And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies; That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.–2 Samuel 7:1-2

Throughout the years I’ve observed that God generally gets the leftovers. If you’ve read Malachi you know that this isn’t a new problem. Giving God less than He demands and deserves has been the history of man. Although the goodness of God leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4) and the grace of God provides our every need (Phil. 4:19) we tend to give Him the garbage of our lives, or at least less than our best. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords we treat Him like a bum on the street. For many, their only interest in God is what He can give them. They have no concern about what they should give Him–unless it gets them a lot of attention.

For years and years I’ve seen it happen. It is especially evident when people unload the junk from their garage on the church as a donation. They then have the gall to call it a “love offering”! Really? They can’t sell it and don’t want to use it so they “give” it to the church–everything from three-legged chairs to mimograph machines. Well–you get the picture. How much love does it take to give something that is of no value or use to you?

Part of the problem is that we are much richer and less deserving than we think. If we think we are poor we tend to feel justified in not giving much. The fact of the matter is that we are rich and have no excuse to not give. In one poll, Americans who had a net worth of over one million dollars didn’t consider themselves to be rich! On the other side of the coin, most Americans believe that you must have at least one million dollars to be rich. I like what one researcher did. To show that nearly all Americans are rich he made a list of things wherein he compared our lives to those in other places around the world. Here’s what he said:

1. Take out all the furniture in your home except for one table and a couple of chairs. Use blankets and pads for beds.
2. Take away all of your clothing except for your oldest dress or suit, shirt or blouse. Leave only one pair of shoes.
3. Empty the pantry and the refrigerator except for a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a few potatoes, some onions, and a dish of dried beans.
4. Dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, and remove all the electrical wiring in your house.
5. Move the nearest hospital or clinic ten miles away and put a midwife in charge instead of a doctor.
6. Throw away your bankbooks, stock certificates, pension plans, and insurance policies. Leave the family a cash hoard of ten dollars.

Now, with all this in mind, listen to what Dr. Paul Chappell writes by way of application:

The above list seems drastic to us, but when we consider that most of the world’s population lives in such conditions, we can easily see how we have truly been blessed by God. But God has not blessed us so we can simply enjoy such comforts. He desires that we would use our blessings to be a blessing.

David was sitting in a coveted place. He was king of Israel, respected by neighboring countries, and was enjoying a time of rest from God. Yet despite his numerous blessings, he realized something wasn’t quite right. He called Nathan, the prophet, and asked a poignant question, “See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.”

David was enjoying a cedar palace (cedar was considered a wood of royalty and was expensive), the Lord’s dwelling place was in an Ark of lesser comfort. He saw the need of a new dwelling place and sought counsel on how to provide it.

While you may not consider yourself wealthy or financially comfortable, God has blessed you financially. When you consider how little most of the world owns, you should thank God for what He’s given you. But don’t stop at thanking God. Ask Him how He would have you use your prosperity to help His work, help others, and further the Gospel.

Prayerfully seek God’s counsel in how you can use the blessings He’s given you. Take time to evaluate what you have and what you can give. Even if you don’t have much, God desires to stretch your faith and bless you even more as you open-handedly give to others of what you have.

Those observations and challenges are worthy of our consideration. It should affect every area of our life–not just what we give at church. Some people are fairly generous in what they give to the church, and thank God for that, but they never give to any other cause. It makes you wonder if the only reason they give to the church is because they know that somebody else will know and they will get some notoriety from it. Our concern for others should not be limited to one day a week. We are on call 24/7.

I can remember many times wondering how my family would make it financially. There were times when our needs exceeded what the church could or would give and it failed to provide our needs–but God never failed! Again and again He used people who gave anonymously to support us. Many times when we were scraping the bottom of the barrel and some dear saint would send exactly what we needed. Many times it came by way of a handshake with some money neatly folded up so nobody else could see. No one else had a clue as to what they were doing and that’s the way they wanted it. Their giving was not to be seen of man, but to meet the need of another. There was no praise from man (except from me), but great is their reward in heaven. I can’t talk about this without thinking about Bro. Dennis Maxey, one of the dearest friends I’ve ever had. Since he is in heaven now I can speak openly about this. Unknown to anyone else, he often saved the day for us (and others) by helping in ways that others never knew about. That’s the way he wanted it. He was more concerned about helping people than he was about calling attention to himself. You never forget people like that! Not only do I thank God for people like that, I want to be like that. Their example inspires me to become a better person. I pray that God will help me to be an inspiration to others, as others have been to me. Hopefully you feel the same. Think about it!

My pastor warned me and, I’m sorry to say, I didn’t really believe him. I thought he said it because of some bad experience in his life. I thought it surely must be the exception to the rule. I certainly didn’t think it applied to every pastor. He said, “The people you love the most and try to help the most will hurt you the most”. Although I didn’t see it then–he was right. If you aren’t careful you will become soured by the saints!

Perhaps you’ve heard this–“To dwell up above with the saints we love will be glory. But, to live here below with the saints that we know–well, that’s another story!”. It sure is. Here below, they will hurt you. That little ditty might sound funny, but it is all too real. The very same people you love and try to help will tear your heart out and, sadder still, some don’t even care if they do. Sooner or later, every pastor will discover what Paul meant when he said,”–I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.”(2 Cor. 12:15). Many folks talk a good game, but when push comes to shove they bail out. Most pastors are treated like church furniture–used up until they’re broken down and then discarded.

Here’s the cold hard facts. People will lie about you, lie to you, use you, and leave you. They will drain every ounce of your energy and then complain because you don’t do more, even if it is something they themselves should have been doing. Instead of going the extra-mile, enabling you to do your job “with joy, and not with grief”(Heb.13:17), they will take advantage of your love, knowing you won’t quit, and give you half rather than “double honour”(1 Tim. 5:17). Although they insist that you give all, they give only the left-overs (Mal. 1:6-14). You are expected to do what they themselves are unwilling to do, and if you dare even hint that it is unfair the name calling begins. You are supposed to “Cowboy Up” and pretend that everything is perfect.

The same people who say, “Tell it like it is”, don’t really want to hear it like it is when it comes to their short-comings. They want you to comdemn everyone’s sin but their’s. They don’t mind hearing about the failure of the church across town, they will even help spread the gossip, but they don’t want their own sin exposed. None of us do, but sometimes that’s the only thing that will help us deal with it.

I’m glad my pastor loved me enough to tell me the truth. I’m also glad that I had his example to encourage me. He was abused, neglected, falsely accused, and threatened to the point that I literally had to serve as a body guard in some meetings. Yet he never stopped loving the people, nor did he return evil for evil. He remained faithful until the day that God suddenly took him home with a heart attack. Now, nearly half a century later, his example continues to inspire me. Every time I’m tempted to throw in the towel I remember that he didn’t and I shouldn’t.

It would be funny were it not so serious. In the mind of many people preachers are supposed to be some kind of super-hero, like those found in the comic books. They are suppose to endure any trial, over come any problem, suffer any insult, and never stop smiling. God forbid that he ever feel like quitting–there is then no end to the slander against him. The cold hard facts is that pastors are only human–full of faults, prone to discouragement, and weak as a kitten. It is only by the grace of God that he can remain “faithful unto death”. So, here’s the cold hard facts–life isn’t always fair or fun, but we are commanded to be faithful. So are you. So, are you? Think about it!

“—We ought to obey God rather than man.”–Acts 5:29

In yesterday’s message I said, as I have so often, “Success is simply discovering the will of God and doing it”. The key to success for any church is that the members each do just that. Every member has a God-given job description and that is where their focus should be. If we each do what we should there is no way we can fail. However, doing what you should doesn’t mean trying to do everything you can. You might have the ability to do something, but if you don’t have the assignment you are doing something you shouldn’t. I recently read an article that illustrates what I’m talking about.

Usually when we think about disobedience we think only of not doing what we were commanded to do, but there is something else that should be considered. Sometimes we get ourselves in trouble by doing things we haven’t been told to do. I read about an employer who once fired a man because of this very thing. Here’s the story:

“He was continually doing things that I never told him to do,” he complained. A friend who heard of the matter went immediately and employed the discharged man, remarking that it would be refreshing to have an employee who would go beyond his orders. All went well for a time, when one day the man was ordered to take some boxes from one side of the warehouse and put them in the furnace room under the factory. The man carried out the order, and, seeing that there were boxes on the other side of the room, he removed them also. Some of the latter contained explosives, and as a result the factory was demolished. If we understand that God knows more about us than we do ourselves, we must be content to let him set the limits. Men who have attempted to improve upon the commandments of God have invariably found that the sequel was disaster.

Have you noticed–warnings are being sounded out from every direction. Nearly everyone is looking for a coming calamity. Some folks are taking every possible means to protect themselves, while others have their head in the clouds as though nothing bad could possibly happen. Both, I think, are wrong. I believe in being prepared as much as anyone–if you don’t believe me just try breaking in my house while I’m there, but it seems to me that some people have gone overboard. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about.

I just looked at a website called,”survivalseed.com”. It said,”For just $149.00 plus 15.00 shipping and handling (total $164.00), you can get enough seeds to plant a full acre survival garden!”. While there are some interesting things on this site I can’t help but feel that this is going to the extreme–that the ones who will profit the most are those who are selling the seeds. This site claims that this “New ‘Survival Seed Bank TM’ produces thousands of pounds of nutrient-dense food for pennies per pound—enough to feed friends and family forever!” That’s quite a claim. I’ll admit that I could be wrong about this, maybe everyone should plant such a garden. However, if things get so bad that our survival depends on having such a garden, wouldn’t armed guards be needed to protect it from thieves? We’ve seen numerous examples of riots and looting over much less serious matters. How bad do you think it would get if we had an actual nation wide shortage of food? I suspect it would be much worse than we can even imagine! We might very well live to see such a time, but I’m not so sure that we should worry about growing a garden. Most of us live in the city and we don’t even have an acre to grow such a garden. If such a food shortage ever occurs we would have to defend it with our lives. When people get to the point of starvation they will kill you without a second thought to get food. No, we need something more realible than “Survival seeds”, or a garden or a gun. We need God!

I’m all for being frugal, saving money, growing crops, canning food, etc., but all that alone won’t be enough to avert disaster. There is only one thing we can always rely on regardless of circumstances, and that is a right relationship with God. If that isn’t what it ought to be there is nothing on earth that will protect us. As a Christian you can rest your weary head upon the precious promise found in Matthew 6:33,”But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” I can live with that! It is not the size of my bank account, or the generousity of the church I pastor, or the state of my health, or the promises of the government to care for me that comforts me–no indeed. It is my faith in God’s promises that makes me feel safe and secure. He cannot lie. His promises are always true, His grace is always sufficent. That provides me with the peace I need to face an uncertain future.It will do the same for you. Think about it!

Some articles are interesting, fun, and/or inspirational to read, but offer little by way of practical value. Such, however, is not the case with this article written by Jim Elliff: