The 90's had better radio rock than any other decade in America. I'll suffer no discussion on this. It's just the plain truth. I love 90's radio rock so much that I've told my wife I'd like to name a daughter Seattle.
But who would have known, who could have known, one of the best 90's radio rock albums would come from a trio of 15-year-old kids in the middle-of-no-place Australia? That's right. I'm talking about Silverchair and their hurricane debut album Frogstomp. Even if the rest of the album sounded like a dry fart, you have to love the song Tomorrow.
Now, I bring this up for one tiny, seemingly unconnected reason. The opening line in the second verse says, "You say money isn't everything. Well I'd like to see you live without it." And there I see a point of tension with a lot of people in the church.
In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus tells people not to worry about stuff like food and clothing. Several people walk away from Him disheartened by the cost of following Him (as in Mark 10:17-22 and Luke 9:22-24). But does that mean we really give away everything? Give up the security of money, family, and career? Consider the possibility of homelessness, persecution, and death?
If not, why not? Where does Jesus tell us to hedge our bets?
Yes, Proverbs does tell people to make plans, and Paul does tell Timothy how men should work to provide for their families. My problem comes from the attitude culture fosters in us. "God provides, but just in case, there's UnitedHealth."
While writing this, a guy at my wife's coffee shop asked me to talk with him about God. Within two minutes he tells me how he needs to pay his landlord a certain amount of money by 9:00pm or else she would throw him out. As I'm talking with this guy, I tell him what I can do for him. Then I say, "But I really think we should pray. I've seen God answer prayer over and over again when it comes to this sort of thing." And then the guy got mad. He says, "I don't need prayer, I need to pay my rent!"
Before you or I go tsk-tsking this guy, let's be honest. We've all felt that way in very desperate moments. Haven't we all at one point reacted just like him? We know we need God, but in the middle of a crisis we want the material means to alleviate the situation first.
Just so you know, the man did let me pray for him. Within twenty minutes, I worked out a solution with his landlord and the guy got two phone calls for odd jobs. Without looking me in the eye, the guy mumbled, "Maybe that prayer did work." Ha.
Maybe you don't think you would react like that guy. If so, let me ask you this: What if you somehow lost your health insurance? What if you had an emergency that your insurance wouldn't cover? What if it affected your wife or kids? Would you pray, trusting God to take care of you? Or would you honestly wonder if a good God could allow such a thing to happen to you and your loved ones? How would you feel if someone said, "Let me pray for you" when you had 24 hours before the end of your known universe? Is it wrong to say we worship what or who we trust most?
I'm not saying insurance itself is evil (although I can't give the same confidence to insurance companies), but I do think we should consider our heart in light of what we find in the Bible.
What kind of attitude do you think Christians should have?
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This is an interesting one for sure.
I remember the first time I really, truly, decided not to worry. (Actually It wasn't all that long ago on my timeline...) There's still the aftershocks - but one slowly retrains oneself to know the new.
I grew up with worrywart tendencies...I had a lot of worries, my parents worried - everyone was just generally freaking out all the time. But as I grew in my relationship with God, I came to a point where I knew worrying doesn't help.[And really, it doesn't - on a physiological level, it will completely jack your system. Anxiety leading to panic attacks is wack and wrong on so many levels.]
And so I decided to make a concerted effort to not worry about how in the #$%& I'd pay the mortgage, or deal with XYZ at the time. (Not all money related, but you get the idea.) God's down to help always. He shows me again and again. There have been these times where I needed something...and He provided it, with this tiny, quiet nod, as if to let me know He's got my back - even on the simple things. And it's very, very cool.
For me, I think it's more of "the asking" part. Somewhere along the way I felt I shouldn't ask for help for some needs or circumstances. Which is pretty silly. I mean, He knows me, right? He gets that I am a frail human, full of mishaps and generally stumbling around trying to get there.
But there I am (actually, I was thinking about this a little while ago as I pondered something requiring assistance) thinking that I am in so-and-so bind, all people-human relative whatnots, and I shouldn't have to get help on this one. [Really? Am I tryng to save up for something? Geez.]
[I've been so absorbed in trying to complete university people-tasks (which seem to thrive on unneccesary stress) that I realize my days are all wound up. It's hilarious that the same spelling can also mean an injury, but I digress.]
It's all conditioning, straight up. It's mind boggling, but I just remind myself each day. Or try to remember to remind myself. We live in a strange society, often times reminders are helpful.
So thank you for reminding me, once again, that it's cool.
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