Alms

Matthew 6:1-4 KJV
1 “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 “Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 “But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 “That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.”
—

It was the most natural thing for me to do. My beautiful wife came to bed a little later than I, and she asked for me to scratch her back, and so I did. I didn’t really think about the late hour, how much I really wanted to get to sleep after a long day, nor even how my own back was hurting right then. I just scratched her back all over, and then we went to sleep. No big deal.

That’s how we are with the ones we love: when it comes to giving, we don’t really think much about it. We just do something—cooking, cleaning, taking care of hurts, comforting, or whatever. If we DO take the time to think, then… Well, let’s just say it can lead to strife in the home, if you know what I mean.

But when it comes to people outside our family, do we give so freely? Do we just give without thinking, or do we take the time to weigh our giving against our own desires and needs? I will be honest here: I am as guilty as the next guy of reconsidering my charity, thinking with my head instead of my spirit when it comes to giving alms.

The very word “alms” comes to us from the Greek word used here in the Gospel of Matthew, ἐλεημοσύνη (eleēmosunē), which in turn comes from a root word ἔλεος (eleos) which means “mercy” or “compassion.” Eleēmosunē can be thought of as “compassionateness” or “beneficence”—an act of mercy or kindness. Here Jesus is telling us to keep such things secret from the world, and as nearly any pastor would tell you, we keep our alms secret from others because our compassion is more about our relationship with God than about our relationships with men. Some might think that almsgiving simply scores brownie points with God, but that is not the case. Yes, we do store up treasures in heaven when we display Christ-likeness, but our charity must come from our hearts, from a desire to BE more like Christ, not from any desire to score points with our Father in heaven. Almsgiving is a natural part of Christian living.

What strikes me about this passage is how Jesus tells us to keep our alms secret even from ourselves. Why should we do that? Because when we take the time to think about what we are doing, when the one side of our brain weighs what the other is trying to do, then we can be misled into either (A) doing things for the wrong reason, or (B) simply not doing something good at all. Our human mind is prone to consider things in a fleshly, worldly manner, whereas when we do things in the Spirit, such considerations never come to bear.

How often have we passed a beggar on a street corner, weighing the cash in our wallets against the time we have to get home or to work, or perhaps against our own next meal? How often have we held back a little from the offering plate because we wanted to get that pizza later in the day? How often are we stingy with our time, our finances, our prayer for others, simply because we are thinking of the things WE want or feel we need?

—
Philippians 2:3-8 NKJV
3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
—

Jesus looked down from heaven upon the weight of sin of the world, and He didn’t consider it robbery—i.e. He didn’t think we were stealing anything from Him that He wasn’t ready to give—for Him to lay aside His glory and power in order to be obedient to the Father’s will and save us from our sin. He never once refused someone kindness, healing, or comfort. And if He ever weighed such things in His mind, isn’t it amazing that WE always came out ahead of all His other considerations?

That is why it is so important for us to stop thinking with ourselves in mind when it comes to giving to others. When it comes to His tender mercies, God never once held back from us. His great love for us drove Him to always put us first, to never worry about the pain, the suffering, the loss. Jesus set His eyes on the joy of the Father, the joy of fellowship with all of us, and that enabled Him to bear the cross FOR US. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

So let us give without thinking, without vain conceit, without selfish considerations, without any mind but the mind of Christ. Let us never consider it robbery when the Spirit urges us to share with others what God has so freely given to us. Let us instead be charitable, give alms, share with the needy, and keep it secret from everyone—including ourselves!—lest we think too much and do nothing at all.

Holy Father in heaven, I ask Your forgiveness for being so selfish all this time. I pray, Lord, that You give me more of Your Spirit, so that I may have the mind of Christ in all things. May all I do be glorifying unto You alone, with no thought to any need of my own, for I know that if I seek You first and Your kingdom, You WILL provide. Amen.

Glenn A. Pettit

A new place to find me: The Well!

The church I attend, The Well, has an awesome new website put together by our worship team. I am honored to be cross-publishing my writings there. Check out who we are and what more we have to offer at The WELL. You can find my writings under Devotions.

Shalom! G.

 

Studied by all

Psalms 111:1-4 NKJV
1 Praise the LORD!
I will praise the LORD with my whole heart,
In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.
2 The works of the LORD are great,
Studied by all who have pleasure in them.
3 His work is honorable and glorious,
And His righteousness endures forever.
4 He has made His wonderful works to be remembered;
The LORD is gracious and full of compassion.
—

A few years ago when I was working a sales job, I liked to take my half-hour lunch to read. They eventually put a TV in the company’s break room, but I still spent my time reading. After I came to Christ, that practice didn’t change, but the materials did. One day, one of my fellow workers remarked that I always seemed to be reading the same book. “What are you reading every day?” he asked.

“A really Good Book,” I quipped, winking at him and holding up my Bible so he could see what it was.

“Don’t you get tired of it?”

“Nope. Like I said, it’s a really Good Book.”

A few days later, he saw me reading something by C.S. Lewis, and he said, “Aha! So today you’re reading a different book!”

“No, not really,” I replied. “It’s just a book about the other Book.”

I’m not bragging. It’s just a simple fact that I don’t get tired of reading my Bible. I have only once read it straight through from cover to cover, and that was very early in my walk with Christ, but I have re-read every book and chapter many times over, and I continue to study the Bible daily.

A recent study by Lifeway Research shows that Americans really do believe that the Bible is important and they ought to be reading it, but that same study also shows that only 19% of Protestant churchgoers actually read their Bibles daily. And although 90% of those same respondents felt they wanted to honor Jesus with their lives, far fewer actually read their Bibles even weekly to see just how to do that.

Why don’t people read their Bibles? Some folks I have spoken to indicate that they feel the Bible is too difficult to read, that perhaps they are not smart enough to understand what they read. And perhaps more than a few people might say their schedule doesn’t allow for it. Some folks get bored reading it. (Does the Book of Numbers come to mind? Yes!) Others say they don’t see the relevance for their lives. Well, here’s what Jesus had to say to all of that:

—
Luke 12:34 NKJV
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
—

“But we’re not talking about treasure!” you may reply. Oh, but we are, we are.

Look at the verses above from Psalms 111, especially at verse 2. Here’s the old King James version:

—
Psalms 111:2 KJV
The works of the LORD are great,
sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
—

Here’s a question for you: Do you take pleasure in God? Does He delight you, appeal to you? Do you treasure Him? Do you love Him the way you love your spouse, your children, your favorite sports team or TV show? Here, again, are Jesus’ own words:

—
Matthew 10:37-38 NKJV
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”
—

And in case you forgot what comes next…

—
Matthew 10:38 NKJV
“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”
—

Jesus never said it would be easy to follow Him. He compared living a life for Him to carrying a cross—a cross of shame, a cross of toil, a cross of persecution, and yet a cross of redemption. And why did Jesus walk that road, live that life?

—
Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV (my emphasis)
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who FOR THE JOY THAT WAS SET BEFORE HIM endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
—

Jesus did it all for JOY in His Father, JOY in serving us (Philippians 2:5-7), JOY in fulfilling the Father’s will for all mankind.

So I will ask again: Do you delight in God? Do you seek to know Him and take joy in Him?

In the verses above, the Psalmist reminds us that the works of the Lord are sought out by those who delight in them—and thus those who take pleasure in Him whose works they are. I can tell you why I read God’s Word: I want to know Him better, to understand what He has done and will do, to see His plan for all humanity and for me.

When I met my wife a few years ago, we spent hours upon hours talking about ourselves. And we ate it all up, because beyond our common love for God, we were finding a love for each other. And we are still learning, still maturing, still growing in our faith and in our knowledge of each other. Why? Because we take the time to learn about each other. I take pleasure in her, in the things she does, in the way she does her job, in how she parents our children, and in the myriad beautiful ways she looks from one season to another.

And, as you’ve probably guessed, I delight in God, and so I seek to know Him more, too.

As Jesus said, where our treasure is, there our heart is also. If we treasure anything else more than God, then that is the thing we will spend our time on and devote our attention to. We will spend endless hours reading about celebrities and trivia, and we will spend hours watching videos and movies, and we will devote more time to sports than to reading our Bibles.

The reason people do not read their Bibles and come to know God more is simple: They do not treasure God enough to give Him their time and effort.

“Whoa! That’s harsh!” you say. Yes, it is.

I am not saying everyone needs to be spending as much time as a pastor reading their Bibles. (Although that would be AWESOME!) What I AM saying is that the works of God are wonderful and are meant to be remembered, and we cannot do that if we are spending all our time and effort on useless things. We are meant to REDEEM the time we have, NOT WASTE IT. And the sad part is, that even in this day when we have so many resources available, most people don’t even try to find them. (Here’s one for you pastors out there: How often does a parishioner ask you for help finding a Bible study guide, something to help them make sense of their reading? Not very often, is it?)

Friends, we need not face the Bible alone. First of all, most churches have at least one Bible study group, and many have a half-dozen or more small groups that meet to discuss Scripture. (And I ought to remind you that you do not necessarily need to attend a study at your own church. Ask your friends about other studies at other churches.) Also, there are Bible reading plans to help you attack the Bible one day at a time, spending as little as 20 minutes a day to finish the whole Bible in a year. There are also audio Bibles for those who have trouble reading. Beyond that, we have books upon books ABOUT the Bible—which I know can be daunting, but again we can ask others what helps them understand the Bible. And let’s not forget online resources. (I recently found a nice one for beginner Bible readers, called Enter the Bible.)

My point is that the Bible reminds us again and again that it is God’s Word, and that we are to KNOW that Word. How can we test the spirits if we do not know the Voice of God as it is clearly written in His Word? How can we know whether something we are considering is Godly or self-serving if we don’t have examples to compare our decisions to? How can we make disciples and share the gospel if we cannot explain at least some of God’s Word? The Bible is full of stories and commandments and history and poetry and admonishments and directions and promises. Yes, there are the boring parts. But for every long list of names and numbers, there are countless stories of heroes and hope. For all the darkness of prophecies against God’s enemies, there is the great light of Jesus Christ for those who love God.

I can tell you this from my own experience: No time you spend reading and studying the Word of God is ever wasted. Knowing Him can only increase your love for Him, and you will actually delight in Him more and more. And the more you delight in God, the easier it gets to discipline yourself to study His Word more. And the more you study your Bible… You get the idea.

Father God, You are our greatest treasure, our great reward. We seek to know You more, delighting in Your works and Your Word. May Your Holy Spirit guide us into understanding the Bible better, and help us to take pleasure in knowing Your works as we never have before. Be our sole delight, O Lord! Amen.

The Gospel Moment

Judges 6:22-24 KJV
22 And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face.”
23 And the LORD said unto him, “Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.”
24 Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovahshalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
—

There is a moment in every Christian’s life when they first realize that God truly does desire to help them and not to harm them. It is that moment when we finally realize the weight of our past sins is bearing down upon us, and we see that we are truly depraved at heart. Perhaps we are leading a better life at the time, and we are already turning to God for peace and release, or perhaps someone has been teaching us the Word of God, showing us the gospel influence in their own life. But for every one of us believers, there is one particular moment when the weight of all our sin comes crashing down, and we realize two things: how unworthy we are to stand before God, and how much we need a Savior to make us worthy. And then comes what I like to call the “Gospel Moment.”

What is the Gospel Moment? It is that point at which, despite all our past sin, despite our previous half-hearted attempts at repentance, despite our feelings of shame and guilt, we finally realize that God does not want to destroy us but wants to bless us. It’s what Jesus was talking about in John 3:16-17:

—
John 3:16-17 NKJV
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
—

God loves us and seeks our good, not our punishment. Yes, He can and will punish us for disobedience, and He will discipline us when we stray from His will, but ultimately, He seeks peace for us. And lest anyone get the idea that this is simply a New Testament idea—supposing as some do that God is somehow different between the Old and New Testaments—we can find many examples in the Old Testament of God reminding us that He wants to help and heal us.

Gideon’s story is one such example. When the angel of the Lord first showed up to Gideon, the young man questioned whether God really did favor Israel anymore, and he challenged the angel to demonstrate his true nature. And as we see in the verses above, once Gideon saw the work of the angel of the Lord, we was convinced. Of course, that’s when Gideon had his revelation, that moment of knowing how unworthy he was to stand before God and His angels. Having seen an angel, Gideon was convicted in his own heart, and he believed that the angel would surely carry out God’s judgment upon him, a lowly sinner.

But then Gideon gets the good news: “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.” (v.23 NKJV) It is the same news the shepherds received on the night Jesus was born:

—
Luke 2:8-12 NKJV
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
11 “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 “And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
—

“Do not fear” repeat the angels throughout the Bible. At the Annunciation to Mary, the angel says it. To prophets and patriarchs throughout the Bible, the angels and the Lord Himself remind us “do not fear.” Hundreds of times in the Bible, God tells us not to fear His presence. That is not to say we should not fear His judgment, for we should.

—
2 Peter 3:9 NKJV
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
—

The Lord suffers long with our sin and disobedience because He desires our repentance, our turning away from our past evil ways. He desires faith and justice and mercy among us. And so His presence among us is a good thing, because He is taking a special interest in us. As the Lord says to Gideon, He wants peace for us.

So Gideon has his Gospel Moment, that time when the good news of salvation finally hits him. And He responds just the way others have before and after him: Gideon worships the Lord and praises Him as the God of peace, Jehovah-Shalom.

When was your Gospel Moment, that time when you realized that the Lord wanted peace for you, that His desire is repentance and not wrath? When did the Lord finally break through to you past all previous sin and shame, to touch your heart with the Living Word? And more importantly, what have you done since that time? The apostle Paul reminds us a couple of times that we must “redeem the time” in which we live, that we should not waste it in vain pursuits but devote it to God, for the Lord will return when we least expect Him. (Ephesians 5:15-16, Colossians 4:5) How are we redeeming the time since we had our Gospel Moments? If you need examples of how to redeem the time, read your Bible and follow the stories of those who faced the Lord or His angels and received the good news of peace and salvation. Look at Moses and Jacob, at Samson’s father and mother, and at Gideon and the prophets. Look at the Apostles such as Peter and Paul. Look at the stories in the Gospels like the woman at the well and little Zacchaeus. Look at their lives, and how they received the good news and what they did next.

The Lord our God truly is Jehovah-Shalom, “The LORD is Peace.” He loves us all and desires what is good for us. He does not want us to keep living mundane lives, to stay in the rut of our worldly ways but to break free into new life, and to find peace in Him and with Him. Gideon had his Gospel Moment, and he went on to fight against the idolaters and oppressors of his day, and he freed Israel and brought them peace all around. If you’ve had your own Gospel Moment, what will you do?

O Father of Peace, O Lord of Glory, thank You for lifting us up, for seeking our salvation when we did not seek You. We praise You, Father God, for Your mercy and grace, and we welcome the peace which only You can give. We pray, precious Lord, that You grant us wisdom and passion to follow Your ways and to glorify You in all things. May we redeem the time we have remaining, stirring up Your Spirit within us so we accomplish what You have set each of us to do. Amen.

A Song of Ascents

Psalms 131:1-3
1 A Song of Ascents. Of David.
LORD, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me.
2 Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.
3 O Israel, hope in the LORD
From this time forth and forever.
—

There are conflicting ideas about why Psalms 120 to 134 are called the Songs of Ascent (or Songs of Degrees in the old King James Bible). One view is that these fifteen Psalms were sung on the fifteen steps leading up to the tabernacle of the temple in Jerusalem. Some scholars have asserted that these songs were sung by the returning Babylonian exiles, but not all of the songs quite fit that scenario. Another view is that they were sung leading up to the major feasts in Jerusalem, when all the Jews would “go up” (ascend) to Jerusalem from everywhere in the Holy Land. In any case, they all are about humbling ourselves before the Lord and seeking His help and His peace forever.

Look at the language in these Psalms:

Psalms 120:1 “In my distress I cried to the LORD, And He heard me.”
Psalms 121:1-2 “I will lift up my eyes to the hills– From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.”
Psalms 122:3-4 “Jerusalem is built As a city that is compact together, Where the tribes go up, The tribes of the LORD, To the Testimony of Israel, To give thanks to the name of the LORD.”
Psalms 123:1 “Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens.”

And all of them have similar verses, wherein the people of Israel are reminded to turn constantly to the Lord for help, to realize that it is not by their own hand that they have succeeded thus far but only by the Lord’s grace and power. They are urged to return to Him in thanksgiving and praise. And today’s verses from Psalms 131 give us the words of the shepherd-king David, who stood humbly before the Lord and declared his need for God’s wisdom and guidance.

In our modern society, it isn’t easy to be humble. The past few generations have been brought up to be self-sufficient, to be ourselves, to do what feels good to us, to be proud and strong and independent. This constant bombardment of “be yourself” rhetoric has led us away from dependence on the Lord. Today’s situation is frighteningly prophetic, as Moses had warned Israel thousands of years ago:

—
Deuteronomy 8:11-20
“Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, lest–when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end–then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’
“And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
“Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the LORD destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the LORD your God.”
—

Be sure to read that again. Don’t just gloss over it, because that is exactly what has happened here in America and throughout the prosperous Western world. We have lifted up our own hearts and forgotten the Lord who alone gives us power to get wealth. We say to ourselves again and again, “My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.”

But David knew better. He knew that whatever wisdom he might have to rule Israel came from the Lord. He knew that whatever pride he might know should be the pride of serving the one true King of kings and Lord of lords. He knew that whatever peace he knew and whatever prosperity he experienced and whatever might he had ALL came from the Lord. And so even as he looked up to God, even as he went up to worship the Lord, he bowed himself down low and set aside all pride and arrogance and even confidence. He stood before the Lord and proclaimed that the peace and calm he knew was as if he was a weaned child–for such we all are before our Almighty Father in heaven. And isn’t that a great picture? The great King David of Israel, commander of hundreds of thousands and slayer of the giant Goliath, resting in the arms of his Father like a toddler, calm and content, secure in the arms of the One who created the universe, strong in the strength of the One who had lifted him up from shepherd to king.

When we come before the Lord, that is the attitude we must have: no confidence, no pride, no strength of our own. Leave it all behind. Have no hope in our own power or might. Have no hope in our own wisdom or intelligence. Have no hope even in our own peace. No, we are to hope only in the Lord. And so today, before we set out on our day, let us read this Psalm and make the words our own. Let us all bow down before the Lord, laying aside all haughtiness and self-confidence, and tell Him we look up to Him. Like David, let us humble ourselves as we go up to the Lord, and place our hope only in Him.

Amen.