Monthly Archives: February 2015

One dollar – Day Three

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One dollar – Day three:
As you look at your one dollar, consider what would it really be like to live on one dollar or less a day?

 

For one thing, it’s not one dollar every day. You have no steady or guaranteed income. Some days you have NO dollars coming in. Some days you have two dollars or more. Maybe sometimes you only have $4… for the whole week. It is like playing the income lottery every day. What you make is determined by how hard you work and whether you can produce something that someone else wants to buy that day, and if the weather cooperates. You work every day of the week, every day of the month. There are no weekends or vacations, no paid holidays, no sick leave. As you look at your dollar, ask, “What will I do if I am too tired or too sick to work or if I get hurt?”

 

Think about this as you look at your dollar today. Ask yourself, “Would I be able to manage my money, actually budget it, or would my focus be on just surviving? Where will I get ANOTHER dollar a day to protect and feed my spouse and yet ANOTHER for my child?

 

As you live on so very much more than one dollar today, maybe you will find yourself giving thanks for every dollar you are able to spend to feed and clothe yourself, to provide comfortable shelter, and to share with others. Maybe you will discover the joy of writing “With thanks!” in the memo line of each check you write, on the back of every check you sign, or under your signature of each message you write! I wonder, if you gave thanks for every good thing in your life today, including your one dollar, how long would that list be compared to your list of complaints? I hope you find yourself in awe of how amazing it is that we are able to have an audience with the creator of the universe whenever we want! It doesn’t even cost one dollar. It’s free.

 

 

One dollar – Day Two

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One dollar – Day two:
Look at your one dollar. Did you know that more than a BILLION people in the world today live on one dollar a day… or less?
That’s every person in the USA…times THREE!

 

You may be thinking, yeah, but the cost of living is so much less where they live. Right you are. But do you know why the cost of living is so much less? It is because they cannot afford the luxuries of things like clean water, new shoes, school supplies, safe food, cooking tools, medicine, or other basic living needs. Certainly one dollar cannot buy insurance for your health, life, house, or possessions. It doesn’t go in the vending machine!

 

I’m not telling you this to put you on a guilt trip. I’m not even asking you to give up a dime. But will you continue with me on this journey into another world not very far away? It only requires some of your time and the willingness to see things through different eyes. Maybe you will ask God to see the people around you through His eyes today: the person in the line with you, your coworker, person who just sent you a message. Maybe you will look through your address book or church directory and note the names of people you haven’t seen for a while. What does life look like for the person who makes half what you make? Or less? It’s not just about money. Ask, how would God want me to see the people I label ‘liberals’ or ‘conservatives?’ Ask yourself, “What would have to change in my life if I actually could see people through God’s eyes? Would it change how I live today…for the better?!”

 

Think about this as you look at your dollar before you go to bed tonight. You do have a bed and a pillow, and comforter, right? Living on one dollar a day, you are probably sleeping on a mat on a dirt floor with the fleas and lice that constantly bite at your skin. I’m not telling you this to gross you out or manipulate your emotions in any way. I’m on this journey with you. It’s not an easy one, even in the comfort of my home, but I need to press on. I hope you will continue with me.

 

 

One dollar

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You’re invited to take an adventure with me to a different world! Anyone can take this trip, whether you are young or old, healthy or sick, and whether you consider yourself rich or poor. You don’t need to buy a ticket, sell your house, or quit your job.

 

The journey you will take is across the paths of your mind and the recesses of your heart. But it’s not merely an intellectual exercise. For some of you, this adventure will catch you off guard. It will knock you off-balance until you find your footing again. If you invite God to go with you, it has the potential to transform the way you see your life and the world around you. It may cause you to question the way things are and compelled by how they could be. Along the way you might feel both humbled and blessed, impoverished and enriched at the same time. In the end, I think you’ll be thankful for having walked the path and find your heart strengthened.

 

Let’s start right now!

 

Day one:
Take a one dollar bill. Put it where you will see it throughout the day, every day, like the bathroom mirror, the refrigerator, the TV or computer screen, wherever you will see it often.

 

Whenever you see this one dollar bill today, think about what that one dollar means to you. What could you buy with it? Start noticing how the transactions you make today. Plan to do this each day of this journey. When I first created this exercise for myself, I noticed the yogurt I ate for a snack cost me 50 cents, a tea bag 15 cents. I bought a pack of gum that cost nearly the whole dollar. A bottle of water, almost free at home, cost nearly two whole dollars at the convenience store. So did a can of pop and a candy bar. Don’t make judgments about your purchases. Simply take notice. Awareness is at the beginning of all change in the world, in our minds, and in our hearts.

 

Take a look at your checkbook and credit card statement for the last month. I’m not asking you to judge them, just take notice. Ponder how easy is it to get what you want when you have one dollar or a handful of dollars? How far do you have to travel to buy what you need or want? Is it readily available?

 

This may seem strange to you to think about one dollar and perhaps not much of an adventure. But ask yourself, “What if this one dollar was ALL I had to live on for one day, every day?” How would you feel if you lost your very last dollar? What would you do? Where would you turn for help?

 

At the end of the day, talk with God about what you’ve noticed about the one dollar in your life today. Ask Him to reveal more of Himself to you, even as you sleep.

 

Understanding scripture: How many times must I forgive?

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During a recent ‘on the spot interview’ my wife and I were asked, “What advice would you give to someone considering marriage?” My wife quickly responded that you have to be willing to forgive, sometimes repeatedly; that marriage is a 100/100, not a 50/50 deal. (Hmm, I wonder why THAT came to her mind right away?)

 

Of course, she’s right. Marriage, and all close relationships, requires repeated forgiveness. You’ve been in this situation, haven’t you? You said or did something or you DID’NT say or do something that ended up hurting someone else.

 

Forgiveness is not only vital to the health of a marriage, it is essential to genuinely following Jesus. He not only talked the talk, He walked it too! In Matthew 6, He gives us an example of how to pray. We call it The Lord’s Prayer.

“And forgive us our debts (sins), as we also have forgiven our debtors (those who sin against us)” V12

 

To emphasize His point He quickly adds a promise and a warning:
“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Vs 14-15

 

Later…

“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18:21-22

 

So to keep on the right side of things all we have to do is run the math, 7 X 70, and forgive someone up to 490 times, right? After that we can write the transgressor off and say, “No more buddy! I’m done with you!” Actually, that wasn’t what Jesus was saying at all. Rather, He was saying that forgiveness, like loving and believing, is an ongoing process that we keep on repeating. It has no end. It becomes who we are.

 

Whoa, you might be thinking no one deserves that many chances! From a human perspective, I might agree…EXCEPT, when I consider how many times I’VE had to come to God asking forgiveness for MY sins. How about you? Talking about running the math, what if you and I sin only once a day; 365 times a year?  I don’t know about you but that’s a pretty low estimation for me! Over 10 years, that is 3,650 times; over 20 years, 7,300 times; over 40 years, 14,600 times.

 

But the point isn’t the number of times we sin or ask forgiveness. The real understanding of these passages is that forgiveness is a continuous and integral part of being like Jesus. In fact, if we choose to NOT forgive someone, we are really choosing to NOT be like Jesus. To disobey Jesus is to set ourselves up as the Lord of our life. I know how that isn’t working well for me…how about you? Ask God to search your heart and reveal where forgiveness is needed. Then clear the path for restoration in your life.

 

 

From routine to the edge of adventure

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Do you ever have the feeling like you are stuck in a routine, doing the same thing over and over, never really getting anywhere, but instead just running in circles, and just wasting your life away?

 

That was the plight of Bill Murray’s character in the movie, Groundhog Day. Every day he would wake up on Groundhog Day and everything would be the same as yesterday. The same pointless routines, the same meaningless dialog, and the same boring and unfulfilled existence.

 

Maybe you feel the same way. You look back at the past year and ask, “Where did time go?” You look back over a lifetime of toil and ask, “What happened to my goals and dreams?”   You’re stuck in a rut that seems like a grave with the ends dug out. You ask, “Is there a way out?”

 

Maybe today is the day to drive a stake in the ground or draw a line firmly in the wet concrete that proclaims, “I’m not going to waste my life. I am going to live a life of adventure with purpose and passion!”

 

What does it mean for a Christian to ditch the wasted routine and start living on the edge of adventure?

 

Jesus said “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23). He said it is like one who lost a treasure and gave up everything in order to find it.

 

It might look like Paul who considered everything he once sought to win as becoming like rubbish, worthless compared to knowing Jesus. Not just knowing more about Jesus, but knowing Him in such an intimate way that compels you to follow Him in everything you do. As the martyred Jim Elliot said,

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

 

Elliot’s fellow missionary, martyred by his side, summed it this way:

“I have one desire now – to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy into it.”

 

Francis Schaefer said it is the life being visibly marked by the expression of God’s love for others. Like a mentor of mine when I was a youth said, “To have even your unconscious thoughts and desires bear the mark of Jesus.”

 

Maybe the question isn’t, “Am I ready to get out of a rut?” Maybe the question is, “Do I really want to bear the full mark of Jesus and live the ‘abundant life’ adventure of following Him?” The call is yours. Answer it today.