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Jun

2023

Suffering and Growing

“Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.” (Heb 5:8)

Father, I don’t want suffering. But I do want more of You. And if suffering helps me know You better, bring what is necessary to bring me near to You.

Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered. When we look at that Scripture, we often focus on the question of how the eternal Son of God needed to learn anything, but that question doesn’t trouble me. The eternal Son of God became a man; and as a man, He had to learn all sorts of things. He learned how to walk and talk. He learned how to count. He learned how to read. He learned carpentry and doctrine. He learned history and Jewish culture. He learned Mary’s fears and Joseph’s desires. He learned weakness and humility. To say that He learned obedience is no surprise.

To me, however, the more important part of that Scripture is how Jesus learned. He learned obedience through what He suffered.

Pain teaches us obedience. Comfort does not. The man who obeys when he wants to doesn’t learn anything about obedience because he is doing what he wants. But the man who says, “Father, if it be possible, take this cup from me,” and who then walks to the Cross – that man has learned obedience.

Suffering changes you. It makes some people bitter and others humble. It shows you your weakness up close. It shows that you are not in charge of your life. When you see these truths, you can mature, for the greatest hindrance to spiritual maturity is self. Suffering has the ability to open the eyes of your heart to see that your “self” is not as strong as you think. Suffering can help you look beyond yourself, and it is precisely then that God can draw nearer. Suffering helps faith understand God in a deeper way.

And suffering often exposes a lack of faith. It is much easier to hide the real you when life is comfortable. But when pain shows up, the real you comes out.

Thus, suffering reveals who you are and changes you simultaneously.

This is why God insists that we experience pain and suffering. He doesn’t want us to hide, and He wants to help us die to ourselves.

Apr

2023

Practices for Handling Money IV: Investing

Before you read this blog, please read the previous blogs on principles and practices for handling money. From a spiritual standpoint, those principles and practices need to be in place before you think about investing money.

Now . . . investing.

If you are hoping for me to talk about great funds to park your money in or nice tricks to maximize a return on an investment, I’m going to disappoint you. I am not an investment expert, and I don’t want to be one. I know the Bible, not the stock market. I am here to bring a Biblical focus to investing and not to provide the latest strategies on multiplying money.

With that out of the way, allow me to begin with a story about a man I know who, many years ago, spoke to me about investing. He told me that everyone should invest at least x dollars or y per cent of his income in certain types of funds that this man deemed safe. He then said that beyond these safe investments, everyone should invest money in other areas that could yield a higher rate of return.

He had no idea that he was talking to a man who had no disposable income to invest at all, and I distinctly remember thinking that he and I lived in different worlds. This man with his “wonderful” investment advice had no clue about the realities of most people.

Don’t make the mistake that man made. An enormously large swath of the world’s population can’t invest. You can’t invest what you don’t have. So if you are fortunate enough to have the means to invest, be grateful to God for what He gave you and be aware that many people in this world, and perhaps many people in your world, do not have your means. Do not assume that everyone can invest.

Now if you do have money beyond basic giving, beyond the basic needs of your family, and beyond saving for some future need, what should you do with it?

The answer to that question is not the same for everyone. God will ask some to give most or all of that extra money away. He may allow others to spend a portion on something special. He may tell others to invest a part for the future. He may combine any or all of the above in different ratios for different people so that there are a million different answers for a million different people.

And yet there is really one answer to the question of what you should do with extra income. You should submit it to God, seek Him, and allow Him to direct your steps concerning what to do. Then you are in position to hear when He gives His one-in-a-million advice.

The Bible does not directly talk much about investing, either positively or negatively. Investing, in and of itself, is not evil or sinful. I can think of no Biblical condemnation for investing itself. But the righteous woman considers a field and buys it (Pr 31:16). And in the parable of the talents, Jesus praised the first two servants for investing and condemned the wicked servant for not investing. I understand that this parable is about more than money, but it at least endorses the concept of investing, even if it is a parable.

This Biblical vagueness on investing gives us freedom to invest or not as God may lead.

So if you seek God, and He seems to be leading you to invest some money, what now? I am not going to tell you where specifically to invest, but here are some principles to think through to help you keep your investments in perspective.

1. Investing is not the most important thing for you to do with your money. Few verses in the Bible talk about investing, but scads of verses warn against greed and push you to let go of money and give. A heart free from money is more important than a good portfolio, and generous giving is better than smart investing. If investing begins to control you, if it grabs undue attention from your heart, if it keeps you from giving generously and sacrificially, you may need to stop investing and take care of the weightier matters of your own heart.

My wife says that when she was single, she knew guys who were constantly checking their investments. They might meet for dinner, and the guy would check the stock market in the middle of dinner or while cleaning the dishes. This practice told my wife something about the priorities of these men. There may have been nothing wrong with their investing money, but there was something wrong with their undue focus on investing money. If God calls you to invest some of His money, let your heart be free from those investments.

2. Do not support unrighteousness when you invest. As a Christian, you hold the Bible and Jesus to be holy. Why would you then financially invest in businesses that flaunt what is holy? If a business owns a subsidiary that makes pornography, don’t support it. If it consistently makes movies that portray Christians as stupid, immoral, or hypocritical, or movies with messages that continually promote sin, don’t invest in it. If a business publicly promotes homosexuality or advertises in a way that is sexually explicit, or takes an openly hostile position against Christians or a Biblical view, invest somewhere else. Ask yourself if you can in good conscience support the product, message, and practices of a company, and if you can’t, don’t give it your money.

Sometimes you may have no control over your investments. Your employer provides a retirement fund that it or another entity manages, and you may have no choice in where it invests. Fine. I would not lose sleep over that. If you can affect where your money goes, avail yourself of the opportunity, but don’t freely choose to invest in unrighteousness just so you can make a buck. In the West, the culture is certainly getting more overtly hostile to faith in Christ, but you can still find investments that are wholesome and companies that produce products, promote messages, and engage in practices that are Biblically legitimate. There are even investment companies that specialize in investing with a Christian conscience (Thrivent, Eventide).

This consideration is important because when you invest in a business or mutual fund, you are financially supporting and helping what those businesses do, and if their ideas or products go against the kingdom of God, you are using your money to fight against God. When you decide where to invest, look at more than the rate of return. Consider the actual products themselves.

3. Invest more than money. We have been talking about money here because that is the focus of this series. But money is only one resource. In the end, invest your life in the kingdom of God. Your money will follow.

Apr

2023

Practices for Handling Money III: Saving

When Joseph counseled Pharaoh on how to handle the seven years of famine, he told Pharaoh to save during the seven years of plenty. The savings would then carry the nation through the famine. This is a central purpose of saving.

Almost everyone will experience times of low income or unusual bills that their income cannot handle. Therefore, if you are able to save, it is generally wise to set aside a reasonable amount of money for those times. I have intentionally nuanced that statement, so let’s discuss it to elaborate on the nuance.

If you are able to save . . . Some things take priority over saving. It is more important that you and your family have a modest place to live, basic food, simple clothes, and a means to get to and from work than it is for you to save. In addition, you should be giving something from your income even if that income is meager. If you save but never give, that’s a problem. Saving requires an income above your basic needs, and not everyone has that. Thus, some people can’t save. But if you are able to save . . .

it is generally wise . . . Saving is not a law that must be universally followed. Jesus told the rich, young ruler to give away all he had. That is the opposite of saving, and we need to hold money loosely enough that God can have it without prying it from us. We need room in our thinking on money to let God be God. He may want you to set aside some money for the future because He knows what is coming. Or He may ask you to give it all away and trust Him for the future. So saving is not a law.

But it is a principle that is usually wise. Saving allows you to buy more expensive items – a used car, for example – without having to borrow money. Saving helps prevent you from going into debt when you lose your job or get sick and can’t work. If you save nothing, you can’t pay your rent or buy groceries when those times come. Saving helps teach you to deny yourself now in order to have something for the future, for whatever you save, you cannot now spend. The practice of saving, thus, affects your spending habits, usually in a good way. So if you are able to save, it is generally wise . . .

to set aside a reasonable amount of money. Saving must never become hoarding. The man who built bigger barns for himself was a fool. Hoarding destroys your soul. It is an abuse of saving. In hoarding, saving becomes your god. People hoard to feel secure, which means that they do not feel secure in God. That is a big problem.

God must have lordship over your money. If He has you save, then let Him lead in the amount. Talk to Him about it and follow His lead. That should help against hoarding. As you save, continue to give sacrificially. That should also help against hoarding.

Responsible saving has limits to it, and those limits are driven by its purpose. The purpose of saving is not to make you feel secure. The purpose of saving is to provide for the basic needs of you and your family during emergencies and to purchase more expensive items that you know God wants you to pursue – college tuition, perhaps, or a car.

Sometimes, however, good purposes for saving can serve as excuses for hoarding. Maybe God wants you to save $20,000 for college, but you feel you need $100,000. The problem is not in saving for college. The problem is in what you feel you need. The problem is a heart problem. Therefore, let God have lordship over your money, and He will direct your saving. You can trust Him in that.

Mar

2023

Practices for Handling Money II: Debt

If I’m going to talk about money, at some point I have to talk about debt. In America at least, debt is a way of life. The American government is trillions of dollars in debt, and that amount grows every day. Americans by the bucketloads take on debt to fund their college degrees, buy their homes, run their small businesses, and own their cars. Consumer debt in America is pandemic. You might say that debt is the norm, it is the culture, and people don’t think twice about taking it on. Sometimes, however, you can follow the culture to your own ruin.

The relationship of Scripture toward debt is complex partly because the word “debt” can mean more than one thing. “Debt” can refer to any situation in which someone borrows money. This is the broadest meaning of the term. According to this meaning, the person with a modest home mortgage that he has no trouble paying is in debt because he has signed a note to pay off the balance in the future.

The second meaning of “debt” refers to a situation in which people owe money that they cannot pay back. Occasionally, this sort of debt comes from extraordinary circumstances beyond one’s control — enormous medical bills or loss of work due to injury — but in America, at least, these sorts of situations are the minority. In most instances in America, the debtor willingly took on debt that he could not sustain over time – buying too much home or taking on hefty credit card debt.

Scripture stands squarely against this second type of debt when it arises because the debtor chose it. The debtor has foolishly and willingly borrowed money or signed a contract that strains his finances to the point that he eventually cannot pay. That type of debt is sin (Ps 37:21). It can be a type of stealing, for the debtor has taken money from others but does not pay it back. It is often a violation of one’s word, for the debtor has signed a contract that says he will pay according to certain terms but later reneges on what he signed. It reveals a heart that is misplaced, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, and this kind of debt shows that the heart’s treasure is at least skewed toward earth instead of toward Christ. The heart of the debtor is not content with what he has. So he borrows to get what he wants or he commits money that he can’t pay. That is sin.

Scripture is more nuanced on the first meaning of debt (borrowing money broadly speaking). On the one hand:

1. Scripture contains no clear prohibition of all loans. Even Romans 13:8 that says to “owe no one anything, except to love each other” does not necessarily restrict all forms of loans, for it comes immediately after 13:7, which says to “pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed.” If you borrow money and sign a contract to pay it back, do you owe the full balance or merely the amount the contract says you owe this month? The answer, of course is “yes.” Thus, does 13:7 tell us to pay our obligations faithfully or to pay off everything immediately? My point isn’t to debate what Romans 13 says about loans, but to say that whatever it says is debatable. I would not consider it a clear prohibition of all loans. If, however, someone read this verse and took it to mean they could not take out any loan ever, I would tell him to follow his conscience on the matter.

2. The Old Testament allows for loans to the foreigner (Dt 23:20).

3. Jesus, in the parable of the talents, scolds the wicked servant because he did not at least put his one talent into the bank where it could earn interest (Matt 25:26-7). I understand this is a parable and not straightforward teaching. I also understand that Jesus is not advising the wicked servant to take out a loan. But within the parable, this is at least an endorsement of banks and what they do, and the main thing they do is loan money.

On the other hand:

1. The Old Testament prohibits charging interest on loans for your brother (Dt 23:19-20) and for the poor (Ex 22:25; Lev 25:35-8). Even if charging interest on loans may be Biblically allowable in some cases, it is not allowable to take advantage of the poor in this way or to put debt between brothers.

2. “The borrower is the slave of the lender” (Pr 22:7). Even if borrowing money may be legal, it is not normally wise.

3. Romans 13:8 may not prohibit all loans, but it does push in the direction of avoiding debt in general and of getting out of it if you are in it.

Thus, Scripture may allow for certain types of loans to certain people and for charging reasonable interest on those loans, but the overall thrust of Scripture is to lend freely and to not be in debt to your brother.

It may be true that the first meaning of debt (borrowing money broadly) can be legitimate, but it is also true that this first meaning is what leads to the second meaning (borrowing money that you can’t pay back), and when borrowing money reaches the point where you can’t pay it back, you’ve crossed a line.

Based on the discussion above, I do not believe Scripture lays down a law against all debt, but my counsel would be to avoid debt as much as possible. Avoid car payments and student loans. Avoid credit card charges that you can’t pay off at the end of the month. Don’t finance furniture or a new kitchen. If you cannot afford to purchase something new or big, live with what you have. If you must purchase an item, purchase something used and less expensive and pay cash instead of borrowing. Do everything in your power to avoid debt if you can.

Sometimes you can’t. A home might be an example. You must live somewhere. That’s not an option. And wherever you live will likely involve debt. In most instances, your only options are to rent or buy, and both options involve debt of some kind. When you rent, you sign a lease that obligates you to make monthly payments for usually a year. That is a form of debt. If you take out a mortgage for 15 years, you have one contract for 15 years. If you sign leases for 15 years, you have 15 contracts for 15 years. The mortgage is a bigger contract with a longer time to pay it, but no matter how you divide it up, you must take on debt if you want to live somewhere.

Given this reality, if you can afford a reasonable home mortgage, go ahead and get one for the following reasons: 1) In the long term, owning is cheaper than renting. 2) The lease is perpetual. The mortgage is not. Thus, the mortgage actually gives you an opportunity to end debt for housing. 3) With a mortgage, you own the home. This gives you a resource you can use to pay your debt if something wild happens. If you become unable to pay your mortgage, you can always sell your home, pay what you owe, and go rent something cheaper. I understand there are times when people may be upside down on their mortgages and also unable to pay, but those instances are much rarer than people being delinquent on their rent. In general, the home itself is a resource that provides equity against defaulting on your debt.

Do not, however, get a mortgage if you cannot afford one. A mortgage may be cheaper in the long run, but it is considerably more expensive up front. And if you do get a mortgage, get only what you can pay for. Don’t buy a $500,000 house if you can afford only a $250,000 house. And once you have a mortgage, pay it off as quickly as you can without jeopardizing your ability to support your family and pay your other obligations.

Thus, your main thrust concerning all forms of debt should be to avoid it as much as possible. Debt is too often a financial, emotional, and spiritual shackle.

All things may be lawful, but not all things are expedient.

Mar

2023

Practices for Handling Money

Before I talk about Biblical practices for handling money, read the previous blog “Principles for Handling Money” here. That blog describes heart attitudes toward money, and a right heart is the foundation for right practices. Everything I say here presupposes what I said there. If you understand what a right heart looks like, what does that heart do with money? I will cover financial practices in multiple blogs, but for now, here are three.

Give Sacrificially: Giving may be the single most important thing you do with your money. Whatever your income, you can give something. And you need to give something, not just for financial reasons but because giving is healthy for your soul. Giving is how your soul lets go of money. Giving is the best way to combat greed.

A heart that wants to follow Jesus sees the goodness, the necessity, and the benefits of giving and embraces it. A heart that cares little for Jesus will hold onto what is mine, mine, mine.

God will not require everyone to give the same amount or even the same percentage, but He will require everyone to give.

Giving needs to be a sacrifice. The billionaire who gives millions hasn’t made a sacrifice. Your giving should cause you to go without something you would otherwise have if you did not give.

For more on giving go here and here.

Live Within Your Means: This practice deals with spending, and because it deals with spending, it deals with your lifestyle. Don’t try to live a lifestyle you can’t afford. If you can afford only a one-bedroom house, don’t buy a three-bedroom house. If you can afford only a 600 square foot apartment, don’t rent a 1200 square foot one. Don’t go on a vacation you can’t pay for or buy a new car when you can afford only a used one. All these choices are lifestyle choices, and all these choices deal with spending.

How you handle money impacts your lifestyle. You may not be able to live like everyone around you or like the happy people in the commercials.

Instead you must live within your means. This practice is a contentment issue. People who are content with what they have live with what they have. If you think you should have more, you will face pressure to spend more, whether you can afford it or not. If you believe you need what you do not need – a bigger pickup, a cabin at the lake, more entertainment, whatever – then you will spend what you can’t afford. Such spending is fundamentally a spiritual problem that has caused a financial problem.

You must live within your means for multiple reasons.

First, doing so prevents financial disaster and debt.

Second, doing so frees money for God’s kingdom. Most people who do not live within their means do not give. They don’t think they can give because they think they need more money just to meet their “needs.”

Third, doing so removes the stress from wanting more money. When you desire more money, you are never content or grateful. You are stressed.

Fourth, doing so removes the stress from being unable to pay your bills. People who do not live within their means can postpone the day of financial reckoning by taking on debt or finagling money from family or friends, but sooner or later they will meet this wall.

Fifth, doing so helps your soul because it causes you to let go of earth and to say no to pleasures you might want. Jesus said you must deny self and take up your Cross and follow Him. God never intends dying to self to be merely an interesting philosophy. He intends you to practice it, and sometimes He gives you less money than you would like so you can practice it.

Sixth, doing so helps grow you in self-control and discipline. The woman who buys the new clothes she can’t afford lacks self-control and discipline. The woman, however, who wants to eat out every day but who packs a lunch and eats at home builds her self-control and discipline. Living within your means helps you control money instead of letting money control you.

Seventh, doing so is more honest. When you live a lifestyle you can’t afford, you pretend to be someone you are not. You are living a lie. Your life is just a show.

If you are content in Christ, you will live within your means. Pursue Christ. Love Christ. Enjoy Christ. Your spending will then follow your heart.

Avoid Get-Rich-Quick Schemes: Earn $10,000 a month working from home . . . Double your income with a phone call . . . How I became a multimillionaire in one year!

Ads like these are everywhere, and they appeal to the person who wants to get rich. Ignore them. These schemes are problematic on multiple levels. They promote greed, sow discontentment, and focus on self. They highlight money, increase your anxiety, and push you to trust the wrong source for your provision. From this perspective alone, get-rich-quick schemes are toxic for your soul. Avoid them.

But these schemes are also problematic from the perspective of dollars and cents. Most of these schemes are scams. They promise a downpour but deliver a desert. More often they take more than they give. Thus, in most instances, they will make you poorer as you pursue a dream that makes you more miserable.

Get-rich-quick schemes are, thus, foolish because they rob your heart and your pocketbook.

Instead of looking to get rich quick, try looking for some good work. Be faithful, responsible, and full of integrity in your work, and live within your means. This mentality will be healthier for your soul and better able to provide the needs for you and your family.

People who have the peace of Christ have no desire to get rich quick. Those, however, who desire to be rich fall into all sorts of problems (I Tim 6:9).

Jan

2023

Principles for Handling Money

Money is earthly. Money is spiritual. Money is an earthly substance with enormously spiritual implications. Money is God to many people. They bow to it. They live for it. Their joy is in it. Because money can wield such spiritual influence, Christian and secular people think on money in vastly different ways.

Secular thinking focuses on earth. Consequently, secular advice on handling money tends to focus on how to maximize money or utilize money solely for the here and now. Secular people do not think about how money impacts their soul or their eternity. They focus on good principles for investing now or saving now or how to get the most product for their buck.

Christian thought, however, has an eternal and spiritual focus. Christians see all of the temporal and practical matters of the here and now and may even agree with much secular advice on investing and saving and what not. But Christians see more than this, and they do not believe that these temporal, practical matters are the main thing. In fact, to the Christian, secular advice may be woefully impractical because it ignores the main thing.

In secular thinking, you maximize earthly gain. But in Christianity, sometimes you sacrifice earthly gain for the sake of your soul. Thus, as I give Christian principles for how to handle money, sometimes I will be at loggerheads with what the secular world will tell you. On other points dealing with practical earthly matters, we may agree to an extent, but as long as I take my cues from above and they take theirs from the here and now, we can never fully agree. The Christian and secular person will never fully see eye to eye on money.

With that as an intro, let’s dive into some Christian principles for handling money.

God owns it all

Perhaps the first fact we need to understand about money is that whatever money we have is not ours. It is God’s money, and God has seen fit to let us manage it. This is a fact that our flesh fights against. “No!” we scream. “It’s my money! I worked the job! I got the paycheck! The bank account has my name on it!”

But it isn’t my money. God gave me the job. God gave me the talents and skills I use in that job. God gave me the breath I breathe so I can work that job. And God did the same with my employer. The very money that my employer paid me came from God. Not only does God own the money I have, but God owns the house, the car, the clothes, the jewelry, everything. In fact, God owns me. He may let me use the material possessions in my domain as a father lets his children use the bedroom they sleep in. He may let me manage the money in a bank account with my name on it as an investor lets a financial planner manage his funds, but the child doesn’t own the bedroom nor the manager the money.

What this means for the purpose of handling money is that we need to manage God’s money for God’s purposes and not for ours. Of course, God’s purposes will include providing for the needs of you and your family, but He will also have bigger purposes than that. He wants to see if you can trust Him enough to use His money as He decides.

Be grateful

Gratitude flows naturally from the fact that God owns it all. If God owns everything I have, then everything I have comes from grace. I don’t deserve one cent of the money I have. Whether I am financially rich or poor, I deserve less.

Satan fights against gratitude by convincing us that we own the money, that we worked for it, and that we deserve to do what we please with it. When the heart holds onto money, it is not grateful for it.

Satan also fights against gratitude by getting us to compare ourselves with those who have more and by convincing us that we deserve more. When you think that way, you will not be grateful. But when you see that you deserve nothing and that you own nothing of what God has entrusted you with, you are grateful for what you have.

Gratitude does not involve how much money you have but how you view the money you have. A poor elderly woman can be grateful for her pittance, while a rich young man can feel entitled to more. Or a wealthy man can be grateful for his estate, while a poor woman is bitter that others have more. Gratitude is in your heart, not in your bank account.

Be content with what you have

Contentment also flows naturally from the fact that God owns it all, and contentment is crucial to handling money properly. When you are content in Christ, you are content. And when you are content, you don’t need more money to be content. I’ve written on this already here.

Understand that money is temporary

When you die, the money doesn’t go with you. Money is useful for 80 or 90 years, but in eternity it is useless. Why trade away eternal benefit so you can have something for 90 years? That’s a foolish trade. Live for eternity. When you consider how to handle money, do so with eternity in mind.

Let go of money

If God owns it all, let Him own it. Stop handling money as if it is yours. Money has the power to corrupt your heart and devour your soul, and almost everyone whom money corrupts and devours has no idea what it does to them. It is a cancer quietly eating away their heart while they go to work, raise their kids, and buy their home. If you cannot let go of money, money will not let go of you. It will drive you and control you and enslave you, and you won’t even know it.

Let go of it! You can’t live for God and for money. Let go of it! If you gain the whole world but lose your soul, you are a fool. Let go of it! It’s not yours. Let go of it! You can’t take it with you to eternity. Let go of it!

The heart must be free from money. You cannot serve two masters. If Christ is your Lord, money will not be. If money is your Lord, Christ will not be. The most effective way to let go of money is to cling with all your heart to Christ, to love Him, pursue Him, adore Him, and serve Him. This is not just a show. Many who claim the name of Christ don’t love or serve Him. Jesus must be your Lord from the heart. It must be real. Do that, and you will begin the fight of letting go of money.

Up to this point, every principle I have mentioned has focused on heart attitudes. The heart is central. Many people who talk about money talk only about outward behaviors – saving, spending, debt, investment, emergency funds, IRAs. But the stance of the heart toward money is the foundation for outwardly handling money in a godly manner. If the heart is wrong, the behaviors will be misplaced at best.

Dec

2022

The Star

The star shone cold and clear,

winking on the desert plain.

Just another night. No special sight.

Shepherds, sheep . . . bed down to sleep.

Herod, covered by his palace and power,

his fear in his tower, pays no notice.

It’s a single star shining amidst an eternity.

Just another night. No special sight.

A king, a birth . . . but nothing of worth.

A thousand miles east, magi feast on the sky,

a scroll to the eye so versed.

The star sings the coronation of a king,

“Come and see! Come and see!”

The star still shines.

But to those trapped in their delights,

it’s just another night. No special sight.

Sellers, buyers . . . pursuing their desires.

So few hear the song

and come to see

the worth of the king

and love bound in broken flesh.

Such a wondrous night. A special sight.

Meekness, glory . . . wrapped in one story.

Nov

2022

God Provides

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1)

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Ph 4:19)

Praise you, Father, for you give freely and abundantly all we need for every good work in Christ Jesus.

God provides.

We moved to Austin in October 2001. At the time, we had no job and three small children, one of whom was in the womb, so we knew we had some hefty medical bills in front of us. We came because God called us to come.

It was a difficult time financially. Mike worked various temp jobs, a bit as a substitute teacher, and had a spattering of writing gigs. These jobs helped slow down the financial bleeding, but none of them could support a family. We had some savings, but we watched it plummet that first year.

Rebekah was born in that first year, and when she was born, we were looking at three car seats in the back seat of a Mercury Topaz. We bought a larger used car for about $1500. It was all we could afford. A couple months later, the engine blew, and we were back where we started, except $1500 poorer. That was early summer.

In September 2002, everything changed. On Labor Day weekend, someone gave us a van. They didn’t know our financial situation or even our need for a larger car. They just felt that God was telling them to give us a van.

That same month, Harcourt asked Mike to come to San Antonio to receive training on an upcoming project they wanted him to write for. The project turned out to be an enormous one, and Mike suddenly was writing constantly through the end of the year. Pay for the writing always came a month or two after the submission, so around mid-October, we began receiving paychecks, and income for December was about $9000. We tithed, paid our living expenses, and put the rest into our savings.

In January 2003, Leanne looked at our savings balance and compared it to the balance from January 2002 and found that the number was about the same. We went through all that financial uncertainty for a year only to have God replenish our finances in two months.

God provides. That is a basic truth that every Christian must hold onto. We learned it in 2002. I don’t mean that we never struggle with God’s provision today but rather that 2002 was a watershed year for us concerning trusting God to provide.

God provides. The psalmist says he has never seen God’s children lacking bread. Jesus says your heavenly Father knows you need food and clothing, and He will take care of you. After all, He feeds the birds and clothes the lilies. Aren’t you more important than they?

God provides. Many of our problems with money flow from our thinking that we provide for ourselves. We get laid off and don’t see how we can make ends meet because we believe we are our own providers, and we no longer have the means to provide.

But God is our provider, and He has the means even when we don’t. Thus, when we get laid off, our ultimate source of income is still intact. I know it can be hard to see this when the checking account has a two-dollar balance (I’m serious. I know how hard this is), but if God is our Father, we have what we need.

God provides. Jesus had no place to lay His head and had a wardrobe that consisted of one tunic, yet His Father provided. God does not promise us great wealth. He promises that we will have what we need, and the most important things we need are not material. For example, would you rather have peace and joy in the midst of poverty and hunger, or no peace and joy with great riches? Believers who know hunger – for example in North Korea – would tell you that God provides their needs. They don’t eat as we eat, but they rejoice nonetheless. When I say God provides, I am not saying you will be rich. I am not saying you will be free from financial difficulties or other hardships. I am saying simply that you will have enough material goods to rejoice in Christ and do what God calls you to do.

God provides. This truth comes down to trust. You have a surgery and are looking at astronomical medical bills. Can you trust God with them? You believe God wants you to attend college but see no way to pay for it. Can you trust Him to provide? You lost your job. You got divorced. You were in a car wreck and totaled your car. Can you trust God in these situations?

If you are from a place where the government or culture is hostile to Jesus, your financial problems may have a different source. The police have come and beat you so that you are unable to work. Your husband was put in prison for the sake of Christ. The family that supported you has now disowned you. Can you trust Him to provide? He will.

Provision is a trust issue, and trust is why God allows us to go through hardship. When life is smooth and nice, who needs to trust? But when you suddenly can’t pay the bills, and you see no earthly solution to your problems, it is then that we have opportunity to build trust and faith in our Provider. We don’t see how, but we see Who. Because we know that . . .

God provides.

Oct

2022

Abortion and the Sexual Revolution

In 2020, COVlD ravaged the world, and people died by the millions. The Center for Disease Control reports that in the United States in 2021, the year in which COVID deaths peaked, COVID “was associated with approximately 460,000 deaths.”[1] That is the worst year the United States had with COVID.

In 2020, the United States aborted about 930,000 children.[2] Thus, if COVID was a problem (and it was), abortion is more than double the problem. In its down years, abortion takes the lives of far more people than COVID ever did in its worst year. If you considered COVID to be bad, you should consider abortion to be worse.

And yet, as big a problem as abortion is, it is really just a symptom of a deeper problem. The West is inundated with thinking that drives the push for abortion on demand, and that thinking rises out of the sexual revolution. The sexual revolution did not invent sexual immorality, but it normalized it and made it more palatable. The sexual revolution encouraged sexual exploration and significantly lowered the standard for sexual activity from committed marriage between a husband and wife to mere consent. It says we should be able to have sex when and where we want as long as there is consent. In the West this thinking has increased sexual activity outside marriage and has cheapened the meaning of sex. Consequently, the sexual revolution has also created a greater number of crisis pregnancies and, thus, in its own thinking, a greater need for abortions.

One of the biggest consequences of free sex is unwanted pregnancy, and this is problematic to free sex because it means that sex isn’t free. Sex has consequences. Abortion, however, is a perceived remedy to the problem of pregnancy. Have sex when and where you want, and if you get pregnant, no problem – get an abortion. This is the way much of American culture thinks. It’s a vicious circle. Free sex creates more crisis pregnancies, which we resolve through more abortions so that we can be free to engage in sex as we wish, which then creates more crisis pregnancies, which we resolve . . . We have to break this circle. The sexual revolution has exacerbated the problem it wants abortion to remedy. It increases crisis pregnancies and then complains that we have too many of them. The sexual revolution is itself the problem.

The sexual revolution wants dearly to reduce crisis pregnancies because crisis pregnancies interfere with free sex. Of course, there is a way to significantly reduce crisis pregnancies, but that solution is not something the sexual revolution will consider because it involves the rejection of its main premise. If we return sex to its proper place within the confines of a committed marriage between a husband and wife, we will significantly reduce unwanted pregnancies.

If my proabortion friends really cared about sparing women from many difficult and unwanted pregnancies, there is an easier way to do that than abortion. If the women are single, they could just say no to sex. And the culture could teach single men to do the same. I understand that that solution won’t cover every situation, but it will cover a boatload of them. The proabortion position talks much about choice, but other than situations involving rape or incest, the mother has already made a choice. She has chosen to participate in an action whose main purpose is procreation. In the majority of those situations, the mother could have chosen not to get pregnant simply by abstaining from sex. The prochoice position needs to consider the consequences of a woman’s choice before sex and not just after.

Today, what I have suggested is considered ridiculous. People read what I just said and laugh. And that is precisely the problem. Their ridicule illustrates my point. A hundred years ago, the culture considered sex to be reserved for marriage. That thinking was mainstream. Today it is ludicrous.

Our problem is deeper than abortion. Abortion on demand is merely a symptom of the sexual revolution. Western society thinks a certain way about sex, and that thinking produces a perceived need for abortions and with it a strong motive for dehumanizing unborn children. Much of the West does not recognize the unborn as human because it does not want to. The lives of the unborn interfere with free sex, and we want free sex. These are some of the consequences of the sexual revolution, and we need to reject it. It has been an abysmal failure.

The sexual revolution is a deeper problem than abortion, but there is a problem even deeper than the sexual revolution. It’s called self. Self is what drives the sexual revolution. In the West today, sex is about me, my pleasure, my desires, my happiness. I decide. I make my own rules. And who are you to challenge me? Only Christ and the Cross can deal with self. We will not change the abortion problem until we change how we think about sex, and right now, sex in the West is so self-centered that we will never change how we think about it until we realize that our self is not the center of the universe. Scripture has an answer to that problem. It is called the Cross. It is there that we die to self and that Christ by His grace gives us a new self.

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7117e1.htm?s_cid=mm7117e1_w

[2] https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2022/06/long-term-decline-us-abortions-reverses-showing-rising-need-abortion-supreme-court

Oct

2022

What is a Person?

A fetus is alive. That is indisputable. A fetus is human. That is indisputable. Put those two facts together and you find that a fetus is a human life.

Everyone agrees that at some point a fetus has human worth. Everyone has a magic line beyond which you can no longer kill. Prolife people consistently believe that line to be conception because at conception we now have a human life.

Proabortion people say, “No, that magic line lies elsewhere.” They may not know exactly where that line is, and those who propose such a line certainly disagree amongst themselves over where that line is, but everyone draws a line somewhere. No morally sane person believes you can go around killing newborns just for the convenience of the mother. At some point we all agree: this is now a human being. You can’t kill him.

The question then is this: where is that line? At what point do we have a human being?

I want to take this blog to discuss various proabortion answers to that question. Where is the line beyond which you can no longer kill?

Some argue that birth is that line. This means that the line varies from pregnancy to pregnancy. Most children are born close to nine months gestation, but some come early and others late. If birth is the line, then a child born at six months is protected more than a child with greater development but still in the womb. The latter child has more ability but, unfortunately, he hasn’t been born yet. Birth changes the location of the child but not the essence of the child. This makes birth somewhat arbitrary to use as a line. Is the definition of a human being based on his location or his essence? If essence, then birth is irrelevant. The child in the womb twenty minutes ago is no different in essence from the child out of the womb now.

But some say that birth is not arbitrary. They sometimes argue that a necessary part of being human is social interaction, and until you are born, you have no social interaction. Let me ask some questions. Does this mean that the hermit in the mountains is not human? Does this mean that if we discovered that the fetus could have primitive social interaction (maybe learn and respond to a human voice), that he would then be human? Does this mean that twins could be human but single births can’t? Does this mean that someone in a coma is not human? Define social interaction in a way that is not ad hoc. And why is that a necessary criterion?

Some claim that the line is not at birth but at a certain level of development.

And where is that level? Six months gestation? Eight months? Nine months? And why did you pick the level you did? If you pick nine months, does this mean that a preemie born at seven months is not a human but the more developed baby at nine months is a human even though he is not yet born? Does this mean that two babies at seven months gestation are the same when one is born and one is not? If they are both human at seven months, then the one in utero must be human and you can’t abort him. If they are not human, then the one that is born must not be human, and you can kill it. This is a big problem with relying on a developmental stage to define who is and isn’t a human.

Some claim that the line is viability. But viability is incredibly elastic. If viability is the line, then a child born in Dallas, Texas is a human at seven months, but a child born in rural Sudan is not a human until nine months. If viability is the line, then in the 1700s babies were human at nine months, but now they are human at seven months. And in another 100 years maybe they will be human at five months. Could we one day have the technology to have babies survive outside the womb from conception on? If so, then those future babies would be human at conception, but ours are not human until seven months. Viability changes with technology. Does the definition of a human also change with technology?

These are some problems inherent in the proabortion position. When you ask proabortion people where their line is and why, they cannot be consistent. Whatever criteria they use for excluding the fetus from humanity produces consequences they don’t want, and they end up picking and choosing what they want in an ad hoc way.

I have been discussing where proabortion people draw their line, but where they draw their line is tied up with what they think a person is.

A fetus is alive, and a fetus is human. A fetus is, thus, a human life. Many proabortion people will admit this much. They look at the science, at the continuity of the organism, at the photos, and at the feelings we all have, and admit that a fetus is a human life, but they do not admit that a fetus is a person. Peter Singer is a good example of this. Singer is a philosophy professor at Princeton, a proabortion thinker, and perhaps the best-known popularizer of this distinction between a human and a person. If you were to ask Singer if the fetus is human, he would say, “yes.” He realizes that the fetus must be human for the scientific and logical reasons already given. But he wishes to make a distinction between a human and a person. All beings with human mothers and fathers, human DNA, human body parts, etc are humans. But not all humans are persons. To Singer, persons must have consciousness, rational reflection, and autonomy, the ability to make decisions.[1]

He concludes that the fetus does not have these features and, thus, is not entitled to life.

I have two enormous problems with Singer’s definition. First, I find it disturbing for us to decide which humans are persons and which humans are not. Singer’s position requires that we make this distinction, but the moment we make it, we put ourselves in the position of God. We then say, “These humans deserve life. Those humans don’t . . . These humans are real people. Those are not.” This stance is chilling. This stance is what the Nazis did. This stance is how you justify genocide and slavery. And apparently abortion as well.

Second. Singer argues that no human is a person unless he has self-awareness, rational reflection and autonomy. Newborns do not yet have those features. People with Alzheimer’s, people in comas, people in vegetative states – all such people do not have those features. I have a cousin who suffered brain damage in an auto accident, and after the accident, to the best of my knowledge, she had no self-awareness at all. Was she a real person? This is a huge problem with the position that a person must have certain abilities to be a real person. In order to be consistent, Singer must allow for infanticide and for the killing of certain segments of the population.

Surprisingly, Singer allows for such and argues on behalf of infanticide. He writes:

I do not regard the conflict between the position I have taken and widely accepted views about the sanctity of infant life as a ground for abandoning my position. These widely accepted views need to be challenged.[2]

Stop. Go back and read that again.

Singer admits that infants do not have self-awareness, rational reflection or autonomy and that they are, thus, not real people. Singer thus admits that it is morally allowable to kill them. Most proabortion people will not go that far because most proabortion people are not consistent. Singer understands that if he is to be consistent, infanticide is a morally viable option.

If your criteria for personhood requires abilities like self-awareness, rational reflection, and autonomy, then when exactly does a person become a person? A year after birth? A year and a half? Three years? When? If you rely on vague categories like these, you can’t draw a line at which a person becomes a person. You can’t draw it. But the line comes after birth, and the line moves, and the line is subject to the interpretations of those who have power. This, too, is chilling.

Singer’s conclusions are my criticism of Singer’s ideas. Singer’s conclusions are why I protest at vague criteria for personhood like self-awareness, rational reflection and autonomy. I do not believe it is morally justifiable to kill infants. Or people with Alzheimer’s. Or people with severe Down’s Syndrome. This thinking is heinous.

But this thinking is the logical conclusion of the proabortion idea that a person is not a person unless he is self-aware, rational, and autonomous. For those who believe this idea, I am glad most of you do not favor infanticide. I am glad you are inconsistent in your thinking, but please understand that I am pointing out your inconsistency as evidence that your position is flawed.

The fetus is a human. All humans are persons. Period.

[1] Singer, Peter. Practical Ethics. 2nd ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp. 169, 171, 188.

[2] Singer, Peter. Writings on an Ethical Life. London: Fourth Estate, 2000. p. 161.

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