Let the Shepherd Lead

                    The last I looked gas prices in our immediate area lacks only 25 cents before it will be four dollars a gallon. For most of us disposable income that we spent freely just a few years ago now goes directly into the fuel tank. Those of us who have received the Economic Stimulus check are finding that we are much less stimulated than we would have been just a few months ago. In our country so much of our sense of economic stability is tied to the cost of our fuel. Whether as trivial as our ability to vacation, or as vital as the transportation and cost of our food, our nation’s economy depends greatly on fuel.  

            Yet how must we respond to this as God’s people? I think Luke 12:29-34 gives us a model of how to deal with instability in economies.

• We must not worry constantly about things we have no control over. (12:30)
• We must seek God, not stability because where our treasure is there also is our heart. (12:31 & 34)
• We should trust that God will give us enough to meet our need, even up to the Kingdom of God. (12:31&32)
• Most radically Jesus shares that we should trust Him so much that we seek to reach out and give freely to others. By doing this we will alleviate their worry. (12:33)

             Do we face our unstable times in this way? We may all say that we do not worry, seek God and trust Him, but without putting the feet to our words by giving we have done nothing to prove our trust. Notice that Jesus does not say that we give away what we need to provide for our family. No He says that we should sell the material possessions we do not need and give that money. In other words all that is disposable we should give to God to prove our trust and reliance on Him. Is our faith that kind of faith? Pray with me that God will show us as a church how we can reach out to our community in this unstable time to alleviate their worries while proving our trust in God!

 Letting the Shepherd Lead,

Pastor Steven