A NEW CHRISTIAN MISSION

A NEW MISSION FOR CHRISTIANS
For thousands of years, churches have focused much effort and resources on "helping the poor". Many of these efforts were well founded and effective. Most have been over-all failures in recent years, particularly in this country. It seems that instead of helping people who have fallen on hard times due to circumstances beyond their control such as illness or accidents or temporary job loss, we have created an entitlement mentality that discourages personal responsibility. It has become much too easy to accept hand-outs form charities and taxpayers with no accountability.
We Christians are guilty of giving our money to charities and people and patting ourselves on the back and feeling good about what a fine thing we are doing when in reality we have accomplished nothing. To the contrary, we may do great harm to people by not insisting that they take the necessary steps to solve their long term problems. The recipient of our gift is no better off than before. We are giving away fish instead of teaching the art of fishing. We should give more of our time.
We need to rethink our definition of poor. Poor is not having money and being powerless to change the situation. An American in good health but with no money is not poor. He or she is just broke. This is changed by work and by acquiring the skills and motivation to improve ones marketability. It means being willing to work those extra hours to increase income, therefore becoming self-supporting. It means acquiring the knowledge to properly manage the resources we have. It is about priorities. It is about personal responsibility.

My Worst Enemy-and Yours!

One of the best lessons I have learned in my life is that to find the source of nearly all problems I may have, I need only to look in the mirror. It is just that simple. There is find the cause of at least 90% of the situations I find myself dealing with. If not the primary cause, at least I was a major contributor. This is true for all of us to some extent.
We all have a few character defects. Some are benign and cause us few problems. Others can be extremely destructive depending on the nature and severity. They can include anything that prevents us from full filling commitments or accomplishing goals or behavior that destroys relationships or even the lives of others or our own.
When I am the primary problem, I think about how I can improve on my behaviour or attitude.
Many times we think someone else is at fault and that may be true, but what did I do to contribute to the problem? I ask myself the following questions:
(1)Is this person a real threat (most people aren't) or just a pain in the (you pic). Do they really intend to cause problems for me or are they just practicing some character defects of their own. If it is intentional, you may need to take action to stop it. If not, you may decide to do nothing. Although it goes against my normal instinct's, I have found that doing nothing sometimes gets the best results. Sometimes I kill them with kindness-try it, if nothing else it drives them crazy. More on this in another blog.
(2)How did I contribute to this situation? Did I make a minor situation worse through my own anger or bull-headedness? If I had waited 24 hours, would I have said or done something else or nothing at all? Sometimes people slight us or step on our toes and don't even realize it.
God gave us the ability to reason. Use it! It will make life better for everybody involved.

The Gospel of Prosperity

Many national evangelists have been in the news recently and criticized for their sermons on what is called the "Gospel of Prosperity". Much of this has been because of their own lavish lifestyles, but I'll let others deal with that. I have no problem with it-if that is how you wish to live and you have the financial resources to pay for it, go for it. It is a free country.
They do seem to leave out the part about personal responsibility.
I think the gospel SHOULD be one of peace and prosperity. I am convinced that if I get up every morning and attempt to live my life according to Gods' will, use the talents He has given me and do what is in the best interest of society in general, I will live a much better life than I other-wise would live. This means working to meet the needs of my family and also being involved in my community and generally being a asset to society in general. It means being an example to others and living my life in a way that honors God It means doing the right thing.
This does not necessarily mean that I will not have challenges or even hard times along the way. Sometimes life throws us challenges-illness, disasters natural or caused by things beyond our control. It does not necessarily mean that wi will all become financially rich and live in mansions.
We will, however, be better able to provide all the things our family needs and for our own future needs in a way that brings us peace and personal satisfaction.
Isn't this scenario the Kingdom of God on earth?