Weekly Blog

Work has purpose and meaning, and yields good fruit.

Many people, believers included, see work as a “necessary evil”. Something you just have to do to get to the weekend. Whether we realize it or not, we see work as a result of the fall in Genesis 3, where God told Adam that the ground would be cursed and he would toil endlessly with little fruit. That is an awful picture. To keep working, keep toiling, but with no visible fruit for your work.

The truth is actually found in the previous chapter. In Genesis 2 we see God completing His work of creation. He sees His work and says “it is good.” God didn’t create work as a punishment for sin; God is a worker. Genesis also tells us that He made Adam in His own image. God gives Adam meaningful work in Genesis 2:15 – he is to care for the garden, and then later to name the animals. In the Garden, the work has purpose and meaning and is full of contribution. It is labor that yields good fruit, not painful toil.

This past Sunday I had the privilege of preaching the first message on our new series Your Identity in Christ. In this current season of a pandemic, social unrest, and economic disruption, being reminded of who we are and who we serve matters more than ever.

The message I shared was a “back to basics” teaching on Isaiah 61 with the back half of verse 3 as the focal point.

As I finished delivering the message from Matthew 6:19-24 last Sunday about money, I felt a number of things.

First, a bit warm, so thank you to everyone who hung in with me! You are rock stars amidst the blazing summer heat of Chico and our very large building’s challenges with cooling down.

More importantly though, there was a huge sense of what I would call gravitas, a Latin word that means serious or solemn. The gravitas I felt is my belief that when it comes to our relationship with our finances, it is critical for us to really go after Jesus - and now is the time. Whether you have a lot or are struggling to make ends meet, being enslaved to the “master” of money is a really hard way to live. Money is a fickle master. A tyrant. And a distraction to the life we are called to live as followers of Jesus.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could live your life in complete peace and trust in the area of finances?

Not worried about your future, Not enslaved to the balance in your bank account. Not panicking every time the unexpected bill comes because you know you are in His hands.

I love March. Hints of Spring turn into full blossoms and mass colors in March. Birds sing a little more loudly in the morning. Windows can be left open in this wonderful transition between the cold of winter and the impending heat that will accompany the summer.

Yep, I love March. March is also my birthday month which also might influence my love of the month, as if the promise of Spring wasn’t enough!

As I entered 2019 I asked the Lord to give me a word to focus on as I journey with Him. It isn’t something I always do, and if I’m being really honest when I have done it in the past, by March I have usually forgotten what it was and moved on to other things!