Paycheck to Paycheck
Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. ~Mark 10:21
“I’m living paycheck to paycheck.” You’ve probably heard this phrase used before. But is it such a bad thing, when done for the right reason?
I’ve been wrestling lately with the idea of tithes and giving gifts to the Lord. Whether or not to actually do it, isn’t the question, but the faith behind it is what has been stirring up inside of me.
The world tells us to store up and prepare. That’s why we have saving accounts and 401k’s so that we can “retire happy”. Maybe my argument here is radical and over the top but I suggest that the less money you have the happier you will be. There are some conditions to this but here me out:
1. Know Christ.
2. Trust Christ.
When we know Christ as our Lord and Savior our lives are drastically changed. Matthew 4:19 Jesus says “Come, follow me”. Immediately they drop their nets and follow Him. They didn’t ask, but how will we eat? They simply obeyed. Read Mark 12:41-44. This poor widow comes and puts everything she has to live on in this basket for the Lord. She didn’t ask, but how will I eat? She simply obeyed.
My argument is this: if you are living paycheck to paycheck because you are buying “things” and “stuff” you are going to be miserable. Things will not fill the void in your soul. But if you are living paycheck to paycheck because you are giving out of an abundance of joy to the Lord He will bless you over and over and your life with be filled with happiness. Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow and not to worry about the clothes we will wear or how we will put food on our plate, but that the God of heaven is faithful to his servants.
It takes a lot of faith to go against the grain. To forgo safety and security in this life is contrary to everything this world teaches. I feel that if this “experiment” were to take place in ones life, even other Christians would mock the “insanity” of it.
What would happen if we lived paycheck to paycheck for the Lord? What would happen if every extra dime we had went to the Lord? What if I saw someone who needed a coat and gave them mine? What if I saw a need and fulfilled it? I believe life altering, world shattering events would happen.
The other day I talked about the authority Christ has given us. This is part of it. If we grabbed hold of these concepts as Christians and truly united on one front we really could turn this world upside down.
Do you want it? I know I do. I want to be known as “insane”.
I met someone
I will lead the blind along ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. – Isaiah 42:16
Coming back from lunch, I parked in my familiar spot and reclined my chair. David Crowder was playing through my ipod as I day dreamed for the last 20 minutes of lunch. I like to zone out during lunch, take my mind off of things and just relax. I stare at a computer screen for 8hrs a day so breathing in some fresh air and closing my eyes does wonders to break up the day.
Moments later I caught a silhouette in my side mirror, followed it through my rear view mirror, and then suddenly through the passenger side mirror… She was walking up to my door! She caught me off guard, with a big grin waving and giving a thumbs up sign. Stunned, I fumbled for the key to roll down the window and turned down the music.
“Love the music. She said. I saw your fish sticker and thought ‘that has to be another believer.’”
She stood about 5′7″ with grey curling hair and sleek blue eyes. She was bubbling with enthusiasm as she spoke of God working and what he was doing at Ocean Spray. She wanted to invite me to a prayer meeting during lunch that she had put together with other believers.
How funny it is when your prayers are answered. Lately I’ve been struggling with finding “purpose”. I feel blind walking around every day. What is it God wants me to do? How can I make a difference every day? I sometimes feel useless in the job I have now. Computers. What am I gonna do with computers? And then a little old lady comes by and offers prayer and an opportunity.
Over the past year I’ve felt a calling to teach the word. I began helping and teaching awana (children’s church), I started a bible study on Thursday’s, and started this blog all under guidance from the Spirit. At the same time I’ve been challenged to clean up my life, to forgo the things of this world, and remove myself from situations that aren’t conducive to my relationship with Christ.
In the darkness of the days of the world I’ve struggled with all of this. The more I focus on trying to do what I’m called to do the harder Satan attacks every aspect of my life. As I’ve wrote about previously, he comes at you like a roaring lion.
I got a job interview/offer last week to work for a company in Hingham. Great group of people, good location, and a ton more money. In the interview one of them mentioned he was a Christian and told what church he went to. I was excited! God is this you? Are you telling me to leave? Are you giving me this opportunity?
On the other hand I have a great job now, great people, close to home, great benefits, but not so great pay. However, I know the Lord placed me where I am. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 the Lord says “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness”.
“My grace is sufficient”. Has he failed me over the past 2yrs? no. Have I ever not had food? no. Have my bills ever not been paid? no. And I think a part of me sees the benefits of a new job with more money and wants that for worldly reasons. Hey, I could pay down my debts, maybe I could get a new car, or fix up the house.
Yet I always come back to this one verse: “and my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”(Philippians 4:19)
Could God want me at this new job and bless me by it more abundantly than I ever could have imagined? Absolutely. In no way am I saying you have to turn down more money to serve God. What I am saying is regardless of your position and how much money you make, or how useful you feel God will use you and provide for you always. And like in Isaiah, no matter how blind you feel walking in the darkness God will work out the kinks and smooth out all the rough spots before you. Most of all continue to pray every chance you get and stay in Gods word. He will feed your soul and His plans will be revealed to you when your ready.
Defiant
“Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion” – 1 Peter 5:8
Have you ever heard the saying “everything comes in 3’s.”? It’s a common theme, you get a new car cheap, and find a $5 bill on the floor of the local stop and shop and one of your friends mentions “hey what’s next? Good things come in 3’s.”, and vice versa for bad things.
Let me walk you through the last month of my life: I got severally sick for 2 weeks(bed ridden for days at a time), my heat broke, I ran out of heating oil, I hurt my back to where I thought I had just had back surgery again, I was down to my last dollar, a girl at work is trying to make my job hard and for some reason doesn’t like me, and as soon as I fixed my heat, it broke again, only this time I need an entire new heating system!
You know what my plans were in that month? I started a Bible study and I taught awana(kids church). I can say with certainty that had I not done those two things my problems would have went away. My heat probably wouldn’t have broken, the girl at work would probably be cordial, and my back would feel great.
Satan knows the power of the word(1 Thessalonians 1:5) because he knows the Bible inside and out.(Matt 4:6). If you begin taking on the tasks God has given you, if you decide to change and live for Christ you are going to feel it. It will not be easy. He is not going to come at you and prick your finger with a pin. He will come at you like a roaring lion looking to devour you.
Several years ago I gave up. Any little bump in the road caused me to stumble. It didn’t even need to be my bump! “Oh they disrespected my dad? Well, I’m not going to that church then!” I’m 26yrs old and I’ve been through some crazy trials in my short years. And up until recently each one had the desired affect that satan was looking for.
Then something happened. I chose not to live for this earth. I still struggle, sure, but my focus is elsewhere. I started my Bible study, I taught those little kids, and the trials got worse. Some how I need to come up with $4,000 for a heating system.
When it first happened over the weekend I got a little down. How am I gonna do this? Then I got defiant. I got mad. But not at God. I became defiant to the devil’s tricks and lies. To his manipulation of my situation. I prayed. I prayed while I drove, I prayed while I ate, I prayed while I slept.
You do not control my situation. I will submit to my God’s will and will remain in the places He has me. Jesus, help me in my time of trouble. You are in control and because of this I know I will not freeze to death, I know I will not go hungry. I know my pain is temporary.
I know I am in God’s will because I’m being hammered from every direction. I’m making a difference, some way, some how, for God’s kingdom. Satan knows it and he’s trying to break me down. I don’t see the difference I’m making and maybe I never will but I know it’s happening.
BRING IT ON.
I am defiant and I’m angry. Take anything you want from me satan because I’ve already won. My soul has been won. I have been bought with a price and I will let everyone know you are a liar and the blood that covers me covers them as well. I have fallen on a stone not cut with hands(Daniel 2:34) and have been broken(Matthew 21:44) for the glory of my Lord and Savior. These cheap tricks will not work on me any longer. This world, this house, these clothes, mean nothing. Take it. I’m out to save lives.
It smells so good!
Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. -Romans 6:11
A couple of months ago I was walking to my car after work and recognized an unmistakable smell; The smell of autumn. It was 45-50 degrees, the sun was beginning to set, and it just smelled like fall. I love that smell for some reason. Maybe it’s memories, maybe it’s the changing landscape but something about that smell seems calming.
I started thinking about what the smell actually was and it dawned on me that it was leaves. And I started thinking about why leaves die and regrow, why they change color, and why do they smell so good in the fall.
God gives us a perfect example of His word in a real world visual. See, leaves bud, the sun gives them light and they grow. They mature and turn in to a vibrant color of green. As the sun moves farther away from the earth and the days become darker the leaves begin to lose their vibrant green. For a few weeks they explode into beautiful yellows, reds, and oranges, cascading through the neighborhoods and forests, indulging our eyes. We actually plan vacations around this! But those bright colors are short lived. Without the sun the leaves lose their food. They begin withering and fall off the tree and within days are brown and brittle.
In those few weeks of colorful explosions and in the days preceding when the leaves have fallen and are brown and brittle they give off this smell I call “fall”. It smells so good, and personally, I love basking in a perfect fall day.
You probably already see the example, we are the leaves, Jesus is the sun, the son of God. When we turn our lives over to Him he changes us. We grow and become vibrant leaves.(Romans 6:4)
We are all sinners(Romans 3:23) and eventually that sin rears it’s ugly head even when we have committed are lives to Christ. Sometimes it’s brief, sometimes we backslide for a while. And during that time sin seems good. We feel good, we change color, we feel as though life is going fine. And for that brief time we look good to the world. We’re the bright reds and yellows, and oranges that attract other non-believers. We have more friends, we can do more things.(Matthew 7:13)
Eventually sin consumes you, you lose your connection with God and He becomes far away. Without food you wither and die.(1 Corinthians 10:3-4) You become brown and britle. Sin smells so good. Those reds, oranges, and yellows are so pretty to look at and on a nice fall day the smells can consume you. However, just like fire with it’s reds, yellows, and oranges, sin will consume you and devour everything turning it to dust.
Here’s the beauty of Christ: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”(1 John 1:9) You know what that means? That means, like a leaf in spring time we can rebud. We grow again! No task required, no 15 hail mary’s, no physical death. Just dead to sin, alive in Christ. Glorious, wondrous grace from the cross. That’s it! If you don’t get goosebumps reading that!
Don’t let sin consume you, don’t let Satan take hold and drag you down. It may feel good right now but in a few days, weeks, months, years, you are going to be hurting. Renew yourself now. Confess your sins, submit to His will for your life and let Him make you whole. You need food to survive and so does your soul. Pick up the Bible read a chapter, and pray to your Father in heaven. He’ll turn you a vibrant shade of green!
Don’t play house
Therefore what God has joined together, let man not seperate. – Matthew 19:6
I feel I must get on my soap box after having a conversation a couple of days ago with several non-believers. Two are around my age, one around my dad’s age. It troubled me to the point I needed a few days to grapple with what it really means.
Recalling how the conversation actually started is difficult, and probably irrelevant, but we all somehow managed to get on the conversation of marriage. One spoke up and said he and his wife moved in together and then got married so marriage wasn’t a “big decision” for them. Another chimed in and confirmed, saying her and her husband even bought a house together before getting married. The older of the 3, in partial disbelief, said “what is the world coming to?”. And proclaimed that it was much different in his time. You would think that was enough for me to chew on but it gets better.
In the world we live in none of this was really a shock to me. It’s a part of every day life now, a passing thought in the minds of all. Then came this revelation: “Oh it’s the way to go. I’m going to tell my kids to do it.” Hold on, WHAT?! The logic itself was flawed. When pried for an answer as to why the response was “with the divorce rate so high why would you not want to test it out first? It only makes sense.”
Even a non-believer was questioning this. And it made me think how much easier it must have been 30yrs ago to live a more stringent Christian life. How disgusting is this world than even just 30yrs ago? It’s so hard to stay on course when all around you are things to tickle your senses.
Then it hit me. The world doesn’t have a moral and spiritual compass to guide them. They step out in to the woods unprepared and are confused when they get lost. Don’t believe me? Try convincing a non-believer that the big bang is impossible. Yes, logically it makes no sense but they don’t have any other answer for how we got here so it must be right. 2 Peter 3:3 says in the last days scoffers will come following their own evil desires. It’s so easy for them to scoff at logic in the face of doing what they want. Following logic would mean changing and why change when things are “ok” as they are?
You don’t need to read far in to the Bible to see the answer. Genesis 2:24: For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. See, you want the divorce rate to go down? Don’t mess around before getting married. Sex is more than a feeling. It’s a union of two spirits, it’s something humans can not understand. Only God understands the complex union of two into one.
So you say, I’ve already had sex am I doomed? No, because the blood of Christ cleanses us of all sin.(Hebrews 9:14) When you except Christ in your life God only sees a blameless lamb, it’s the beauty of grace! In following a Christian life, divorce becomes a mute point. Through the power and glory of God He makes all things whole.
The divorce rate is so high because without a compass there is no guide to say “no that’s the wrong direction”. Unbelievers simply see it as a decision. black and white. Oh it’s sad, but you can find someone else. Not true. We should not break what God has joined together.(Matthew 19:6) It’s not just a decision. It’s a breaking of a union of two souls. Ever heard the saying “He took a piece of me with him.”? In a sense, this is true. If you give over to sex you have joined together as one and breaking that leaves a lasting impression.
I felt broken inside hearing that these children are going to be given no compass and be given misguided information on how to live their lives. I felt powerless, hopeless for them. I wish you could just shake someone into believing sometimes.
Remember, nothing is hopeless with God. He has a plan for each and every one of us. If you’ve stumbled, if your marriage seems irrepairable, if you’re a non-believer, don’t lose hope! Pour out your heart to God. He will hear you, he will pour out His blessings on you, even though we don’t deserve them. With God all things are possible(Matthew 19:26)!!
