. Wish I could read the whole thing (it’s large). But this book on a meek spirit is short and excellent. As he says, there is much provocation in this world, so we might just as well learn how to take it without getting our feathers ruffled. Well, he actually says it much better than that.

Temporary Grief

A couple of weeks ago Doug and I flew down to California to see and say goodbye to our friend and my co-nana Diane Garaway. She had been diagnosed with cancer last October, shortly after a visit here to see Nate and Heather and her grandkids. She scheduled many of her visits around our conferences, so this last visit she had set up her booktable at the Grace Agenda Conference. Over those few days she wasn’t feeling very good, but she spent many hours on her feet, always with a smile, chatting with folks about the many beautiful C.S. Lewis and Tolkien first editions spread out on her booktable. She had quite a collection.

We first met Bill and Diane in 2000, while they were here for our Credenda History Conference. We had them to our home for dessert with some other visitors, little knowing what a significant part of our family they would soon become. Nate met Heather a few months later, and they were married in March of 2001.

Over the next thirteen years, Bill and Diane visited Idaho many times to see their loved ones, and they were always at our Sabbath table when they were in town. They became Nana G and Papa G to all our grandchildren, not just the Wilsons.

Diane made many friends here in Moscow, and we welcomed her into our fellowship and community. When she was in town, she spent her days at her daughter’s home, filling Heather’s freezer with quiche and enchiladas and Passover chicken. She would spend hours reading to the kids or playing chess (endlessly!) with them. She and Bill would take the kids out to breakfast or down to the farmers’ market on Saturday mornings. They always tried to make it for Grandparents’ Day at Logos School in the spring.

Often by the time she would get to my house on Saturday night for Sabbath dinner, she would be so tired, but very happy. And she’d flop down in a chair, grab a pillow, and I’d hand her a glass of wine. I enjoyed her easy company, her California style, her interest in all my kids and grandkids. She followed all that was going on up here in Moscow, even while she was home in California. She was a special fan of all that Nate was writing, collecting many copies of his first editions and making sure he signed them all.

Knowing that Diane had been a caterer and having seen the skills she passed on to Heather in the hospitality department, I had always wished I could sit down at her Sabbath table and see how she managed it all with her large family and many grandkids. I never got the chance to do that. But I think I got something better.

When we visited Diane two weeks ago, she was confined to her bed, but alert and cheerful. I bent over to give her a hug, and her first words to me were, “It’s been glorious.” She went on to tell me that it was as though Aslan were leading her onward, and she was following along behind Him, waiting for His directions. She was completely at peace. During our visit over the course of the day, her chief concerns were for us. She wanted to see that we were fed a lovely lunch and dinner (a kind friend had prepared for us). She made sure to be wearing a little scarf that I had sent her a few weeks before. In other words, she was preparing for us, serving our interests, wanting us to feel comfortable and appreciated, being the hostess to the end. If that is how she served her guests on her deathbed, I can now see what her Sabbath table was all about. And glory to God for such a sweet remembrance.

Today is her memorial service and tomorrow is her graveside. We rejoice that she is home with her Savior, and we are thankful for her testimony of faithfulness and courage. And we will miss her.

 

Here She Comes!

A friend shared this Spurgeon quote with me today, and it is quite applicable for us as we wait for our sister Diane Garaway’s departure from this earth. Her daughter, my daughter-in-law Heather, sits at her bedside with other family members as she finishes her well-run race.

“I’m standing on the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She’s an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and the sky come down to mingle with each other. And then I hear someone at my side saying, ‘There, she’s gone.’

Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side. And just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says, ‘There, she’s gone,’ there are other eyes watching her coming, and there are other voices ready to take up the glad shout, ‘Here she comes!’

And that is dying.”

Troubled Hearts

If we think about all the fretting we can allow ourselves to do, and when we hold our tendency to do this up next to the promises of God, it is surprising that we are not cured of worry forever. We should be. Everything about our lives is under His good design and care. He is preparing good things for us. REALLY good things.

Consider what Jesus told His disciples right after He  identified Judas as His betrayer and predicted that His friend Peter would deny Him three times. All the disciples must have been worried about what was coming. It was in that troubled moment that Jesus turned to comfort His confused disciples.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know” (John 14:1-4).

Jesus is preparing a place for each one of us, a mansion in fact. Even now, He is getting ready to receive us. This struck me particularly recently when a friend of mine was telling me about her new house. She did not think that a house so perfect for her very specific needs existed in our small town. When she and her husband met with the owners, they found out that the owners had meticulously planned this house, built it and lived in it for seven years before selling. The owner said something like, “It turns out, we built this house for you!” And they did, even though they did not know it at the time.

God is not only preparing things for us in this life, but He is also preparing us for eternity and eternity for us. We sometimes worry about what we are going to do at the next stage of life, but God is preparing it all for us right now. When we walk by faith, we believe that God is preparing for us. This is the best kind of comfort in all kinds of trials. Jesus knew His disciples were worried at His coming death. He comforted them that He was not leaving them, but going to get a place ready for them. And He promised to come back for them, and for us.

Where will we be in seven years or in seventy years? Someone, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself,  is preparing a place for us, especially and specifically for us. This is why we can comfort our hearts and rest in contentment and peace, even when our lives are full of troubles.