Is Giving Really Giving

Any believe the idea that “charity begins at home,” and strive to live by this principle. However, the word “charity” can have negative connotation as well, with some believing charity can lead to dependence and entitlement. That negativity often comes from getting a hand out versus a hand up.

What’s the difference? There are many third-world countries where a trip to the dentist is not only cost-prohibitive, it’s logically very difficult the full day trip to get to the dentist means an adult doesn’t get to work that day and possibly forfeits the ability to feed himself and his family.

And not only is there a loss of time, but there’s also the actual cost of care being provided. Sacrifice dental health in favor of dinners is probably an easy choicece.

A Dentist by the name of Roy Hammond from Utah decided to take it experience somewhere that adults and children had no place to get proper dental care. Which led to an organization called “Smiles for Hope” this organization has gone to 100 humanitarian missions to places like Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Nepal treating more than 120 people a day in remote areas that requires hours of riding a bus. But there’s a unique twist in how Smiles for Hope helps these people.

Skin In The Game

This dental care isn’t provided as just charity. People receiving care are required to pay from $1 to $3 per treatment which is a large amount of money where the average per-day earning is $1. The money is to make sure they “have skin in the game” making them even more invested in their own dental health.

The difference is the attitudes of the children attending the dental clinic are striking. In the Dominican Republic, children waited calmly and respectfully for their turn to see the dentist or the hygienist, while the children in places where dental care was pure charity sometimes they were less than polite or grateful. The Dominican Republic children were clearly impacted by the skin in the game attitude of their parents, which served as an excellent example as these children grew up to have their own children.

Paying It Back

What’s even more interesting is how these people – mostly mothers – have been able to earn the funds to care for their families, and become self-reliant. Many are getting micro-loans from Esperanza International an organization founded in 1995 by a former major league baseball player to provide these loans to impoverished families and businesses to improve economic development, and pull communities out of poverty.

In the Dominican Republic, the average micro-loan is about $200 and is provto those who come up with viable entrepreneurial business ideas. The interest rate on these loans is 21 percent, This may seem high but that interest rate allows Esperanza to send instructors to these communities to teach budding entrepreneurs about running a business, paying taxes, and growing their businesses which gets them more than just monetary value from the micro loan.

One great example is a mother who narrowed her first $200 purchased a standing shade tarp and opened for business as a hairdresser. Another woman had narrowed and repaid more than 15 microloans which ultimately put her in a position to develop several buildings, including a church, a strip makk, and a clinic for dental students. All for betterment of her community. Esperanza International has a 98.5 percent loan payoff rate.

Teaching To Fish

The well-worn out saying “ Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime” couldn’t be more applicable here.

This then is the difference between giving a hand up instead of a hand out.

Outside The Synagogue

The gospel of Luke tells of The Messiah being kicked out of His own Synagogue. He went outside; He left. They went on with their services, rituals, and their social lives, but everything was dead, empty and lost. God’s presence moved on, outside the synagogue, rituals and routines. The healing and the good news went on outside.

The release of the captives went on, freedom to the prisoners, sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, all the miracles that His own synagogue couldn’t contain. His own religion could not contain Him, and Neither can ours.

You want miracles, blessings, the presence of God? Then you have to step outside of your routine, you rut, even the rituals in your life. You have to break out beyond the walls that contain your faith.

The walls of Messiah’s religion couldn’t contain Him. He has to go outside for the miracles to keep going. We too need to step out our narrow walls and walk with the King in the excitement of the newness and adventure of Him.

The blessings He has for you are so big, they cannot be contained indoors.

Luke 4:18

The Importance Of What We Do In Secret

According to Jesus, it is what we do in secret that matters most. Jesus is not suggesting that the outward is unimportant – far from it. ‘What good is it, my children, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him.” (James 2:14)

The answer is empathetically no. Still, it is also possible to have outward works but no inner reality. In this instance, religion is a presence. Six times in the Sermon on the Mount alluding to these distinct exercises, Jesus employs the term secret::

Matthew 6

  • Give “in secret… and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:4)
  • Pray “in secret.. and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
  • Fast in secret … and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The Sermon on the Mount is addressing the issue of authenticity. Just how genuine is our relationship with the Lord Jesus? It is altogether possible to practice an outward display of deity to piety – to “talk the talk” – without demonstrating any inner reality of godliness. This is true In every professing Christian, and it is especially true of those engaged in Christian ministry. Authentic Christianity requires an outward and discernible “work of faith.” (1 Thessalonians 1:3, 2 Thessalonians 1:11) But it also requires genuine godly affections and net discipline of the heart,

There is a manner of ministry that is more about self-sacrifice, self-indulgence than self-discipline, and self-promotion than self- denial. There is also giving that is designed for recognition – plaques on walks intend to be read by generations to come, or press releases informing the world of “generous donations” prayer in pristine Cranmnerlike language of the sixteenth center suggesting depths of personal piety; fasting that is shown vie open-nect T-shirts revealing a ribbed torso.

But all these outward demonstrations of piety met be no more than mere hypocrisy. The Greek word translated “hypocrites, refers to the masks worn by ancient actors as symbols of pretense and show. This, give with fanfare; pray with pride; fast with notice. This ministry is inauthentic. It is a sham.

The inauthentic ministry was a charge leveled against Paul. The Corinthians said there was a discrepancy between the way he wrote his letters and the way he was in person: “His letters are weighty and strong, but his presence is weak, and his speech of no account. (2 Corinthians 10:10) It is a serious charge, and in his second letter to the church at Corinthians, Pauk spends almost the entire time defending himself. The critique came from jealousy and therefore bore no legitimacy. But the fact is, the charge can be true – not of Pauk, but of us. Leadership calls for genuineness, authenticity and transparency.

True, there’s something of a cliche about the word authentic when applied to Christian ministry ( Add contemporary, intentional, relevant, and community to that list) If we really need to add the description, authentic, we are probably trying to hard and therefore not being authentic at all. Nevertheless, hypocrisy lurks everywhere, not least in Christian ministry, and we ignore it at our peril.

Godliness must be found in the heart if it is to be genuine. The one who prays more in public then in private or only gives at special events when likely to be thanked for it, or practices spiritual disciplines and let’s everyone know just how difficult a spiritual routine he keeps, his more concerned about the outward appearance than a heart- relationship with Jesus.

Advent

What Is Advent?

The word “Advent” refers to the coming or arrival of someone or something. It is traditionally and liturgically connected to Christmas. Christmas is about the arrival – the most significant arrival in history. It is about the Advent – the coming of Jesus Christ.

In Matthew 2:6 we see that the Advent of Jesus is associated with Him ruling and shepherding people. He has come to rule over lives and to shepherd our souls. He is the true Shepherd-King.

When we invite Jesus Christ into our hearts, He establishes His rule over us. He helps us understand what is good for us as what is destructive to us. He provides us with principles to live by and boundaries to live within. He rule over us is one of love. He guides us tenderly as a good shepherd oversees His sheep.

Take a moment to give praise and thanks to the Lord for coming as your Ruler and Shepherd. Determine to give Him unrestricted reign over your mind, will, and emotions. Choose to trust and follow His wholeheartedly as your Heavenly Shepherd. Thank Him for His Advent in your life.

In society today, it seems their are many to want to rule us with power. “Do this or else” I’m thankful that God is a loving God, and doesn’t want to rule with power but love.

Daniel’s Uncompromising Convictions

What can we learn from the book of Daniel

Things were going wrong in his personal life. He was immersed in a society that valued everything that he stood against. He was pressured to bow down and worship things that he knew were wrong. There was constant temptation to succumb to the worldliness around him.

Sound familiar? No. I’m not talking about the world in which we live today, but rather a young man from the Old Testament who was captured and taken into captivity in Babylon. I’m talking about Daniel.

The prophet Daniel is widely considered one of the greatest men in the entire Bible. In fact, unlike many others heroes of the faith, n’t here is nothing negative said about him at all.

In Daniel, we see a young man who was going through difficult tribulations.:

Daniel’s home of Jerusalem had been overthrown, and he’d been carried off into a foreign and godless land as a slave of Babylon’s King ng Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel endured a “reeducation program“ that was meant to brainwash Daniel and the other young men to assimilate them into the Babylonian culture and prepare them to serve the king. He was taught astrology and magic, as well as Babylon’s Chaldean language.

He was given a new name. No longer would he be called Daniel (God is my Judge) but now he would be called Belteshazzar (Bel protect my life) a pagan name.

Daniel was expected to eat the king’s meals, which were certainly gourmet. This was an indulgence that many would have happily accepted.

A new home, new education, new language, new name, new food… All these things were an attempt by the Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar to indoctrinate the young Israelites, including Daniel, into their culture. And I’m sure that many of them were more than happy to enjoy the spoils.

Daniel could have gone along with all this by compromising his convictions as well. He could have said, “Everyone else is doing it,” or “I better obey the king!”

However, Daniel “purposed in his heart” that he would not disobey God (Daniel 8) even amid the pressure and temptations. He even convinced that powers-that-be to allow him eat a diet of vegetables and water rather than the king’s royal feast.

Because of his faithfulness and obedience, “God gave them [Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Mischael and Azariah] knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had u understanding in all visions and dreams” (Daniel: 17)

Let’s fast forward through the centuries to today. We haven’t been captured and carried into a few-away land, but the society around us perhaps looks unfamiliar and troubling. Young people – like Daniel in his day – are especially being let astray by a culture that is largely opposite of the life we’re called to live as followers of Christ.

With so many prevalent temptations all around us, it would be easy to assimilate and enjoy all the world has to offer, but like Daniel, we must purpose in our hearts to serve Jesus and Him alone. We must feast on the things of the Lord rather than the evils of this age. As we do, God will not only give wisdom and understanding to share His hope with those around you.

It’s difficult to find peace in this troubled world, but Christ came so that we may have life and have it abundantly.

Where was God when I was being abused?

I asked this question many times during my life. It seems to be the most urgent and most difficult, questions to ask about God. There is no easy answer. The book of Psalms acknowledges that the faithful do ask this question, with many psalms accusing God of negligence, inaction, or absence in times of difficultly or despair. Jesus himself cries out one of the most haunting lines, as he hung dying on the cross: “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” (Psalm 22:1)

This may not be a comfort – but it does send the signal that Jesus knows intimately and deeply, the pain of abuse. And for those who believe that in Jesus we find the most profound, even divine incarnation, the becomes a remarkable reality. God, at the core of divine Love, understands the experience of abuse, abandonment, and suffering.

For many years I thought God hated me, because he let me be abused. That he didn’t care what happened to me. And so I came to believe that I didn’t care what happened to me either. During the Alcohol abuse, the drug abuse even the abusive relationships I found myself in. There was no point in looking for something better. I felt I was alive to suffer and die.

I cannot say where God was, during experiences of abuse. But I can say God understands, God knows, and God can help you move forward. Sometimes the past, with its wounds and scars, is hard to understand, and feels unjust. But we can always look towards the future, and we ask how God might redeem the pain. I know we can trust that God meets us in our brokenness, and wants to bring hope and healing to our lives.