So easy to criticize

Before I begin this post, I salute you all people who faithfully post on xanga.
It appears that no one xangas anymore.

I remember when all these people (married with kids mostly) were ranting and raving about how entertaining Jon and Kate plus 8 was.  The show, in a nutshell, is about the life journey of a couple who had twin daughters (through IVF), wanting ONE more child (through IVF), ended up with sextuplets.
When the doctor suggested that she go through a "reduction" process (killing of the embryos to match the number of kids you want), Kate absolutely refused.  Reason for the refusal?  In her words, (paraphrasing here), she would not be able to stand before her Lord (Jesus) and tell Him about how they selectively ended the lives of the unborn children for their convenience.

The show took off and they were getting multiple endorsement, paid luxurious vacation, bookdeals, free plastic surgery, etc.

What started off as two average couple struggling to meet the demands of raising 8 kids, eventually ended up with Jon and Kate being able to live of the endorsements, books, and speaking engagements.  Recently, the couple bought a million dollar house with a huge yard space. 

I don't know when it began, but I started hearing negative criticisms about Jon and Kate, how they were "selling" their children to live a life of a celebrity.  Now all kinds of rumors are being spread (and it may be true, who knows) about how Jon cheated on his wife, to marriage problems and possible divorce.

And people, who were once a fan, joined in on the criticisms of the mass.
Now, I'm not going to say that what they are doing with the outcome of the show is bad or good, only the Lord can judge that.  But what I do want to say is that it was also easy for me to judge them.  Then it dawned on me.  Why not pray for the couple?

Why enjoy all the benefits of their life and when the show goes sour, start to criticize and judge them?  Does the Lord want this couple to get a divorce?  Absolutely NO.  If the couples started out this journey by their desire to honor the Lord, then later it goes sour, whose name is defamed?  It's ultimately the Lord. 

So, if you've been watching J&K, then instead of criticizing them, I would encourage you to pray for them.  That the Lord will give them the strength, courage and wisdom to become good stuards of all that He has entrusted to them.

Money Vs. God

Most of us are familiar with the verse, "You cannot serve both God and Money." (from Matt 6:24; Luke 16:13)

I confess that for me, the concept appeared so elementary that I failed to medidate on it.  I say "appeared easy" because just recently, God allowed me to glean more from this verse than I had for the past 37 years.

It is easy to understand and visualize a practical application of "serv[ing] God" aspect of the verse.  But how does one understand what "serv[ing] Money?" (or NOT serving money?) means?

Obviously, the way we understand and apply the verse, "serving God" has to apply equally to the "serving Money" aspect of the verse.

So, when Jesus says, "You cannot serve both God and Money," He is not talking about "serving" as "doing things for" God - how do you do things for Money then?

Borrowing from John Piper (What Jesus Demands from the World; Demand #35):
"The answer is not: Provide a service for money.  Or provide help to money, or meet money's needs.  Just the opposite: Serving money means looking to money to provide you a service and to provide your help and meet your needs.  Serving money means planning and dreaming and strategizing and maneuvering to be in a position to maximize our wealth and what money can provide for us.  Money is the giver and the benefactor in this servant-master relationship.  You don't do good for money.  You look to money to do good for you."

Simiarly:

"[W]hat Jesus is saying [when He says that we serve God in the subject verse] is that we should serve God not in the sense of providing a service or giving Him help, but just the opposite:  We look to God to be our helper, our benefactor, and trasure.  To serve Him would be to plan and dream and strategize and maneuver to be in a position to maximize our enjoyment of God and what He alone promises to be for us.  God, then not money, becomes the giver and the benefactor in this servant-master relationship.  You don't meet God's needs (he has none!).  You look to God to meet yours."

This command goes hand in hand with the first commandment of the Ten Commandments - "You shall have no other gods before me." (Exod. 20:3)

So, it becomes clear why Jesus left no ambiguity when He was saying that You will hate the one [money/God] and love the other[God/money]. 

In our materialistic world, Money is our master.
Advertisements promise that if you are stressed/tired/unhappy, this dream/magic vacation/spa treatment/shopping spree/or whatever money can buy will make a happier you.  If you are not happy with the way you look, get a surgery.  You deserve better: Buy this car/house/furniture/gadgets.

I'm not saying that we should not plan vacation getaways or buy things with your money.  But what we should to is to examine and re-examine our hearts daily to see if our source of happiness/satisfaction/joy is coming from God and what He alone promises to be for us; or from happiness/satisfaction/joy coming from what money can buy/provide. 

I hope we endeavor to fight for the former, every moment, everywhere.
God bless you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

Irritation

Is it just me or do those people at the Police Association and Fire Department, not know how to ask for donations?

It really irritates me the way they call you, and in a commanding tone, tell me to verify my address (which they took the liberty of obtaining,) "so that they can send me a $15/30 contribution pledge card" to me.

What happened to, "would you like to consider donating for blah blah blah?"
I bet some people just get suckered into saying, "oh, yes, that is my address" and have them say, "thank you for your pledge" only to have you scratch your head and say, "did I pledge anything??? I thought I just verified my address..."

The funny thing is that it's either the polic dept or fire fighter dept that uses this type of solicitation tactics.  I guess they think that since people are typically afraid of them, they think they can use this tactics to have people contribute money.  Personally, I think their tatics works against them... at least for me it does.

Currently Diana Krall Christmas Songs By Diana Krall, Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra see related

Free songs from Amazon

Try this link.

Amazon is giving one free song every day until Christmas (25 songs in total) that relate to Christmas (see link below):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000314901

When you download it, it will ask you to log in and enter a credit card info, but it charges nothing on your credit card.  So, if you already have an amazon account, it may be an easy download. 

Merry Christmas!