Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Wednesday, 12 November 2014 "Being God’s people means being generous"

Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Wednesday, 12 November 2014 "Being God’s people means being generous"
Daily Scripture:  Deuteronomy 15:7-9 When you happen on someone who’s in trouble or needs help among your people with whom you live in this land that God, your God, is giving you, don’t look the other way pretending you don’t see him. Don’t keep a tight grip on your purse. No. Look at him, open your purse, lend whatever and as much as he needs. Don’t count the cost. Don’t listen to that selfish voice saying, “It’s almost the seventh year, the year of All-Debts-Are-Canceled,” and turn aside and leave your needy neighbor in the lurch, refusing to help him. He’ll call God’s attention to you and your blatant sin.
10-11 Give freely and spontaneously. Don’t have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers God, your God’s, blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures. There are always going to be poor and needy people among you. So I command you: Always be generous, open purse and hands, give to your neighbors in trouble, your poor and hurting neighbors.
Proverbs 11:23 The desires of good people lead straight to the best,
    but wicked ambition ends in angry frustration.
24 The world of the generous gets larger and larger;
    the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.
25 The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed;
    those who help others are helped.
26 Curses on those who drive a hard bargain!
    Blessings on all who play fair and square!
27 The one who seeks good finds delight;
    the student of evil becomes evil.
28 A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump;
    a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree.
Reflection Questions:
In defending Mary, who generously anointed his feet with costly perfume before his death and burial, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 15:11 (cf. John 12:4-8). His words have at times been misused to justify an uncaring spirit toward the poor—an impossible meaning, when we read their full setting in Deuteronomy 15. The sages who compiled the Proverbs closely linked generosity with righteousness, praising those who trust in God’s values and share generously with people in need.
Following God means valuing and admiring God’s qualities, and wanting to have them yourself (cf. Matthew 5:48). When we serve a generous God, it makes sense that we will want to grow in our own practice of generosity. Have you ever felt (in the words of Deuteronomy 15) “hard-hearted” or “tight fisted” toward poor people, and “resented” giving to help them? In what ways is God helping you feel better about “opening your hand generously” to “the needy among you”?
Israel’s Proverbs were descriptions of how life usually works, not promises that God will always force things to happen in a certain way. To which traits did this set of proverbs assign the highest value? The lowest value? Which parts of these proverbs will come true in eternity, even if they don’t always happen in this world? How closely do the values you live by each day fit with the values Israel’s sages taught?
Today's Prayer:
Lord God, help me trust you enough that I am able to “refresh others” from an overflowing heart, and to thrive more and more each day in the sunlight of your inexhaustible love. Amen.
Insight from Steven Blair
Rev. Steven Blair is the Congregational Care Pastor of Live Forward and Live Well Emotional Wellness Ministry. www.cor.org/liveforward
What is the primary sin? One of the main stories of the Bible describes the Jewish people’s 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Before Egypt was completely out of their rearview mirror, the Jewish people started practicing Idolatry. A Golden Calf was made as a focus of worship for the Jewish people. For a long time the practice of Idolatry, or choosing to worship something other than God, has been considered the chief sin. Let’s zoom out today and see something new.
An author whose name I cannot remember inspected this story and came to the following conclusion (paraphrased). Why did the Jewish people turn to another idol instead of God? It was not out of boredom, but rather due to belief in the scarcity of God’s Power and Providence. The only reason someone would turn to an idol is if they believe that in some way, God was not enough. It is a belief that God does not have the power or the desire to help us with our need and because of that, we need to turn to another source for help. We hedge our bets by bringing in another source of salvation.
The primary Sin is not Idolatry, but rather a doubt in the Largeness and Sufficiency of God.   Our God is a generous God who opens up the storehouses in heaven for our provision and care. God is thoroughly involved in human affairs, blessing people in ways we are often unaware. God does not run out. God’s well never goes dry.

This has direct implications for how we handle our finances.
Many times we do not live out God’s generosity because we believe there is a scarcity of resources at our disposal, too. This doubt leads us to turning towards other sources to make us feel comfortable. It most likely is not a golden calf–temptation tends to be more subtle than that. Our second deity is often found in money and the benefits money can buy. We are tempted to hedge our bets that God really is a loving, abundant, generous God by holding tightly onto monies that were intended to be shared generously as well.
As we read today’s Scriptures, ask yourself if they point to an image of a generous God or if they point to a God of scarcity.
Look to the places in your life where you might struggle with a form of idolatry and see if what is standing behind it is a doubt in God’s abundant goodness. I have typically found that to be the case for me.
Our God is not lacking the power to help. The Jewish people discovered that God’s power was greater than the golden calf’s.
May we all discover God’s generosity as well, and then share generously in the same way.
____________________________