“Let’s get over our sweet little selves and do something.”
She was talking about giving and doing. In case you don’t know who I’m talking about, I’m talking about Joyce Meyer. And in case you just went into a mental balisticon over television preachers that say to give seed offerings or why women should keep silence in the church, that women shouldn’t preach or something about the evils of the filthy rich charletons’ private jets, save it. You obviously haven’t listened to Joyce Meyer, nor have you taken a look at her financials posted on the www to know that a clean 80 cents of every dollar that comes into the ministry goes overseas to dig wells and feed people. So listen up…
She addressed the attitude of wasting time on doctrine when she spoke of those of us who are still stuck on the constant argument of baby baptism vs. immersion. I love her answer….
“So do them both! Then get off it and do something for somebody else!”
Here’s another thing — works vs. faith. I object to any church telling me what my mission is. Nursery is not it. President of Women’s Circle is not it. Leader of vacation Bible school is not it. Been there, done that, crashed and burned. If you’re talking about salvation, it’s faith in Jesus that saves. Works don’t earn salvation nor do works earn points in heaven when you do good works for points. (motive, motive, motive). Joyce points out that we are to follow Jesus’ example. He rose each day and went about doing good. We should then do good because doing good is a good thing to do without thinking how good you are.
How simple is that? She went a step further to state that no longer would she ask God for an angel appearance or hold a 4 week seminar on hearing from God before she donated a ten spot somewhere to know for sure if giving the $10 is God’s will. Her new deal with God is that He is to stop her from giving, that she’s going to give and do until He says don’t do that, you’ve done quite enough.
“Indifference finds an excuse. Love finds a way.”
What would happen if we all adopted that attitude? Take it another step. Put cash in the plate. Send cash to a ministry with no return address, no way for the ministry to know you gave, no trace of your donation to report to the IRS for a tax deduction and therefore no credit to you to prove how wonderful you are. Hmmmm……
Do we know how to forgive and why? Do it. You don’t need to study it again.
Have we heard enough yet on the basics?
Max Lucado’s story on the candles in the closet who won’t come out to light the room for a multitude of reasons — too shy, still studying, need a sign — is a classic.
Things I learned from Joyce Meyer today — somebody out there needs me now.