Skip to main content

“Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it. But, I’m afraid He would ask me the same question.”

A thought by Brandon Hatmaker, (2011-10-18) from his book, Barefoot Church: Serving the Least in a Consumer Culture (p. 34). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

The truth is He has.  Take food for example.  There is enough food in the world to feed everybody in the world.  The problem with most all the problems of the world is that when God created us He gave us a free will and He is not going to go back on that.  Some people are so afraid to not have enough food that they choose to hoard it and so others are deprived because of it.   

I like an illustration that Pastor Scott Daniels at Pasadena First Nazarene Church gave yesterday.  He bought out one roll of toilet paper and also a package of 30 rolls of toilet paper.  He said that so many people have a one toilet paper view of life and they are so afraid that they will run out so they do all they can to make sure they don’t run out.

Back when Johnny Carson was on the Tonight Show he made a joke in his opening monologue one night that there was a toilet paper shortage and sure enough the next day there was.  Everybody went out and bought all they could and then there was a shortage.

I like the other view of things.  Because God has an abundance of toilet paper then their need not be a shortage.  I can live my life with no fear.  God is not a hoarder.  He is a giving God and if we His people would take on His characteristic of giving then the world would have more than enough.

I believe the problem is we live by fear and not by faith.  I have to hoard because I am afraid that I won’t have enough when God said that the righteous who live by faith will never grow hungry.

What if the twelve apostles would have hoarded the five loves and two fish?  Then they wouldn’t have been fed let alone the five thousand.  But because they brought what they had to Jesus they were all fed and they had twelve baskets left over.  One basket for each apostle. 

 So what are you hoarding out of fear?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Lie 2: The more you worry about it, the better your odds of avoiding it."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book,   Winning the War on Worry    (p. 5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here is another lie that the Enemy uses with us. And Louie says, "This is a tricky lie. Yes, we often have cause for concern and preparation. But the Enemy wants you to believe that if you worry or fret over a certain outcome long enough, you can keep something bad from happening." But this is so important to realize. He says, "The reality is worrying has never once prevented something negative from happening. Planning might. Prayer has. But worry never will." He continues, "The Enemy tells you that by worrying about a situation (or every situation) you can make your tomorrow better. Really, worry just robs you of today. Jesus implored us: 'I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body mor...
Post a Comment
Read more

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)   Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle?   Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

"To put it simply, worry isn’t just a bad habit."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book,   Winning the War on Worry    (p. 1). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Ok, that is interesting. Louie says, "Worry is an Enemy tactic—a strategy built on lies that are designed to rob you of peace and tear your mind to pieces. "That’s why it’s crucial that you are able to spot the lies worry tells." He goes on, "Not long ago while on safari in South Africa, Shelley and I were really wanting to see a leopard in the wild. Early and late on our game drives our eyes were set on every tree limb, bush, grassy hill, and river path in hopes of finding one of several leopards that were known to frequent this particular area. But here’s the thing: leopards aren’t bright orange with tall, sparkly antennae on their backs. They are designed to blend into the surroundings, like the bark of a baobab tree where they might be lounging on one of its mighty branches. "In the same way, ...
Post a Comment
Read more