The Root of All Evil

Today was our first Community back after a summer break. It was so nice to not have to walk into big church and feel awkward and uncomfortable in those pews, but to actually walk into a room full of people I love and who love me (not that people in big church don't love me... many of them do, it's just... so dull) and feel comfortable.

The popular phrase is "The love of Money is the Root of all Evil." Is that really true. True, money causes many of the problems in our world today, but really... ALL problems... it's a little extreme. Actually, money makes a lot of good things possible in our world today. We looked at one of John Wesley's sermons where he talks about the use of money amongst Christ Followers. Mike Kingsley mentioned it in his last blog, but it basically can be summed up in three short sentences: "Gain all you can. Save all you can. and Give all you can." Now, without going into great depth on this topic, it pretty much means that we should be hard workers. As Christ followers we should be hard working because we serve a higher master. We should use every minute of our day to work hard and earn as much as we can. Following that is "Save all you Can." This doesn't really mean to stockpile all of your money just because you can. It's more it's better to save our money than to continue spending it and pouring into this giant consumer economy that we find ourselves in. And the third of course is "Give all you can." It's pretty simple right. So why can't we do it? Why can't I do it?

John Wesley died with only a saddle. The reality of our finances is that 100% of what we have is God's. Not the 10th that we give to the church (even though that is important), but every penny we have is God's. That means that anything we purchase with our money is (or should be) an offering to Him (pleasing in His eyes). John Wesley wraps up his sermon with this:
"Brethren, can we be either wise or faithful stewards unless we thus manage our Lord's goods? ... Then why should we delay? ... At this hour, and from this hour, do His will: Fulfill His word, in this and in all things! I entreat you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, act up to the dignity of your calling!"

It might not all make sense because it doesn't really make sense to me right now either. Here I sit typing on my poop HP computer dreaming of owning a new Macbook Pro and a new SLR camera for my digital photography class. So what do I do with that?