Beloved Lake Country Alliance,  

“A generous man [or “He who has a good eye”] will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.” (Prov 22:9)  

“Do not eat the food of a stingy man [or “an evil-eyed man”], do not crave his delicacies; for he is the kind of man who is always thinking about the cost.” (Prov 23:6)  

“The eye is the lamp of the body.  If your eyes are good [or “If your eye is single”], your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness…No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money [Mammon].  Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…” (Mt 6:22-25).  

I confessed to you last Sunday one area where I am not yet like God—when it comes to personal finances, I can be cheap.  I’ve often let thriftiness or bargain-hunting interfere with loving others in costly, expensive ways.  God, in giving us His Son, displays that He is prepared to pay the highest cost to show us how much He loves us.  I want to become more like Him.  

We’ve all got financial tendencies to consider, don’t we?  Patterns of spending, saving, borrowing, lending, giving, stealing, withholding, deceiving.  Quickly, considerations about money can get ugly and uncomfortable, right?  Nevertheless, while others seem squeamish to discuss this matter openly, I look forward to the month ahead where I hope we can explore money matters together.  Sure, our Annual Finance Meeting is on Sunday, Feb 26th and I am conscious of that, but you and I have other money-related things going on every day that we have left on “auto-pilot.”  Or, if we take Jesus’ words seriously, maybe we are piloted by an invisible idol of money, Mammon, more than we think.  “You possess your possessions or they possess you!” sings Jon Foreman.   

This is an issue directly connected to our salvation.  Will you join me in praying for LCAC to become single-eyed (i.e. generous!)--completely devoted to God?   

God’s grace and peace to you all this weekend,

Sandy