Hilarity
Isaiah 12:2-6
Amos 8:4-12
2 Corinthians 9:1-15
Money. It so often comes down to money, doesn't it? But it's also not really about money at all. It's not much different from the (long) discussion I had with a child yesterday. So much anger and bad behavior, but when we really boiled it down to what was going on, it was really just so much fear. Anger is the easier and more avoidant emotion. With money, it's not the money, it's the control.
Money allows us to feel we are in control. Money allows us to feel we are secure. And money allows us to feel we do not need God. When we base our safety and security and status on money alone, something happens. Our safety, security, and status become increasingly more tenuous despite more and more money being piled up. Actually, I think we are coming right back around to fear again. I can tell you from years of living with it in other people (and myself), that fear is not conducive to pleasant or generous behavior. Fear causes anger and selfishness and cheating and stealing.
The wealthy in Amos were cheating the poor in a myriad of different ways... over-charging, putting a price on everything, even the scrapings from the floor, making money on every tiny detail of their lives. Aside from the details of wheat grinding, it actually sounds extremely modern, doesn't it? And it makes God angry.
This is righteous anger. Anger at outright injustice. Anger at lack of love and compassion.
The Bible does not call money evil, but it certainly shows how money can be a giant, glowing 'you're here' arrow as to our spiritual state. We can truly trust God and be generous, because we know He's got our backs. Or we can not trust God, clutch money to ourselves and spend all of our time thinking and scheming about how to get more.
I don't know about you, but I admit to squirming a bit. Okay... more than a bit.
But these passages also help us to reorder our relationship to money, and by extension to God. In 2 Corinthians 9:10, we learn that God provides the seed to the sower. In the context of the passage, this means that God gives us what is to be given. It was never ours in the first place, but God is the provider of it. We're merely the bank doing deposits and withdrawals. In verse 8 of the same passage, we also learn that God will give us sufficiency in all things. We don't need to worry because God promises to provide, freeing us up to be generous.
And how are we to be generous? Cheerfully. Now, last year I was in a Bible study on 2 Corinthians, and I have a note in my Bible about this word. The Greek word that is translated so innocuously as 'cheerfully', is really a word which is the base word for the idea of hilarity. I don't know about you, but I perceive the words 'cheerfully' and 'with hilarity' as being extremely different. Hilarity is that moment when something strikes you and you burst out laughing. You just cannot help it. It has more of the idea of joy just bursting up and out and cannot be contained.
Do we give this way? I admit, I do not. I try to mentally smile when giving money. You know, to satisfy the 'cheerful giver' admonishment, but joy-filled hilarity? Yeah. Not so much. I'm still clutching at that money... we have so many needs, so much we want, and something in the bank is always reassuring.
The beginning of our Psalm passage for the day begins, "Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid." Clearly, I'm very much a work in progress. And I am thankful that God sent His son, starting as a baby in a manger, in spite of the fact we are all works in progress.
Amos 8:4-12
2 Corinthians 9:1-15
Money. It so often comes down to money, doesn't it? But it's also not really about money at all. It's not much different from the (long) discussion I had with a child yesterday. So much anger and bad behavior, but when we really boiled it down to what was going on, it was really just so much fear. Anger is the easier and more avoidant emotion. With money, it's not the money, it's the control.
Money allows us to feel we are in control. Money allows us to feel we are secure. And money allows us to feel we do not need God. When we base our safety and security and status on money alone, something happens. Our safety, security, and status become increasingly more tenuous despite more and more money being piled up. Actually, I think we are coming right back around to fear again. I can tell you from years of living with it in other people (and myself), that fear is not conducive to pleasant or generous behavior. Fear causes anger and selfishness and cheating and stealing.
The wealthy in Amos were cheating the poor in a myriad of different ways... over-charging, putting a price on everything, even the scrapings from the floor, making money on every tiny detail of their lives. Aside from the details of wheat grinding, it actually sounds extremely modern, doesn't it? And it makes God angry.
This is righteous anger. Anger at outright injustice. Anger at lack of love and compassion.
The Bible does not call money evil, but it certainly shows how money can be a giant, glowing 'you're here' arrow as to our spiritual state. We can truly trust God and be generous, because we know He's got our backs. Or we can not trust God, clutch money to ourselves and spend all of our time thinking and scheming about how to get more.
I don't know about you, but I admit to squirming a bit. Okay... more than a bit.
But these passages also help us to reorder our relationship to money, and by extension to God. In 2 Corinthians 9:10, we learn that God provides the seed to the sower. In the context of the passage, this means that God gives us what is to be given. It was never ours in the first place, but God is the provider of it. We're merely the bank doing deposits and withdrawals. In verse 8 of the same passage, we also learn that God will give us sufficiency in all things. We don't need to worry because God promises to provide, freeing us up to be generous.
And how are we to be generous? Cheerfully. Now, last year I was in a Bible study on 2 Corinthians, and I have a note in my Bible about this word. The Greek word that is translated so innocuously as 'cheerfully', is really a word which is the base word for the idea of hilarity. I don't know about you, but I perceive the words 'cheerfully' and 'with hilarity' as being extremely different. Hilarity is that moment when something strikes you and you burst out laughing. You just cannot help it. It has more of the idea of joy just bursting up and out and cannot be contained.
Do we give this way? I admit, I do not. I try to mentally smile when giving money. You know, to satisfy the 'cheerful giver' admonishment, but joy-filled hilarity? Yeah. Not so much. I'm still clutching at that money... we have so many needs, so much we want, and something in the bank is always reassuring.
The beginning of our Psalm passage for the day begins, "Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid." Clearly, I'm very much a work in progress. And I am thankful that God sent His son, starting as a baby in a manger, in spite of the fact we are all works in progress.
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