Bode Note: As you read these blog entries, remember that I am trying to be honest and open with you. Please read them carefully. Writing about something I fear does not mean that it has happened or is going to happen, but sharing it with you is hopefully a way to help us both as we follow Jesus. I have seen and experienced personally the incredible damage that misunderstandings and rumors can cause. Some people do not get the whole story or they read too much into a phrase and they end up sharing their opinion rather than the truth. (Sadly, Christians are often the worst offenders because we can express our gossip in tones of empathy or prayer concerns.) With all of that said, dear friend and reader, please feel the freedom to share whatever I really write here and I would be both honored and appreciative if you turn others to this site. Thanks for walking with me!
I’ve thought a lot about bankruptcy lately. Now, before I continue, please allow me to share that as of today Kathy and I are current on just about all of our obligations – and that is in itself miraculous given all of the excitement during the past month. Hopefully the business will continue to grow and things will be fine. But, since we are without health insurance and we are still awaiting the final charges from my heart bypass, there is a little apprehension. Hopefully the hospital and the doctors will work with us, we will win the lottery or I have a rich uncle that I never knew, but there is a chance that we could be forced to declare bankruptcy. I am uncomfortable with the feelings that such a decision has conjured within me.
During the past year of compassionate upheaval, the Father has challenged me repeatedly over what I say I believe and what I really believe. For example, it is easy for me to say that money is not important when I have cash in my money clip. It is easy to say that possessions are not essential when I am surrounded by them. I can tell you that my security is in the Father’s love as long as I have a home to return to each evening. But, when the money becomes tight, the possessions are endangered and the home becomes threatened, it is amazing how important those things grow to be. It is then that I realize that my faith is not as strong as I would like – or I would like others to believe – it is. Like Satan’s accusation of Job, “Does Bodie fear God for nothing?” I am more than happy to love him as long as I have all of the outward forms of success. But lately, he has been taking them away and that has made me reevaluate my commitment to him.
Money is a sensitive issue. If you ever want to test the depth of your friendships, begin a discussion about net worth or indebtedness. As a culture we don’t like to talk about money – except for those who want others to know how far beyond enough they have. We sometimes judge our own and other’s standing by the outward manifestations of success. But, do I really believe that my advice is more credible simply because I have a healthy balance in my bank account? Do I become a better friend or counselor in stride with the growth in my net worth? Is the sign of the Father’s blessing linked to the model of my automobile? Have I really gotten to that point? And is that kind of thinking even compatible with following Jesus? To equate my own worth or my success with something as fleeting as money is not what the Father teaches me.
Satan accused Job of loving the Father only because of the many material blessings the Father had given to him. But, when all of those things were taken away, Job’s love for the Father remained. In the midst of his loss, Job declared, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” This is the faith for which I must ask. At the end of the story of Job, the Father restores everything he had taken from him and more. But my faith cannot be motivated by such an expectation. I may die penniless. My faith must be grounded in the faithful character of my Heavenly Father.
In the book In Cold Blood, Truman Capote recounts the murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. In the course of the failed robbery, one of the killers, Perry Smith, found a small silver dollar in a tiny purse. He dropped the dollar, which rolled under a chair. Smith got on his knees to pick up the dollar. He began to feel disgusted, he later recalled, because he was crawling on his belly to steal a child's silver dollar. As I see the worry, apprehension and stress that finances cause me, I see myself crawling on my belly – clawing, scraping and straining to grasp that shiny silver dollar that is never enough. Father, please keep reminding me, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Luke 12:15 (NIV)
My Fourth Life Lesson – The Father alone must be enough. My faith and trust must be in him – not in my perceived circumstances.
I’ve thought a lot about bankruptcy lately. Now, before I continue, please allow me to share that as of today Kathy and I are current on just about all of our obligations – and that is in itself miraculous given all of the excitement during the past month. Hopefully the business will continue to grow and things will be fine. But, since we are without health insurance and we are still awaiting the final charges from my heart bypass, there is a little apprehension. Hopefully the hospital and the doctors will work with us, we will win the lottery or I have a rich uncle that I never knew, but there is a chance that we could be forced to declare bankruptcy. I am uncomfortable with the feelings that such a decision has conjured within me.
During the past year of compassionate upheaval, the Father has challenged me repeatedly over what I say I believe and what I really believe. For example, it is easy for me to say that money is not important when I have cash in my money clip. It is easy to say that possessions are not essential when I am surrounded by them. I can tell you that my security is in the Father’s love as long as I have a home to return to each evening. But, when the money becomes tight, the possessions are endangered and the home becomes threatened, it is amazing how important those things grow to be. It is then that I realize that my faith is not as strong as I would like – or I would like others to believe – it is. Like Satan’s accusation of Job, “Does Bodie fear God for nothing?” I am more than happy to love him as long as I have all of the outward forms of success. But lately, he has been taking them away and that has made me reevaluate my commitment to him.
Money is a sensitive issue. If you ever want to test the depth of your friendships, begin a discussion about net worth or indebtedness. As a culture we don’t like to talk about money – except for those who want others to know how far beyond enough they have. We sometimes judge our own and other’s standing by the outward manifestations of success. But, do I really believe that my advice is more credible simply because I have a healthy balance in my bank account? Do I become a better friend or counselor in stride with the growth in my net worth? Is the sign of the Father’s blessing linked to the model of my automobile? Have I really gotten to that point? And is that kind of thinking even compatible with following Jesus? To equate my own worth or my success with something as fleeting as money is not what the Father teaches me.
Satan accused Job of loving the Father only because of the many material blessings the Father had given to him. But, when all of those things were taken away, Job’s love for the Father remained. In the midst of his loss, Job declared, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” This is the faith for which I must ask. At the end of the story of Job, the Father restores everything he had taken from him and more. But my faith cannot be motivated by such an expectation. I may die penniless. My faith must be grounded in the faithful character of my Heavenly Father.
In the book In Cold Blood, Truman Capote recounts the murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. In the course of the failed robbery, one of the killers, Perry Smith, found a small silver dollar in a tiny purse. He dropped the dollar, which rolled under a chair. Smith got on his knees to pick up the dollar. He began to feel disgusted, he later recalled, because he was crawling on his belly to steal a child's silver dollar. As I see the worry, apprehension and stress that finances cause me, I see myself crawling on my belly – clawing, scraping and straining to grasp that shiny silver dollar that is never enough. Father, please keep reminding me, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Luke 12:15 (NIV)
My Fourth Life Lesson – The Father alone must be enough. My faith and trust must be in him – not in my perceived circumstances.
.GIF)
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