Kingdom Focused Giving

Entering posts like this always bother me. I am conflicted. I know that Jesus warned against doing righteousness to be seen by others.

Honestly, that's not what I'm doing.

The truth is that so many of the people I know are obsessed with the church, not with the Kingdom, as Jesus commands.

I enter these posts as a testimony to our journey in seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

I don't suggest that we do it perfectly, or even well. But, we do it honestly and sincerely.

I despair for self-styled church leaders who give their all for the institutional church. The fruit of their lives that I can inspect is entirely disconnected from what Jesus taught and did and from the testimony of early disciples.

--------------- 

Just to review what readers of this blog know:

Our "church" doesn't take an offering and it has no building and no paid staff and absolutely no expenses.

Evie and I accept the fact that, according to the teaching of Jesus, tithing is a righteous act.

We take seriously Jesus' teaching that what you do to the least of His brothers and sisters, you do to Him.

We understand that to be saved by grace through faith requires a disciple to do the good works God prepared in advance for us to do.

We consider ourselves to be ambassadors of the Kingdom of God as we do our jobs and live among our neighbors.

----------------

So, two of the people I work with are struggling financially.

One of them is a single woman who is ill and, for the moment, unable to work and is incapable of paying her part of the premium for her benefit package at work and incapable also of meeting copays for medical appointments and medications.

Another is a part time employee whose husband is caught in a plant shut down that will last all summer. They have three teenagers.

---------------

Evie and I agree that contributing to these needs are works that God prepared in advance for us to do.

Yesterday was our anniversary.  We gave ourselves the gift of buying a nice-sized pile of everyday need stuff for the family with the teens and with buying them a gift card to their favorite discount grocery store.

There is joy in obedience.

We had a very pleasant day, the nicest anniversary we've spent in years.

We are arranging to do something anonymously for my coworker who can't work.

It is a joy to give your life over to seeking HIS kingdom and His righteousness.

And, that lifestyle opens so many doors for the proclaiming of the gospel!

The Lord is praised!