Session Six: Day One- Getting and Giving

Of all the things that people do not like to talk about in churches across America, money is probably one of the biggest.  Today's lesson calls us out on our culture of more! more! more! and forces us to stop and think about our own habits when it comes to acquiring and giving back.

Look!  The pay that you withheld from the workers who reaped your fields cries out and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.  

James 5:4

What are the two inanimate objects that James gives human like attributes to?

The wages are crying out against you and the corroded gold and silver will testify against you.

Do the same for the following verses:

Genesis 4:10

Blood cries out

Job 31:38-40

Land cries out

Mark 4:39-41 

The wind and waves obey Him.

Beth goes on to talk about the idea of the hoarded wealth, paying for the trial against the hoarder.  At first glance this seems to not apply to us, unless we've recently hired someone to do work and not paid for the services, which I don't think applies to any of us. Even after reading Leviticus 19:13 and how it talks about not defrauding your neighbor or holding back wages, I still couldn't make the connection Beth wanted me to make.

It wasn't until she began talking about hoarding our treasure and the difference between saving and spending for life's necessities and where the line begins to blur with hoarding that I began to understand what she was getting at.  How much of the money God has blessed us with do we (I) blow through for things I think we need (versus actual needs) and how much have I not set aside to bless others with.  

The conviction that I felt during this part of the reading was simply that I, as the bill payer, shopper in our home, need to do a much, much better job at managing our finances.  Yes, we tithe.  Yes, we save.  Yes, we give to other organizations.  But also, Yes.  I do get caught up in a world view that begs me to have the newest, latest, cutest, best est thing. 

Towards the end of the lesson, the the idea that having more than we need could be considered hoarding and not just hoarding but sinful hoarding really stopped me cold.  In loving my neighbors as I love myself, I want to work towards the ideal of if I get something I give something and eliminate the idea of "the accursed love of getting."  Please, discuss if you feel comfortable sharing.