We've got a topical series coming up at church called "Days of our Lives" and I've been given the talk entitled "Money and Wealth".One of the difficulties I'm working through is the tension of;
1. Wanting to avoid motivating people by guilt, and
2. It is my perception that most of us feel guilty about the way we spend our money, and often rightly so.
Seeing I don't know my Bible well enough, I've decided to limit the majority of my preparation and discussion to the book of Luke, which in reality is still fairly open-ended.
It's ironic that for the talk series "Days of our Lives" we are going to a book that's a few thousand years old. But I guess it's testament to the way the Bible speaks of the truths that are common to all humanity. Even purely as a means of social analysis the Bible remains highly relevant.
Are you preaching to a uni crowd?
ReplyDeleteJust wondering. If so, it might be worth pointing out that being kingdom focussed in our use of money gets more tricky as we get older. The hard decisions become much harder to take because they effect not just us, but our families as well. And no one blames a 23 year old for not having much. If you still don't own a house by age 40, you are seen as irresponsible and will be labeled by many as a loser.
ps. can you lose the word verification sometime?
Thanks Simone,
ReplyDeleteI'm actually preaching to a morning congregation of adults (most of whom are homeowners). Your comment though is helpful because it really raises the question of how does our view of money and wealth change (for good and bad) when we are heavily in debt.
Now, I have absolutely no idea what you mean by your post script. As in I don't know what you are talking about. Are you referring to mentioning the irony of "days of our lives" referring to a book from a few thousand years ago? If yes, I still am not really sure what in the world you mean. Clarification?
word verification:
ReplyDeletehttp://buzz.blogger.com/2006/05/word-verification-for-all.html
I'm on a crusade against it.
I don't think it's about being in debt. I think it's about getting older. There's a few things going on:
ReplyDelete1. pressure to look successful in front of others (not a good one, but a big one!)
2. the (good) desire to provide financial stability for your family. This normally means settling in a house that you can live in long term.
3. it's easy to put up with not having much when you know it's just for a season (eg. bible college). Much harder when it looks like being permanent. The thought of never being able to give yourself or your kids what your parents gave you is hard.
4. Sometime after 30 you realise you won't live forever and super etc starts to seem important.
I think giving gets more costly as we move into the expensive years of life, but to do it is a great sign of trust in god.
I didn't even know I had word verification on! It should now be rectified.
ReplyDeleteGiving does get more costly as we get older. The interesting thing is that if I was speaking to uni people I'd be saying "It's never to early to start costly giving." Instead I'm talking with older people so "It's never to late to start costly giving."
Thanks for the financial insights from a slightly older perspective than mine!