It began with only one. It always begins with one. I sat beside a tranquil pond the other day. Planning. Plotting. Dreaming. An occasional fish flipped to the surface splashing after a buzzing bug. The usual summer stuff. And then it began. Somewhere around the edge of that still and stagnant pond, one frog croaked. Just one. It sounded awkward, uncertain. And lonely. But not for long. Over the next few minutes a few more more croaks joined in. Then more. Again.... Read more
Is financial freedom really all it’s cracked up to be? We hear a lot about it in both secular and religious circles. We go to conferences and watch entire channels that seem devoted to helping us achieve it — in between commercials. We’re told that we should all be pursuing it. But what is financial freedom? And if we’re thinking biblically, should we want it? I’ve known many Christians who took extreme measures to achieve what they perceived to be... Read more
Imagine yourself in church this coming Sunday. The offering container comes your way and you slip in a check with a lot of zeroes — to the left of the decimal. You sit back with a contented sigh when suddenly the music stops abruptly. You turn your eyes to the stage to see — Jesus! And he’s pointing at you. At first you think He must be pointing you out as an example of being generous, but then your face... Read more
God is like giant gumball machine. At least it seems that way sometimes. We see the colorful blessings we want behind the rigid plastic. We find the right spot to put in our coin to make the request. And –pop! — out it comes into our waiting hands. We’ve been able to train ourselves pretty well to expect to get what we want from God. But we don’t seem to be all that eager to train ourselves to be generous... Read more
I can hear the dulcet tones of Snow White’s voice now as she twirls with the birds and assorted forest creatures. “Someday my prince will come, someday my – .” You get the idea. Snow White lived each day hoping that someday, somehow, her dream would come true. Her prince would magically appear. Only then could she fulfill her destiny. That worked in the fairy tale. Sort of. Except for the whole poison apple, sleep-of-death stuff. But we can do... Read more
It’s true. You don’t have to wear a cape to be a hero. That’s good news for most of us Christ-followers who prefer to keep a lower profile. But when it comes to following Christ, the Apostle Peter reveals that doing heroic deeds is but the natural next step as we build on our faith. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own... Read more
We all know we probably should prepare a budget and try balancing it. Yet, according to Gallup in a new poll released just last week, only one third of Americans actually prepare a detailed household budget. Even fewer prepare a long-term financial plan outlining their savings and investment goals in detail. It’s as if we’re missing the secret ingredient, a magical technique that will somehow make it all work. The Church has seen a lot of training on the topic... Read more
We often emphasize how difficult it is for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus made that point clearly after watching the rich young ruler walk away from an invite to follow Jesus. Christ vividly likened the challenge as that of a camel passing through the eye of a needle. Whether he meant a certain gate in Jerusalem or what we envision as a sharp sewing tool, the bottom line was that his disciples viewed it as... Read more
Yesterday I was contemplating a potential tag-line for the series of films that began with Living Generously, continued with Loving Generously (now complete and available soon), and the final Leading Generously series (under development). Then it hit me. Dave Ramsey, a Christian financial guru who has helped many people (Christian and otherwise) get out of debt, has a famous maxim: “Live like no one else, so that you can live like no one else.” It’s never quite sat right with me. The point is that doing what everyone... Read more
The founder of Rhemedia, Jack Alexander, shared a point with me once that I’ve never forgotten. Every church, he said, has a church membership class, and church membership classes often help congregants find ways in which they can serve the church. That’s a perfectly fine thing. Churches are important and serving the church is good. But churches ought to have “kingdom citizen” classes too. When you become a follower of Jesus Christ, the reality into which you are inaugurated is... Read more
ReImagine
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In