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- Written by: Don Goulding
Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? (James 2:5)
Grandpa took my cousin and me deep sea fishing. The early morning salt air had our schoolboy nerves at DEFCON one. Everything took on new proportions—like the shark a fisherman caught early on.
My young mind was etched with the shock of the deckhand knocking the creature’s head against the rail. An hour later, the shark thrashed in its gunnysack and they thumped it asunder yet again. By the end of the trip, the animal was still gulping for air.
More recently, a shark of a different kind became etched on my mind. A Chinese pastor in the underground church asked me if it was true that people are poor because they fail to claim physical blessings from God. I recalled this heresy from American televangelists, running into it in Nigeria—and here it was again. How many times did we have to beat this lie over the head?
I coached the Chinese pastor from 1 Timothy 6:5 that says godliness is not a means to monetary profit. But do I heed my own preaching? In my world, we’ve learned to call it something other than prosperity gospel. But if you eavesdrop on our conversations, you’ll hear about our wealthy lifestyle and not about the kingdom of God.
I’m an animal lover and I never want to harm God’s creatures. My own prosperity shark, however, is the one predator I’ll continually bash on the head.
Prayer: Lord Christ, make me rich in faith and poor in my concern for wealth.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand. (Isaiah 52:15b) (NIV)
Orphans bounced like popcorn on the trampoline at the mission house in Zimbabwe. Normally they laughed and took turns, four at a time. This day, sharing was abandoned and I had to intervene. Eight little combatants pushed and shouted in their native Shona. My polite English didn't reach them.
“Stop,” I shouted.
They froze.
“Get off.”
Eight pairs of bare feet scampered away.
Human words are an imperfect medium. Even when we’re speaking the same language, misunderstandings are frequent. Knowing this, God communicated his most important message in a way it wouldn’t be lost amidst our confusion. Jesus was God’s shout from heaven.
God didn’t leave his offer for reconciliation dependent on words alone. He needed a way to cut through language and culture to say, “I love you and I’ll do anything to save you.” Sending his all glorious Son to die an unjust death, heralds a message so loud that none can mistake it.
The communique of the cross will make it impossible for us to stand at Judgment Day and say we didn’t understand God. Any who would not respond to the grand demonstration of sacrificial love must belong to the fiery abyss of hell.
Prayer: Father, thank you for shouting salvation at me.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
… the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:26-27)
“Hey, look at me,” my five-year-old sister shouted.
Our family was on vacation in Utah and we floated in the Great Salt Lake as though we had lifejackets on. Our engineer father could explain how a salinity of eight times the ocean displaced objects, but we didn’t grasp all that. We were busy holding our heads, hands, and feet above the surface and giggling.
The grace of Christ is another mystery. It is the mystery of all mysteries. How can God accept me when I know, and I know he knows, the darkness in my heart? Theologians say it has to do with substitutional atonement, wherein my sin is transferred to the crucified body of Christ. I don’t grasp the depth of all that. I do know that when I fall into his grace, it holds me up.
I don’t float often enough. I make a mental acknowledgment that Jesus died for me, then return to proving my worth. My human nature wants to tread with self effort. But I have to face the reality that, without Christ, I’d plummet to the bottom. My only hope is to relax and trust his sufficiency.
Today, I need to make time for reposing in the buoyancy of grace. I must quiet my heart and delight in bobbing above spiritual drowning. Jesus around me, in me, through me—this is the greatest mystery of all time. I can’t understand it, I can only float in it, and giggle.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I rest in the mystery of your love.