1 Timothy 1 – God’s Work Which is by Faith

2 Timothy 1 – A Spirit of Power, of Love, of Self-discipline

Titus 1 – To the Pure, All Things are Pure

Philemon – I Will Pay It Back

Hebrews 1 – About the Son He Says

James 1 – Polluted by the World

 

There is an old axiom that says it takes money to make money. I think this was put in place to try and kill the hope of those without money and prevent them from even trying. Examples are “If I only had a million dollars, I could invest in stocks.” I have one investment account with about one thousand dollars in it. I have not done anything with it because I felt it was too small to make a difference. After learning something new while preparing to lead my next financial class, I realized I had fallen into the trap as well.

Polluted by the world is a phrase that reminds me of my stereotype of the Puritans. My mental image is a group of people trying to run from the world and its polluting ideas to a new world where they would be free to do what they wanted. In my mind, it is like an attempt at a utopia. There is just one problem with utopia and running. Utopias cannot exist without supernatural support as they involve people who are either fighting their sin nature or reviling in their sin nature. Yes, the world pollutes our godly efforts, but showing the world their possible victory over sin is why we are still on earth. It Is not to live isolated from the sinners Christ came to save.

This work which God has provided for us (and can only be fruitful when done through faith in God) is why we are still here. At one point when I was younger, I agreed to read a popular book about some miracle of faith. I was a bit more naïve than I am now, and rather than research the book, I simply read it. In the end, I realized it was ungodly and not the best use of my time. The main event in the book was people being carried off to heaven once they attained enlightenment. Their success was individual and therefore in opposition to the holy work of Christ.

Our big kid is in the process of transitioning from a high school student to a college student. In theory, she is probably transitioning from a kid to an adult, but I am more convinced than ever that most college kids do not become adults until after they start (or finish). Our family financial dynamic is much different from mine when I was a high school senior getting ready for college. My school was paid for by scholarships and non-school stuff was paid by a little work from me and a little money from my mom. One of my scholarships in particular was one that carried a hint of (if not an outright) expectation that each recipient was to pay it back in some form or fashion. I always carried an expectation of “I will pay it back”, but I have never felt led to do so (yet). After all the twists and turns in the process, I am thinking I will be accomplishing the task by paying for my kids’ college. Kind of like the feeling I will be paying extra taxes for saving in a 401k when I was younger.

One of the phrases that Paul makes is that all things are pure to the pure. I have a few ideas of things that do not seem so pure no matter what. So, I wonder how to balance the philosophy Paul is putting forth about denying activities not because they are sin, but because they might help others by not doing them with the false idea that one can do anything, and it is not a sin if they are pure. I always assumed that the counter was that pure people would not have any desire to do a sinful thing and would be able to do all the non-sinful things they wanted to do. I have yet to study this, but I have no guilt about using money I could give to others to pay for my kids’ college. Hopefully, over the next decade or so of paying for college, I will come to understand how God intends me to match up to this “worldly” idea of paying for other people kids to go to college, that may or may not have been the source of my scholarship funds.

A Spirit of Power, of Love, of Self-discipline. This is the spirit Paul tells us that we as Christians have been given and that we are to act with. I have the power to earn money, I have the power to love and give money away and I have the self-discipline to save some for my family’s future. (I am sure this is not exactly the idea that Paul was discussing, but…) God gave us a spirit of power to enable us to take on tasks that seem too much. God gave us the spirit of love to enable us to put others before ourselves. God gave us the spirit of self -discipline to put these into action by undertaking big goals and taking the actions to love and not just talk about it.

About the Son He Says: My goal is to follow God and do the work He has provided me. Before the kids came along, I was adamant that they pay for school themselves. In the end, I realized that I was not listening to God with this decision and softened my resolve to “If I have the money, I will use it to pay for college.” I am not so sure that I trusted in God to provide so much as I trusted that God would lead me when the time came. He led me monthly to save a little, and then a little more, and now to make it happen. This college journey has been going for almost two decades and with another to go. It will be a major example of how I want my life to say that about the Son, Jeff says: It is all His, and I tried to follow His will and do His work by faith through His power.