I think it speaks for itself...
Short daily devotions for busy Christians and Church meetings
Showing posts with label greed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label greed. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
4 Minute Devotions: Christian Candy
I feel so guilty. I ate a whole giant bar of chocolate the other night. I should have left some for my family, but I wanted all of it for myself. I even felt a bit nauseated before I finished it off, but I knew that if I left a couple of chocolate squares in the fridge, they would be gone in the morning. So I gorged down the whole bar.Hello, my name is John Stuart, and I’m a chocoholic.
Greed makes us all do selfish things. Take the people in Christ’s time for instance. He healed their sickness, cured their lame people, and fixed their broken bodies. He was a cure-all for each of their ailments, so when He talked about going to the other villages, they did not want Him to leave. They wanted to keep Jesus for themselves. They didn’t want to share His power with anyone. If other villages wanted a healer, they could get their own. Jesus belonged to them.
But Christ wouldn’t grant them their wishes. He had more to do with His ministry than remain home as an on demand country healer. He had to take God’s message out into the wider world. His mission was not local; it was international.
Sometimes we keep Christ all to ourselves because of the strength, confidence and guidance that He gives us. These are great personal blessings, but we’re not meant to feed on them alone. We belong to a missionary faith, so each of us has a personal calling to share the Good News and tell others about Christ. Christianity has never been a private, personal belief system that caters to our individual needs. We’re meant to share it with others by inviting them to church, praying for those in trouble, and reaching out to those in need.
Hello, my name is John Stuart and I’m a Christian. Let me tell you about Jesus, my Lord and Savior…
Prayer: Lord Jesus, we love You for loving us, guiding us, and strengthening our faith. Help us to share our experiences and beliefs with our families and friends, our neighbors and colleagues. Give us the courage to fulfill the moments of faith-sharing opportunities that You provide for us. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Daily Devotions: Escaping Envy
Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.Psalm 73 is one of my favorite psalms. It deals with jealousy and envy. The writer feels that he is losing out of the spoils of life and riches of success. He is faithful to God, but not wealthy. He is a good person surrounded by ‘evil’ people who possess more than he owns.
He’s suffering from clerical envy, or what I call holy jealousy. And I know exactly how he feels. Pastors are meant to be quiet, unassuming, and humble people. We are supposed to be examples of peace, happiness, and contentment. But we’re not. When it comes to our churches, most of us are territorial and always comparing our failures to the successes of other pastors. I guess it’s a mixture of insecurity and narcissism, instead of faith and loving God.
Anyway, if you take time to read the whole of Psalm 73, you’ll know exactly what I mean. The psalmist expresses his disappointment with God and vehemently points out the wickedness of others. He is essentially saying to God, “I have done everything right and been perfectly faithful. So, why aren’t you blessing me, God?” It’s a question that pastors constantly ask, as well as other Christians in their own workplaces.
The turning point in the psalm occurs when the writer realizes that possessions are only temporary and that his life is meant to serve God, not himself. That’s the part that I like the most because it reminds me not to value myself through the things I own, but to count myself fortunate that I am owned by God. In the end, all of my possessions will turn to dust and my ambitions will all fade away. In the end, only God will be important to me.
Prayer: Lord God, I am sorry that I allow envy and greed, jealousy and ambition to overwhelm my spirit at times. I am sorry that my insecurity and desires take away my contentedness and satisfaction with life. Forgive me, Lord, for surrounding myself with possessions that I cannot hold on to, or things that I will have to leave behind. Help me to focus on the eternal goodness of Your love and the everlasting blessings of Your grace. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Erin Daily Devotions: Ambitions
Sometimes our ambitions to succeed can become idolatrous monsters to feed.I have never really been comfortable around ambitious pastors. I’m of the old school that believes if you want a bigger church to lead, then grow the one that you’re leading right now. I’ve been in ministry for 22 years and in that time I’ve only led two charges. The average time that a pastor spends with one church is about four to five years, so by this time I should be leading my fifth or sixth congregation…if I was truly ambitious.
Podcast version here
It’s not that I don’t have ambitions and dreams for the congregation that I lead, or that I have jettisoned all my hopes and goals for the future. I just think that stability and dependability in pastoral leadership are more important than paper credentials and scholarly works. Those pastors who want to reach the top of the ladder are driven by a worldly view of success. For me, success is listening to God and trying to do what He wants for His Church and its people.
Matthew 20:22 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?"
"We can," they answered.
When the mother of James and John approaches Jesus about having her two sons sit beside Him in His glorious Kingdom, she is being ambitious on their behalf. Like any mother, she wants the best for her children, so she asks Jesus to grant her sons this ambitious request. James and John don’t ask this of Him directly, probably because they understand that Jesus isn’t big on power struggles within His chosen band of disciples. Sheepishly, they get their mother to petition Christ on their behalf. If they were truly ambitious, they would have personally asked Jesus to grant the request.
I like how Jesus answers them. He lets them all understand that He is also working under a Higher Power and that such a request is not His to give. He makes them aware that in order to be worthy of such a high honor, they would have to be willing to sacrifice themselves for the Kingdom. They answer this positively, in the hope that Christ will give them these positions of power. Jesus accepts their willingness, which has more to do with ambition and greed rather than service and loyalty. They will be required to sacrifice themselves for the cause, but it’s still up to God to allot the appointed thrones on the right and left of Christ.
Sometimes we allow ourselves to be overcome by our ambitions and in our zeal to fulfill our dreams, we lose a precious part of ourselves. James would be martyred for the cause and John would be exiled for many years. They both would pay a heavy price for their ambitions. If we also become obsessed with greatness and glory, then we can lose our humility and honesty, our faith and fidelity. There’s nothing wrong with wanting things to be better in our lives, but when we sacrifice our families and friends, our church and our charity, then we have taken the wrong path and have turned our ambition into an idolatrous monster that feeds upon our greed.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, keep us from grandiose schemes and ambitious dreams that would ruin the precious things in our lives. Help us to maintain a sense of balance, so that our desire to succeed does not become an idol of our greed. Allow us to seek to please You with our faith by placing our goals and dreams into Your hands. May we also use our successes to resource the eternally glorious work of Your Kingdom. In Your Holy Name, we earnestly pray. Amen.
It’s not that I don’t have ambitions and dreams for the congregation that I lead, or that I have jettisoned all my hopes and goals for the future. I just think that stability and dependability in pastoral leadership are more important than paper credentials and scholarly works. Those pastors who want to reach the top of the ladder are driven by a worldly view of success. For me, success is listening to God and trying to do what He wants for His Church and its people.
Matthew 20:22 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?"
"We can," they answered.
When the mother of James and John approaches Jesus about having her two sons sit beside Him in His glorious Kingdom, she is being ambitious on their behalf. Like any mother, she wants the best for her children, so she asks Jesus to grant her sons this ambitious request. James and John don’t ask this of Him directly, probably because they understand that Jesus isn’t big on power struggles within His chosen band of disciples. Sheepishly, they get their mother to petition Christ on their behalf. If they were truly ambitious, they would have personally asked Jesus to grant the request.
I like how Jesus answers them. He lets them all understand that He is also working under a Higher Power and that such a request is not His to give. He makes them aware that in order to be worthy of such a high honor, they would have to be willing to sacrifice themselves for the Kingdom. They answer this positively, in the hope that Christ will give them these positions of power. Jesus accepts their willingness, which has more to do with ambition and greed rather than service and loyalty. They will be required to sacrifice themselves for the cause, but it’s still up to God to allot the appointed thrones on the right and left of Christ.
Sometimes we allow ourselves to be overcome by our ambitions and in our zeal to fulfill our dreams, we lose a precious part of ourselves. James would be martyred for the cause and John would be exiled for many years. They both would pay a heavy price for their ambitions. If we also become obsessed with greatness and glory, then we can lose our humility and honesty, our faith and fidelity. There’s nothing wrong with wanting things to be better in our lives, but when we sacrifice our families and friends, our church and our charity, then we have taken the wrong path and have turned our ambition into an idolatrous monster that feeds upon our greed.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, keep us from grandiose schemes and ambitious dreams that would ruin the precious things in our lives. Help us to maintain a sense of balance, so that our desire to succeed does not become an idol of our greed. Allow us to seek to please You with our faith by placing our goals and dreams into Your hands. May we also use our successes to resource the eternally glorious work of Your Kingdom. In Your Holy Name, we earnestly pray. Amen.
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