2025-09-25
Lukas 12:15 NLV
As jy ‘n vrygewige persoon wil word, moet jy die volgende doen:
1) Wees dankbaar vir wat jy het. Vrygewigheid ontstaan uit tevredenheid; dit ontstaan nie uit deur nog besittings bymekaar te maak nie. John D. Rockefeller het erken: ‘Ek het miljoene gemaak, maar dit het my geen geluk gebring nie.’ As jy nie met bietjie tevrede is nie, sal jy heel waarskynlik ook nie met baie tevrede wees nie. As jy ook nie vrygewig met die bietjie wat jy het is nie, sal dit waarskynlik nie ewe skielik verander wanneer jy ryk is nie.
2) Moenie toelaat dat die begeerte na besittings jou beheer nie. Jesus het gesê: ‘…Pas op! Moenie gierig wees vir wat jy nie het nie. Ware lewe word nie gemeet aan hoeveel ons besit nie’ (vers 15 NLV). Richard Foster skryf: ‘In ons kultuur is dit ‘n obsessie om goed te besit. As ons dit besit, voel ons ons kan dit beheer; en as ons dit kan beheer, voel ons dit sal ons meer plesier verskaf. Dis egter ‘n illusie.’
3) Sien geld as ‘n hulpbron. Die eerste keer wat die gewilde Franse skrywer Dominique Lapierre Indië besoek het, het hy met ‘n nuwe Rolls-Royce gery. Terwyl hy daar was, het hy navorsing vir sy boek, The City of Joy, gedoen. Hy het egter ook iets anders ontdek: ‘n passie om die armes te help. Hierdie ontdekking het sy lewe verander. Tot sy dood in Desember 2022 het hy sy tyd tussen skryf, fondsinsameling en hulp aan mense, verdeel. Sy houding kan saamgevat word deur hierdie woorde wat op die agterkant van sy besigheidskaartjie verskyn: ‘Alles wat nie uitgedeel word nie, gaan verlore.’
Sielskos: 1 Sam 18:1-20:29; Matt 27:45-56; Ps 68:19-35; Spr 22:6
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
Johannes 5:6 NLV
Agt-en-dertig jaar lank het hierdie verlamde man tussen die siekes en gestremdes by die bad van Bethesda vir ‘n bonatuurlike ervaring wat sy miserabele bestaan kon verander, gewag. Elke keer het iemand egter voor hom in die bad geklim en gesond weggestap. Keer op keer, wanneer die geleentheid voorgekom het, was daar niemand wat hom kon help nie. Die omstandighede was altyd dieselfde; hy kon homself nie uit sy wanhoop en sy kwynende voorraad van hoop en geloof red nie.
Miskien kan jy met hierdie man identifiseer. Miskien ken jy hierdie verhaal uit persoonlike ervaring. Dit gaan dalk oor liggaamlike siekte, maar dit kan ook oor dinge soos morele mislukking, verslawing, egskeiding, aborsie, berou, ouerskapmislukking, ensovoorts gaan. Soos die man by die bad, kan jou vriende jou nie red nie en jy besit nie die vaardighede wat nodig is om jouself te help nie.
Jesus vra egter vir jou dieselfde vraag: ‘Wil jy graag gesond word? Hy bied jou liggaamlike genesing – en meer – aan. Hy weet dat jy dit nie self kan doen nie. Dit is ‘n kwessie van jou wil. Vir dinge om anders te wees, moet jy jou wil by die proses betrek. Die geloof wat jou gesond sal maak, is nie ‘n emosie of gevoel nie. Dit is ‘n daad van jou wil wat kies om op God se Woord te staan en te glo dat Hy vir jou sal doen wat Hy sê en jou gesond sal maak! ‘Onmiddellik het die man gesond geword, sy slaapmatjie opgetel en weggestap…’ (vers 9 NLV). Dit kan jou verhaal ook wees!
Sielskos: 1 Sam 16-17; Matt 27:32-44; Ps 68:1-18; Spr 22:1-5
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
