A Quarter and a Dime

A Lesson in Giving from a Six Year Old

During a recent Sunday at our church, my wife and I both doubled our offering amounts for Super Sunday. So when a leader asked us to give a little more for the pastor's aid offering, I knew I didn't have much left. I dug into my wallet, and found nothing. In desperation I dug into my pockets, and the only money I could find was $.35. A quarter and a dime.

Thirty-five cents. It seemed like such a small amount for a grown man to give, but it was all I could give, so I resolved that I would give it.

As they called for our section to stand, I stood and closed the quarter and dime tightly in my fist. I'd give, but I didn't want someone to see me, and think I was being "cheap". Then my granddaughter Kaylin filed past. She was smiling broadly, walking confidently, and there ceremoniously perched in the palm of her upturned hand was..

You guessed it: a quarter and a dime.

I relaxed the tight grip on my offering. If giving $.35 was enough to bring a smile to my granddaughter's face, it was enough to bring a smile to mine. I walked up and dropped my two coins in the Pastor's offering basket, flashing a big smile to the ladies from Pastor's Aid. They both flashed big smiles back. Apparently, they understood that I gave from what I had, no matter how large or how small. Once I released it, it was up to God to stretch and provide.

When I returned to my seat, I was singing happily, and probably looked like I had dropped a hundred dollar bill in the basket.

Thank you Lord, for the joy you give children. Thank you for parents who teach their children to give cheerfully, so us old folks can learn too.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 (NIV) Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Who Guides the Wind

I cried again. Dolly stood in front of about 30 friends from the church one weekend at our house, telling them what a wonderful husband and help-mate I have been in her life and especially during her surgery and recovery.

And I cried.

None of them could fully grasp the incredible change God has made in my life. Only I am able to stand in the present, look back at such an UNglorious past as mine, and marvel at the goodness and blessings that I currently enjoy. And my joy is complete when I realize Dolly and others are involved in my blessing.

I am profoundly grateful for every moment of my life, because without them I'd be a different person today. God has patiently and lovingly watched while I stumbled through failed relationships and shameful habits, calmly listened as I asserted time and again how much I didn't need Him to run my life, because I thought I was doing a pretty good job of running my life my way.

Only He could know how these seemingly random and undoubtedly painful processes happened to define my character, and refine my very being. He already knew where my life would lead, and He allowed events to occur which would more appropriately prepare me for the life I live today.

I claim nothing in this world. I know now that every act and event in my life has occurred with God's assent.

I've spent many years aboard the ship of my life with sails furled and hatches battened, fighting and enduring the fury of the storms in my life, not knowing that a Higher Power was there with me, gently waiting until I trusted Him enough to release my tight control, unfurl and hoist the sails a bit, and allow the wind to take me in unfamiliar directions, to unfamiliar destinations.

I thought I was steering the ship of my life through my own courageous, independent actions, but I never gave thought to Who guides the wind.

Copyright 2009 by Scotty Ward

WHERE Should I Give?

I had a curious conversation about money with a fellow Christian that I wanted to share.

This young man approached me at work a few years ago. We're both professed believers in Jesus Christ as our Lord, but this was the first time he had approached me to ask my counsel on spiritual matters.

He asked for my advice on where he should give. He said he already paid his tithe to his local church, and wanted to sow seed into another Christian ministry. Praise God for a willing giver!

Then he told me about how he had heard that some ministries overseas were bringing dozens, and hundreds of non-believers to Christ. He had in the past given to an evangelistic ministry here in the U.S., but stopped when some un-Christian practices were reportedly discovered. He asked me, wouldn't it be better to sow seed into a "productive" ministry (in this case one in a faraway country), where his money would get the best "return on his investment"? These were his words, not mine.

I said I didn't have a specific ministry to recommend. I told him that according to the Bible, we're merely asked to give (see below). After we've given, I told him, we've done our part, and should trust God for what happens with what we've given.

Luke 6:38 (CEV) - If you give to others, you will be given a full amount in return. It will be packed down, shaken together, and spilling over into your lap. The way you treat others is the way you will be treated.
I think this young man was expecting my response to be more earth-shattering or profound or something. My quoting scriptures seemed too simple for his liking. As he left, he said he was going to ask another Christian friend for recommendations of a ministry where he'd get a "good return".

Well, first off, I praise God for ALL givers. According to Barna Research, total giving nationwide is up this year, but tithing to the local church seems to be at an all-time low. But the question remains: is one ministry "better" or "worse" simply by some observed positive effect on those in attendance?

Sorry. I'm not gonna get all deep or profound here either. I trust God and I trust God's Word. Jesus said to give. He never mentioned "return on your investment". So I'm going to just GIVE. I start with my tithes, then move to my offerings, giving in support of our Missions Department, Pastors Aide, and as many other ministries as I'm able. Once I've given, I leave all the rest to the maker of heaven and earth. He's big enough to handle it.

Am I getting a "good return"? WITHOUT A DOUBT. God blesses me and my family every single day, in ways I couldn't have imagined a few years ago. My blessings are temporal (finances, etc.), as well as spiritual. Can I add up my blessings on a calculator? Nope. But let me tell you, I just LOVE God's math!
So just give. Yes, it's that simple. Let God have your gifts, and prepare to receive your blessing!

© 2010 Scotty Ward

My Knees Hurt; THANK YOU!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

My wife and I were attending a workshop downtown one Saturday, and because I didn't have change for parking, I parked the car in Virginia and took the Metro back to the event (having dropped her off at the workshop first, of course!).

On the return trip I was leaving the Pentagon City Metro, coming up the (stopped) escalator steps, and remarked to myself how my knees were hurting. I considered it a minor inconvenience, but definitely didn't have any sort of "God moment", thinking about my aching knees.

Until one minute later.

As I rounded the corner to leave the Metro station, I came across a cheerful gent, sitting in his wheelchair begging for change, because he only had one leg.

Thanks Lord for such an immediate and poignant reminder that your blessings come in all sizes and shapes, INCLUDING two (count 'em) knees that ache.

© 2010 Scotty Ward

The Luggage Went WHERE??

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

Phillipians 4:11b (NIV)

At the end of a very successful business flight last week, I landed safely at the Baltimore Washington airport, but my bag seemed to have taken a detour. I stood at the baggage carousel, watching the same bags go around and around, but mine wasn't among them. As time went on and the crowd thinned, I noticed I wasn't alone. From the looks of it, nearly 20 people from my flight were still anxiously watching the carousel in the hopes their bags would somehow arrive.

During this time, all I could think of was "Lord, I thank you for a safe flight. Sure, my baggage may have gone AWOL. But I thank God I made it!"

As it became apparent our baggage wasn't going to arrive, we lined up at the baggage claim door. I heard the airline employee checking the tickets of all the people in front of me, and saying "Newark" over and over again. For whatever reason, nearly everyone's bags had somehow been rerouted to Newark NJ, and with the snowfall and the holiday hubbub, the airline employee guessed it would be at least a day before their errant luggage would arrive back at BWI.

The people around me were NOT pleased. They were griping and grumbling, some quite loudly. They were being inconvenienced, and weren't afraid to let everyone within earshot know how irritated they were. But I wasn't buying into their negative attitudes. I was in the exact same circumstances they were, but I was thanking God for a safe flight home. My situation seemed identical to theirs; but I was very thankful my ATTITUDE was not.

When my turn at the counter arrived, I stepped up and greeted the woman cheerfully. She nervously took my ticket, thinking she would have to give me the same bad news she'd given to all the people in front of me in line. But when she checked my baggage claim number in the computer, her face brightened noticeably. She handed me back my ticket and said "your bag is on the flight touching down right now". Well thank you for unexpected benefits, Lord!

Though I experienced some quite unexpected favor from God for my baggage, I wish to point out that when all is going crazy around us, we can either join the people who complain, or we can bring peace to the situation. The choice is entirely ours.

But You, O LORD, are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head.

Psalm 31:3

God is indeed the lifter of my head. I give God the praise and thanks for everything, so the good and the bad are all His to manage.

Lord, thank you for offering us your peace, regardless what the circumstances look like. You are the lifter of our heads, and we turn our situations over to you, so that you can get the glory out of our lives. You're in charge, Lord. Instead of grumbling and complaining of what we believe inconveniences US, we choose to give thanks for it all, Lord. Thanks for it all.

Amen

-
© 2008 Scotty Ward

Wearing the Jersey Doesn't Make You a Member of the Team

"Wearing the Jersey Doesn't Make You a Member of the Team"
~ Anonymous

I'm a member of our Evangelistic Outreach team, sent by Pastor Hunt into the neighborhoods of Charles County to knock on doors and seek the lost souls. We don't go knocking on doors to find someone to "win over", but instead to offer people a helping hand, if they desire to be saved. In some cases, we pray with them at their door, but more often than not, the people we visit tell us they're not interested.

One Saturday morning, we visited a particular neighborhood, and as a door opened to me, (after introducing myself) I asked our usual question: "Do you believe in our Lord, Jesus Christ?" One woman's response was curious. As we broke the ice with the above question, her only and immediate response was "I'm _______" (Major Christian denomination). If I'm able to guess what she was trying to indicate with her answer, she seemed to be telling us "Yes, of course I believe. I'm a ________, and ________s believe, so I believe".

Well, praise God. I picked up on her cue, that she was at least affiliated with a section of Christianity, I said "Praise God. Where do you attend?" "Oh, I haven't been to church in years."

She didn't seem interested in a message of salvation through anything but HER church's denomination, which is entirely her right, but more curiously, she also didn't seem interested in attending worship services, Bible study, or affiliating in any way with the Body of Christ, even with her own local denomination.

Hebrews 10:23-25 (NIV) - Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

It seemed she felt everything was okay in her life because she was a member of a particular Christian denomination. She didn't speak of a private worship or prayer life, or of her own study of the scriptures. I got the impression she believed that by being a member of this denomination, that fact alone automatically placed her in right standing with God.

Philippians 2:12-13 (NLT) - Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

This scripture tells me that IF I'm operating in God's will, I'm seeking to do His will all the time, and I'm doing it "with deep reverence and fear". Nowhere in the scriptures (with the exception of the Israelites; the Jews) does God indicate that by being a member of this or that particular religious group (i.e. "wearing the jersey") you are nearer to a right relationship with Him.

Bottom line: It's not about my membership. It's about working on my own soul's salvation.

I pray this blog serves as a reminder to all the readers that your (and my) salvation is a personal matter between you/me and God, and you'll find all about it by staying in God's Word daily and by attending worship where Christ is glorified (Scotty's Personal Opinion follows: how can you tell if one or another denomination or service is "good"? First, pray and ask God to show you where to worship. Second, try counting the number of scriptures they use as part of their worship. If you see only a few scriptures mixed in with all the beautiful robes, processions, incense, and high-falutin' language (see Isaiah 1:12-13), you might want to pray about where you're at, and why).

Don't make the fatal mistake of relying on your affiliation with this or that particular DENOMINATION (see Hebrews, above) for your soul's salvation. And by all means don't rely on whether it FEELS right to you (see Proverbs 16:2). Work your own soul's salvation, with the scriptures as your guide. It takes work, but Jesus said he'll never leave us or forsake us. The Comforter (Holy Spirit) is with us to guide us to all truth. Denominations don't make the difference. Jesus does.

Have a wonderful and blessed weekend, and perhaps I'll see you at worship!

(Published Previously as "Salvation by Association?") © 2010 Scotty Ward

How About THIS Bread?

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

~Matthew 6:33 (New Living Translation)


During a recent trip to our local supermarket, my wife and I spent a very long time in the bakery section. We had resolved on this trip to find breads made with whole grains, but also bread that seemed agreeable to those who only ate white bread in the past.


We went to rack after rack, examining bread based on the subjective (how soft and eatable it looked) as well as the objective (whether it was made with whole grain, i.e. more healthy). Time after time, we'd pick up a loaf clad in bright packaging, proudly showing it to each other, saying "this one probably has whole grains", only to turn it over and find it contained none. The bread packaging was downright unreliable; it seemed the bread companies went to great lengths to accentuate the "selling points" of their breads, such as "soft", "rich", "goodness", and even "100% wheat". But after about five minutes of turning loaves over, we discovered that regardless what the pretty labels claimed, the only way we could learn if the bread truly contained whole grain was to examine the ingredients label on the back of the package.

Proverbs 21:2 (Amplified Bible) Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs and tries the hearts.


If you consider it, the Bible is God's "content label" for our spiritual lives. The enemy and the rest of the world try to get us to "buy this" or "try this". And they sure make those sinful activities SEEM nice. Even Satan himself disguises himself as a beautiful, beautiful being to look upon (see 2 Cor 11:14). In his audio commentary, The late Dr. J. Vernon McGee says it nicely: "Satan is an angel of light, and if you could see him, if he made himself visible to you, you'd see the most beautiful angel you've ever seen." Satan (and sin) seem beautiful, desirable, and compelling. But human attractiveness is not how God measures His will for our lives.


There's a way that looks harmless enough; look again—it leads straight to hell. (Proverbs 16:25, The Message)


So if something LOOKS good, if it SEEMS pleasing to us, how do we determine if it's really what God wants for us? There's only one way. Open your Bible (just like you turn the bread over), and learn directly from the objective source of God's will for humanity, His Word.


Sunday School, Bible Study, Home Bible Study Groups, Personal Bible Study. All of these are extremely important to help you learn the appropriate course for your life, because it's only through God's Word that you will discover God's divine will for you. Everything else may SEEM pretty, noble, and even "spiritual" (whatever that is). But in the end, straying from God's word leads (as it says it in The Message) " ...straight to hell."


We have two choices in our lives: we can do what we think is best, or we can learn what God's Word tells us to do, and do that instead. Ignore the "packaging", the pretty claims, the hype and the downright desirability of an idea. God's word does not promise physical comfort in this life. It promises a course that leads to eternal life with Him.


So take your life's situations and desires, and compare them to God's Word (i.e. compare your thoughts and actions to the Bible). Ask Him if the spiritual "bread you're buying" actually contains the holy ingredients that are healthy for your soul.


His label will surely tell you the whole truth. Amen.


-
© 2009 Scotty Ward

Fear is NOT Failure!

This week has been very difficult: I allowed depression and fear to sneak in to my otherwise peaceful life, and it almost paralyzed me. At one point, my wife prayed for me through the phone while I just listened and cried.

But if we pay attention, God has a way of showing us why we're going through certain things. This was one of those learning examples. You see, I typically play the MP3 Bible in my truck as I drive, and for some reason, the Holy Ghost had me repeating - over and over again - 2 Chronicles 20, the story of Jehoshaphat, including the "neither know we what to do, but our eyes are on thee" phrase. It was pretty comforting, but this morning the Lord gave me my epiphany.

In verse 15, the prophet is telling King Jehoshaphat and the kingdom of Judah that the Lord says "... be not afraid or dismayed...", but I just passed right over the implication of a prophet telling a king not to be afraid. This morning, the first three words of VERSE 3, earlier in the chapter, hit me like a spiritual brick in the forehead:

"And Jehoshaphat feared..."

Yup. The king of Judah FEARED. And this isn't an isolated thing in the Bible. 1 Samuel 21 tells us that the great King David, a "man after God's own heart" was afraid of King Saul, but was even MORE afraid of the king where he fled, to avoid Saul. In 1 Kings 19:3, we read that "Elijah was afraid and fled for his life." Yes, it's true, God has not given us the spirit of fear, but sometimes the spirit of fear arrives nonetheless. Even the mightiest of KINGS and PROPHETS have times when their own fears can momentarily overtake them.

But right after the Lord showed me about the king's fear, He showed me how the verse continues, "and set himself to seek the LORD..."

God keeps on blessing us, even through our fears. If one day I'm feeling fear and someone exhorts me with the familiar Bible verse, "God has not given us a spirit of fear", I shouldn't consider my feelings of fear as some sort of failure or shameful event. Fear in itself is only a feeling. Even kings and mighty prophets had moments of fear. Rather, the feeling of fear should remind me of where my blessings come from, and to turn in that direction.

Psalm 31:12-14 - I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.

May God richly bless you and yours, today and every day.

© 2009 Scotty Ward