Waiting a Long Time
Dear Pastor, Preacher, or Bible Teacher –
Good Monday Morning to You! I pray this finds you receiving some rest and refreshment from the Lord after a busy weekend of serving God., His people, and a needy world.
Here’s a short thought from God’s word for you, dear servant of God.
Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian,
and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife,
after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. (Genesis 16:3)
It had been more than ten years since God promised Abram and Sarai a son. By most accounts, ten years seems like a long time to wait for the promise of God.
Abram and Sarai were discouraged enough that they approached the problem of no children by leaving God out of the matter. It was as if they said, “With God out of the equation, how do we solve this?” This was wrong for many reasons.
– God is never out of the equation.
– Men and women of faith must walk in faith – not in unbelief.
– Men and women of faith must see things mindful of the realm of the spirit, not only mindful of the material world.
When we impatiently try to fulfill God’s promises in our own effort, it accomplishes nothing and may even prolong the time until the promise is fulfilled. It is much better to receive God’s help than to try and help Him with our own wisdom and acting out of unbelief.
If God has you in a waiting place right now, don’t lose heart and don’t despair. Step forward boldly in faith, refusing to take matters into your own hands. God will prove Himself worthy of all your trust.
Blessings to you in Jesus’ Name – David Guzik
Click Here to Receive Email from David for Pastors, Preachers, and Bible Teachers
Image and Reality
But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. (Acts 5:1-2)
God was moving in a powerful way among the earliest Christians. The movement of the followers of Jesus was so fresh, so new, and so full of life that they hadn’t even yet taken the title “Christians” – that would come later. But even without that name they were a community of love, power, and great generosity.
It has been said that whenever God moves in a powerful way, the devil also starts moving. There is some truth to that. As the church grew and prospered, Satan didn’t surrender – he got busy. Satan’s strategy of scaring Christians into silence didn’t work, so he tried attacking them from the inside.
Satan attacked the church at a strong point: the great generosity described at the end of Acts 4. There we read of a man named Barnabas who was especially generous – and people noticed his generosity.
So, we read of a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife who sold a possession. After seeing the great generosity of Barnabas and how well he was respected (Acts 4:36-37), Ananias and Sapphira decided they wanted to receive the same respect.
Here is the problem: once they sold the land, Ananias and Sapphira kept back part of the proceeds. They sold the possession, and gave only a portion, while implying that they sacrificially gave it all. They misused the money to “buy” the image of being radically generous while keeping back a good part of it for themselves.
In a time when God was moving in remarkable ways, their greed and misuse of money was a threat to God’s work. It wasn’t just Ananias – we read, his wife also being aware of it. They were partners in the deception. Maybe they originally vowed to sell the land and give all the money to God and told others they would do that. But when the money was in their hand they said, “We don’t have to give it all – but let’s tell everyone we did.”
There was a lot of evil packed into the sin of Ananias and Saphira, evil that went beyond the attempt to deceive God and the church.
They showed disrespect to God, and they defrauded the Lord. They did it out of a twisted ambition to be thought of as amazing people. They cared more about having the image of being generous than actually being generous. They arrogantly thought they were clever enough to sin this way and not be found out.
It didn’t work. The planned hiding of our sin doesn’t work. Eventually, things that are only image and not reality are exposed.
Today, ask God to guard you from the proud lies that promote the image of godliness when the reality falls far short.
Una iglesia generosa
Así que no había entre ellos ningún necesitado; porque todos los que poseían heredades o casas, las vendían, y traían el precio de lo vendido, y lo ponían a los pies de los apóstoles; y se repartía a cada uno según su necesidad (Hechos 4:34-35).
Al repasar los primeros capítulos de Hechos, nos impresionan las muchas descripciones de la generosidad y el compartir de los primeros cristianos. Leemos de la comunidad cristiana en Jerusalén que no había entre ellos ningún necesitado. Nadie pasaba hambre ni le faltaba lugar donde vivir, porque los cristianos se cuidaban unos a otros.
Eso requería una generosidad radical: todos los que poseían heredades o casas, las vendían. Entre los aproximadamente 5,000 cristianos que había en Jerusalén en ese momento, algunos eran ricos. Estos creyentes ricos no eran gravados en un programa de redistribución de ingresos. Todos daban generosamente y Dios proveía. Recuerde que los cristianos de Jerusalén estaban compuestos en gran parte por visitantes que llegaban como visitantes en Pentecostés – eran refugiados del extranjero y tenían necesidades especiales.
Sigo observando que esto lo hicieron entre la comunidad de cristianos. No leemos que lo hicieran por todos los que vivían en Jerusalén. Los cristianos tienen la responsabilidad de cuidar a los que son hermanos en la fe. Tenemos la oportunidad de ayudar a los que están fuera de la iglesia, pero no creo que tengamos la responsabilidad. Simplemente no veo en las Escrituras que los cristianos sean responsables de alimentar, vestir y dar techo a todos en la tierra. Pero somos llamados a cuidar de los nuestros.
Entre los creyentes, se repartía a cada uno según su necesidad. Desafortunadamente, pronto se abusó de esta generosidad. Más tarde, Pablo enseñó sobre quiénes deberían recibir ayuda y cómo debían recibir ayuda. Las instrucciones de Pablo incluyen:
– La iglesia debe discernir quiénes son los que realmente necesitan ayuda (1 Timoteo 5: 3).
– Si uno puede trabajar para mantenerse a sí mismo, no está realmente necesitado y debe satisfacer sus propias necesidades (2 Tesalonicenses 3: 10-12, 1 Timoteo 5: 8, 1 Tesalonicenses 4:11).
– Si la familia puede mantener a la persona necesitada, la iglesia no debería hacerlo (1 Timoteo 5: 3-4).
– Los que reciben apoyo de la iglesia deben devolver algo a la iglesia (1 Timoteo 5: 5, 10).
– Es correcto que la iglesia examine la conducta moral antes de apoyar (1 Timoteo 5: 9-13).
– El sustento de la iglesia debe ser para las necesidades más básicas de la vida (1 Timoteo 6: 8).
Creo que hoy en día la iglesia hace un mejor trabajo con esto de lo que la mayoría de la gente cree. Por supuesto, los cristianos siempre pueden y deben mejorar y hacer más. Pero no puedo pensar en una sola organización voluntaria que haga más para alimentar, vestir y albergar a los suyos y a los pobres del mundo que la iglesia.
Hoy, pregúntele a Dios si hay algún creyente necesitado al que Él quiera que usted le ayude y confíe en que, si lo hay, el Espíritu Santo le mostrará y le guiará. Hágalo con la sabiduría bíblica dada por Pablo y otros, ¡pero hágalo!