Give Without Compulsion

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2 Corinthians 9:7 

New International Version (NIV)

⁷ Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

  Ever since I was a young child, I was trained to return a tenth of everything I received to the Lord as tithe. It became part of what I had to do to be a Christian. God would not bless me if I didn’t do it. Then in my twenty-first year, I began to see God and His service in a new way. As salvation strictly by Grace began its gentle but persistent work in all parts of my life, I re-evaluated this aspect of my life, too.

 Pastors have told me that when a church moves from a religion of works to a religion of grace, its offerings go way down. Those who discover that “Nothing we do can cause God to love us more, and nothing we do can cause God to love us less,” means we don’t have to give offerings any more. Since I was in the habit of giving tithes and offerings, I didn’t stop. I continued that habit. Apparently, many don’t—many didn’t have that habit in the first place.

During the years we were “missionaries” in Africa, the mission board removed the tithe from our pay check before they sent me my check. It came out of my pay as a tax. I was “under compulsion.” I didn’t give a tithe during those years, and I personally experienced the loss in my very psyche. It’s difficult to explain, but it made me feel less involved in God’s great mission on earth—to give every soul a chance to be saved—even though I was a missionary and sacrificing in many other ways.

Why give then? After all, God has more than enough? When He set up the Hebrew nation, He designed that 11/12^ths of the nation supported the 1/12^th that were set aside to do the Lord’s work directly. Thus 1/10^th tithe would generously support the 1/12^th workers with extra left over. It is a real privilege to fit into a plan God chose to use. Furthermore, He has promised to bless those who do so far better than they would have been otherwise. Indeed, He has kept that promise in my life.

 I rejoice, Lord, for providing me a chance to participate in Your kingdom in a very real way.

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[i] https://changingwinds.wordpress.com/2016/10/09/to-tithe-or-not-to-tithe-the-moral-question/

 

Saved in Childbearing

 

1 Timothy 2:14-15

King James Version

¹⁴ And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. ¹⁵ Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing. . .

 

It was in November of 1968 when Sylvia suggested that she was getting old—26 years old—and it was time to have a child. The thought had never entered my head. After all my parents had been married for 10 years before I came along. At that point we had been missionaries at Ikizu in Tanzania, Africa for two years. I was teaching more than a full load and was responsible for maintaining all the machinery on campus: the tractor, a vintage lawnmower, the electricity generator, flour mill, and water pump. It was also my duty to provide the kitchen with wood to fire their stoves. When anything went wrong anywhere on campus, I was the first person they called. I was too busy to think about raising a family.

Sylvia was warming to her subject: “Even the Bible says a woman would be saved by having children.”

I laughed: “Oh?”

Then she read from first Timothy, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. ¹⁵ Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing” . . .

She stopped, and let the words sink in. Then she added, “You don’t want me to be lost, do you?” All the other missionaries, the Dunder, Martinsen, Johnson, and Dobias families had children. Only the Kings (who probably couldn’t have children) had none.

The discussion went on. I did want children, of course. Then why not start now? Two or three weeks later I left to go a three week long mathematics teachers’ conference at the University of Dar es Salaam. When I returned from the conference, Sylvia was glowing. I thought she was happy to see me home. “I’m pregnant!” she beamed.

“Well, whom do you want to tell?”

“Oh, let’s keep it secret until I really start to show.” Which we did.

 

What a joy it is to participate in Your creating, Lord! Thank You!

 

Love the Transgressor

 

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Romans 5:8
Good News Translation
⁸ But God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us!

It was my second year in college. The college bulletin listed 10 actions that were grounds for expulsion. I had offended in 9 of them. I wished I could have claimed all 10. I had a rebellious attitude, and the disciplinary committee met and suspended me for 6 weeks. They were kind to me. I deserved outright expulsion.

When I got home my parents labored with me. They were very persuasive about how my actions would affect my life in the long run. They also emphasized how my current course of action was threatening my eternal salvation. They encouraged me to go back to the college town and see how much I could do to clear up my record. Their logic and reasoning made sense to me. First, I shelved the rebellious attitude; then I went back the 1,500 miles and cleared up as much as I could.

The president of the college found out that I was back in town and what I was doing. I told him I had had a change of attitude and what I was doing to try and rectify things. He complimented me. He then told me that I was not speak to any of the students. Furthermore, he was not willing to ask the faculty to reinstate me into the college He didn’t mention the six-week suspension: he regarded me as having been expelled. He knew he couldn’t stop me from speaking to the students because my brother was at the school. I had not mentioned the six-week limit, but he was letting me know I wasn’t welcome there.

God, on the other hand, bore all my punishments before I committed the sins that demanded punishment. He welcomed me into his kingdom before I was born.

That president may have been frustrated some years later when I returned to the college as a professor. By that time, he was no longer the president, and they had eagerly sought my services. When I was introduced to the students at a college assembly, I mentioned to the whole group that the last time I had been formally connected with the college I had been expelled from there. As far as I could tell, it only improved the way the students accepted me.

 Thank You, Lord, for loving me—and my readers while we were still sinners.

 

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[1] https://www.linkedin.com/company/helderberg-college/?originalSubdomain=zaa

Sing & Praise with Kids

 

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Psalm 101:1

Common English Bible

 Oh, let me sing about faithful love and justice!
    I want to sing my praises to you, Lord!

 

As a family we often went on short trips like up onto Mt. Wachusett, and every once in a while, we would drive for hours to Grandma and Grampa’s home. We had our share of “Are we there yet?” or “When are we going to get there?” whines. Sometimes it was a scream or shout, “Mommy, Esther’s got my crayon!” or “Daddy, Ricky’s leaning on me!” or even worse, “Stop it! Mommy, Julia pinched me!”

Often someone would start singing, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine…” Then it progressed through “Won’t let Satan (whew) it out.” For twenty minutes or more we would sing all the songs we could remember. Many of these songs were ones of praise and love. Of course, we sang some foolish ones too like “I know an old woman who swallowed a fly”.

Peace would reign in the car. The miles seemed shortened, and we would arrive at our destination rested and full of life and vigor.

On longer trips Mom or I would read a book. As Esther got older, she introduced us to books like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis. This led to discussions on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for our sins and many other vital Christian topics.

We had no mechanical dishwasher in the house, so we organized the family into doing the dishes. Daddy was asked to read as we did them. Preschool Ricky insisted that we read the whole King James Bible, including all the “begats” and “the Lord spake unto Moses saying, ‘speak unto the children of Israel saying …’” Because we explained the old phrases and words, Shakespeare was no mystery to the kids later on. The kids attended parochial schools and often found they knew more about the Bible than their teachers! That legacy was important to their lives, and they are still influenced by it.

 

We praise You, Lord, for making home life just a little bit better!

 

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[1] https://www.freepik.com/premium-photo/parents-read-book-children-sisters-listen-as-daddy-reads-fairy-tale_8282694.htm