2025-09-26
Proverbs 11:24 NIV
Someone said this about money: “You can’t win. If you focus on making it, you’re materialistic. If you try to but don’t make any, you’re a loser. If you make a lot and keep it, you’re a miser. If you make it and spend it, you’re a spendthrift. If you don’t care about making any, you’re unambitious. If you make a lot and still have it when you die, you’re a fool – for trying to take it with you.” The one way to truly win with money is to hold it loosely… to be generous with it and achieve things of value.
In 1889 industrialist Andrew Carnegie wrote an essay entitled the “Gospel of Wealth,” in which he said that the life of a wealthy person should have two stages: a season of acquiring wealth and a season of distributing it. The only way to keep an attitude of generosity is to make a habit of giving of your time, talent, attention, resources, and money. So, how can you become generous?
(1) Find out what kind of hold your possessions have on you. Choose something you truly treasure, think of someone you care about who needs it, and give it to them.
(2) Put your money to work. If you know someone with a vision to do something really excellent, provide the resources for them to do it. Give something greater than yourself. Help those who can’t help you or give you anything in return. As John Bunyan said, “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
Soul food: 1 Sam 20:30-23:29; Matt 27:57-66; Ps 60; Pro 22:7-11
2025-09-25
Luke 12:15 NLT
If you want to become a generous person, do these:
(1) Be grateful for whatever you have. Generosity rises out of contentment; it doesn’t come from obtaining more. John D. Rockefeller admitted, “I have made millions, but they have brought me no happiness.” It’s an inside job; if you’re not content with a little, you probably won’t be content with a lot. And if you’re ungenerous with a little, you won’t abruptly change when you become wealthy.
(2) Don’t allow the desire for possessions to control you. Jesus said, “Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own” (v. 15 NLT). Author Richard Foster writes, “Owning things is an obsession in our culture. If we own it, we feel we can control it; and if we can control it, we feel it will give us more pleasure. The idea is an illusion.” If you want to take control of your heart, don’t let your possessions take control of you.
(3) Regard money as a resource. The first time popular French author Dominique Lapierre went to India to conduct research for a new book, he rode in a Rolls-Royce he had just bought with a book advance. While there, he learned what he needed for his book The City of Joy. But he also encountered something else: a passion to help the poor. And that discovery transformed his life. Until his death in December 2022, he distributed his time between writing, fundraising, and giving time and money to help people. His attitude can be summarized by these words on the back of his business card: “All that is not given is lost.”
Soul food: 1 Sam 18:1-20:29; Matt 27:45-56; Ps 68:19-35; Pro 22:6
2025-09-24
John 5:6 NKJV
For thirty-eight years, this paralyzed man waited amongst the sick and disabled at the pool of Bethesda for a supernatural moment that could change his miserable existence. But each time someone got into the pool before him and walked away healed. Time after time, when the opportunity came, there was no one there for him. The story was always the same; he couldn’t rescue himself from his pool of despair and his dwindling stock of hope and faith. Perhaps you can identify.
Perhaps you know the story from personal experience. It may be about bodily illness, but it can also be about things like moral failure, addiction, divorce, abortion, remorse, parenting failure, etc. Like the man by the pool, your friends can’t rescue you, and you don’t have what it takes to lift yourself up by your own bootstraps.
But Jesus asks you the same question: “Will you be made whole?” He offers you bodily healing – and more. He knows that you can’t do it by yourself. So when He asks, “Will you be made whole?” it’s more than “Do you want to be made whole?” It’s a question of your will. For things to be different, you must invest your will in the process. The faith that will make you whole is not an emotion or feeling. It’s an act of your will that chooses to stand on God’s Word, believing He will do for you what He says and make you whole! “Immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked” (v. 9 NKJV). That can be your story too!
Soul food: 1 Sam 16-17; Matt 27:32-44; Ps 68:1-18; Pro 22:1-5
2025-09-23
Isaiah 41:10 NIV
When you learn to forgive and accept yourself, it means you have come to terms with your humanity and learned to be at peace with your imperfections. You realize that what you have been through, together with the grace of God, has made you the person you are today.
Veronica Shoffstall said: “After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul… that love doesn’t mean leaning, and company doesn’t always mean security… that kisses aren’t contracts and presents aren’t promises, and you begin to accept your defeats with your head up and your eyes ahead, with the grace of [an adult], not the grief of a child, and you learn to build all your roads on today because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans and futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight. After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much, so you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. And you learn that you really can endure, you really are strong, you really do have worth… “
Those words can be summed up in one phrase: “living life on life’s terms.” Is it easy to do? No. And on days when life’s terms seem too hard to cope with, God’s promise to you is this: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” And that’s a promise you can stand on!
Soul food: 1 Sam 14-15; Matt 27:11-31; Ps 91; Pro 21:28-31
2025-09-22
Deuteronomy 32:11 NIV
In Even Eagles Need a Push, David McNally describes a mother eagle teaching her young to fly: “The eagle gently coaxed her offspring toward the edge of the nest. Her heart quivered with conflicting emotions as she felt their resistance to her persistent nudging. ‘Why does the thrill of soaring have to begin with the fear of falling?’… The ageless question was still unanswered for her… Her nest was located high on a shelf of sheer rock face. Below there was nothing but air to support the wings of each child. ‘Is it possible that this time it will not work?’ she thought.
Despite her fears, the eagle knew it was time. Her parental mission was all but complete. There remained one final task – the push. The eagle drew courage from innate wisdom. Until her children discovered their wings, there was no purpose for their lives. Until they learned how to soar, they would fail to understand the privilege it was to have been born an eagle. The push was the greatest gift she had to offer… her supreme act of love. And so one by one she pushed them, and they flew!”
The Bible says, “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them… The Lord… led him” (v. 11-12 NIV).
Is God pushing you out of your comfort zone? Have you lost your job and your financial security? Or a relationship you thought would last a lifetime? Do you feel like you’re being pushed out of your nest and over the cliff’s edge? Don’t be afraid; God will catch you. Better yet – He will teach you to fly.
Soul Food: Num 29:1-6; Matt 24; Rev 11:15-19; 1 Cor 15:50-58
2025-09-21
Psalm 100:4 KJV
Author Jon Gordon writes: “I’d love to share with you the benefits… of two simple words. THANK YOU. They… have the power to transform our health, happiness… and success. Research shows that grateful people are happier and more likely to maintain good friendships. Gratitude… also improves the heart’s rhythmic functioning, which helps us to reduce stress, think more clearly under pressure and heal physically.
It’s… physiologically impossible to be stressed and thankful at the same time. When you are grateful you flood your body and brain with… endorphins that uplift and energize you… Gratitude… [is] also essential for a healthy work environment… The number one reason why people leave their jobs is because they don’t feel appreciated… Gratitude is like muscle. The more we do with it the stronger it gets. Here are… ways to practice thanksgiving every day:
(1) Take a daily… ten-minute walk… and say out loud what you are thankful for. This will set you up for a positive day.
(2) At dinner with friends and family, go around the table and have each person… say what they’re thankful for.
(3) Psychologist Martin Seligman… suggests that we write a letter expressing our gratitude to someone. Then we visit this person and read them the letter… People who do this are measurably happier and less depressed a month later.
(4) Say thank you at work. When Doug Conant was the CEO of Campbell Soup, he wrote approximately 30,000 thank you notes to his employees and energized the company in the process… Organizations spend billions of dollars collectively on recognition programs but the best and cheapest recognition program of all consists of a sincere THANK YOU.”
Soul Food: Gen 1:1-2:3; John 1:1-18
