Tag: priorities

Discipline of Generosity

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Generosity

[Bible references: Psalm 24:1; Proverbs 11:24-25; Ecclesiastes 5:10-20; Matthew 6:1-4, 24; Luke 12:13-21; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15]

If we have entered the discipline of simplicity to order our lives and stewardship,

and if we have entered the discipline of gratitude to order our attitudes,

and if we have entered the discipline of fasting to order our needs

and if we have entered the discipline of lament to order our desires

then we are in a place enter into the discipline of generosity.

The spirit of generosity is helped by all the previous disciplines. They open us up to recognizing God’s generosity in our life so that we can extend His generosity to others. To move from the spirit of generosity to the discipline of generosity we must move from giving from out of the overflow of what we received to looking for ways to give that may stretch us. If we are confident about God’s provision for us, then we will be free to give from a feeling of abundance rather than scarcity.

One of the ways to begin is with the tithe, 10% of our income. That kind of giving normally requires us to have discipline with some of our other expenditures. If 10% seems too much, you can start lower but look for ways to increase over time. If 10% is not a stretch, then you may consider increasing from there. The goal of the discipline of generosity is to move us from “merely” giving from the overflow of what we received to looking for ways to give that may stretch us.

The principle of the tithe does not apply only to our money, but to our time and talents (spiritual gifts) as well. The point to remember is that God provides all we have, and our discipline is to give back out of what he has already given as an appreciation of all He has provided, and an acknowledgement of our dependence on Him.

Generosity is about more than just giving. It’s about our attitudes towards our possessions. Do our possessions reduce our priorities for God? Do we think that we own our possessions or that God owns them, and we are only stewards? Does our security come from our possessions or from God? By removing trust from the possessions we have and instead placing our trust in God, we will be more able to freely share what God has given.

Reflect

What keeps you from seeking to stretch your faith in God’s provision?

Observe

Read Ecclesiastes 5:10-20. How can wealth be meaningless?

Discipline of Distress

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Distress[1]

[Bible references: Psalm 11:1-7; 24:1-10; Acts 4:23-31]

“Whenever you are in a time of stress, you should go to the Psalms. They have a medicine for everything, they depict every situation that a human being can be in, and they’ve addressed every emotion you could ever have. They also tell you how to process that emotion or about that situation before God.” [2]

Often in times of difficulty we are prone to turn our focus on whatever it is that is bothering us. This spiritual discipline, sometimes known as “don’t waste an illness,” helps us to confront what has caused us distress, and then to use our distress as an opportunity to lean more fully on God. Instead of being preoccupied by a difficulty we can learn to become occupied with the presence of God.

There are three ways distress can affect us.

  • Distress tends to cause us to focus on the problem in front of us. Like Peter, when He saw Jesus walk on the water, tried to also walk on the water but he became distracted by the winds and waves and lost his focus on Jesus.
  • At other times, distress can make us lean into whatever means of control we have, but again, we focus on the means of control that are right in front of us, forgetting that we are not the ones really in control.
  • Also, as part of needing to control our circumstances, we may avoid acknowledging our suffering or our fears instead of being honest about them to God, which will allow those things to control us later.

When we are confronted by things that cause us distress, we can train ourselves to focus more on God than the situation immediately in front of us, to remember that the Lord is on the throne, that He knows our situation, that He is in control, and that He knows our fears and concerns, that He has a plan. In the future, we may be able to look back like Peter and Joseph and see God’s hand at work in times of distress.[3]

In difficult times, worrying may indicate that we are thinking that we know more than God about how things should be working, and we are worrying that He is not going to get it right. In fact, God may also be testing us, to help us come to grips with what is in our heart, to better understand ourselves, to grow in the faith and to examine our priorities.

[1] Keller, Tim. “Disciplines of Distress” Redeemer City to City 26 Mar 2020 redeemercitytocity.com/articles-stories/tim-keller-disciplines-of-distress

[2] Keller, Tim. “Disciplines of Distress” Redeemer City to City 26 Mar 2020 redeemercitytocity.com/articles-stories/tim-keller-disciplines-of-distress

[3] Peter is remembering that Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and Israelites were anointed to do what God had already predestined them to do. Gen 5:20, Joseph is telling his brothers that the very things that they had intended to do evil, God was going to use it for the good.

Observe

Read Psalm 11:1-7; 24:1-10; Acts 4:23-31. In these passages, what did the people concentrate on in their distress?

The Discipline of Simplicity/Stewardship

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Simplicity/Stewardship

[Bible references: Genesis 1:28; Psalm 33:5; Micah 6:8; Hosea 6:6; Matthew 25:35-40; Luke 16:13; John 13:34; 1 Corinthians 3:9; 4:2; 9:24-27; 2 Corinthians 1:12; 9:6-8; Galatians 6:6; Philippians 4: 4,8-13; 1 Timothy 5:8; 6:6-10, 17-19; Hebrews 3:5; 12:1-3; James 1:17; 1 Peter 4:10; 1 John 3:17]

The central point for the Discipline of simplicity is to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of His kingdom first – and then everything necessary will come in its proper order.[1]

There’s no point in simplifying your life if you are steering toward an end point that doesn’t matter to begin with.[2]

My schedule is far less about what I want to get done and far more about who I want to become.[3]

“We do not mean . . . that simplicity betrays itself in no visible signs, has not its own habits, its distinguishing tastes and ways; but this outward show, which may now and then be counterfeited, must not be confounded with its essence and its deep and wholly inward source. Simplicity is a state of mind. It dwells in the main intention of our lives. A man is simple when his chief care is the wish to be what he ought to be . . . And this is neither so easy nor so impossible as one might think. At bottom, it consists in putting our acts and aspirations in accordance with the law of our being, and consequently with the Eternal Intention which willed that we should be at all.”[4]

“If you want to have a spiritual life you must unify your life. A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for.”[5]

It is not enough to simply pare down one’s possessions or schedule, because they can become their own ends or become undone because we have not dealt with our habit of filling our time or possessions with something else. To successfully practice simplicity, we must have a clear center, a clear purpose. It is from that purpose that we can decide how to spend our time and resources so that our decisions can be based on how they fit our priorities. An indicator of whether you achieved your purpose can be if you feel fragmented and restless. Without a clear purpose, short-term distractions and pleasures can hijack our progress towards our long-term goals. Therefore, the goal of simplicity is to gain integrity of spirit, reduce temptations, distractions, and the need/desire for things so that we can better serve God.

Setting our priorities

To reach these goals, we must do less of some things but more of others. True simplicity is doing less of what matters least, and more of what matters most. You don’t just empty your life of the bad, you fill it with the good. Having a purpose allows you to discern whether a particular area of life should be constricted or expanded; purpose produces priorities. Once our priorities are set then we can make meaningful decisions about our activities. We may need to declutter our lives: we may have too many things in our home, or too many activities in our lives. What detracts our attention from our priorities? What things should we say “no” to? What habits do we have that move us from our goals?

The discipline of simplicity includes determining who we want to be and setting goals to achieve that, then setting our priorities, and then arranging our use of time, money, our spiritual gifts, and our relationships to meet those priorities. Simplicity is the essence of stewardship.

Stewarding our resources

Once we have centered ourselves and established our priorities then we can focus on how to manage the limited resources that we must accomplish the responsibilities God has given us. It is easy to get overwhelmed by all the needs we see around us in the world, it seems that there are not enough resources to meet the needs of the world. That is why we need to figure out what responsibilities God has to us individually. Then we need to trust God to provide what we need to for those responsibilities (Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.)

If we have set our priorities properly, then our priorities should be aligned with God’s priorities and desires. In Gen 1:28, we can see that stewardship is the first assignment God gave humans, so part of what we need to consider is what individual things that we, as individuals, have been given stewardship responsibilities over. We also need to consider God’s desires for how we carry out those responsibilities. We know that His desires are for us to love God and neighbor, act with justice and mercy, have a generous and overflowing love towards others (including our families, our fellow believers, and those in need) and to take care of the world he has provided for us.

As His stewards, we need to consider how to use the blessings God had given us, to serve in the way he would have us do so that we bring glory to Him in all that we do. We are not just a person with a vocation, or just a member of a family, or just a church member, etc. We are a who not a what. We are people created by God to be in relation with him and with others, and with multiple obligations.

[1] Foster, Richard J. Celebration of Discipline Harper & Row Publishers ©1978 (p. 75)

[2] Hybels, Bill. Simplify: Ten Practices to Unclutter Your Soul.  Tyndale Momentum 2015

[3] Hybels, Bill. Simplify: Ten Practices to Unclutter Your Soul. Tyndale Momentum 2015

[4] Wagner, Charles. The Simple Life. McClure, Phillips & Co. 1901

[5] Merton, Thomas. Thoughts in Solitude.  Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 1999

Reflect

What habits in your life move you away from pursuing God?

Observe

Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. How would following the advice in this passage help us to be better stewards?

Trustworthy and faithful

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 3 – The image-bearers

Trustworthy and faithful

[Bible references: Exodus 18:21; Deuteronomy 7:9; Psalm 86:15; 111:7; 117:2; Proverbs 20:6; Luke 16:10-12; 1 Timothy 1:15; Hebrews 11:1-40; Revelation 21:5]

We can’t seem to avoid breaking promises; whether it’s the promises  others make to us or the promises that we make to others. We usually expect broken promises from some people because we know they lack sincerity. Then sometimes we experience broken promises because things happen beyond our control, circumstances change, priorities are changed, or other things happen. Yet, in the midst of all that, we are called as God’s ambassadors to reflect his faithfulness to us. We are called to faithfulness in all things, whether it’s in truth-telling, in love, in doing good, in prayer, in doing the work of the Lord, or in confirming our calling, to mention a few. As we attempt to be faithful and trustworthy in all things and fall short – as we surely will – we can still point to the trustworthiness and faithfulness of the Lord. The point must always be to not point to ourselves but to the Lord – we are called to trust Him, be dependent on Him, put our confidence in His faithfulness and His sacrifice on our behalf.

Observe

Read Exodus 18:21; Luke 16:10-12. In what ways can we be challenged to be more faithful?