Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 15 April 13, 2008
The Weekly Newsletter of True Potential Publishing

Money Part 3

"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey." (Matthew 25: 14–15)

Remember the parable of the Talents? You can read about it in Matthew 25: 14 – 30. Jesus told this and a few other parables to explain what the "kingdom of heaven" would be like "at the end of the age." Interesting.

Here’s the story in a nut shell:

A man calls his three servants together before he leaves on a journey. To the first servant he gives "five talents of money."

A "talent" is a measurement of weight. In the old days money, being made out of precious metals like silver or gold, was weighed out to confirm its value. Whoever made the coins could just stamp the value on the coin along with a likeness of his boss’s head, but who’s going to take his word for it? It was safer just to weigh out the coins.

The weight of a "talent" varied over time, but when Jesus told this parable a talent of silver was about seventy-five pounds; worth a little over $20,000 in today’s money.

So, before going on his journey, this man entrusts five talents ($100,000) to one servant, two talents ($40,000) to another and one talent ($20,000) to a third servant. The expectation being that these three servants were to manage their master’s money while he was gone and give an accounting when he returned.

Well, that’s just what happened. The first servant doubled the money his master had given him. The second servant did likewise. The third servant broke even. He didn’t turn a profit, but he didn’t lose any of his master’s original capital either.

Investing money inherently involves some risk. There’s a chance you won’t make a profit and there’s a chance you could lose your entire investment. The first two servants took some risk. They could have lost their master’s money. Then there would have been hell to pay.

At least that’s what the third servant thought. He knew his master wasn’t an easy man. He expected his people to perform and he expected to profit from their work. The third servant just couldn’t bear the consequences of losing his master’s money. It was a risk he wasn’t willing to take. He dug a hole and buried the money.

By burying the money in the ground, he knew it wouldn’t earn any interest, but at least he wouldn’t risk losing his master’s original capital. His plan was safe; just bury the money and dig it up when his master returned. Nobody wins and nobody loses; can’t get any safer than that.

But that wasn’t the point. The master entrusted his money to his servants for a reason; to make a profit. By playing it safe, the third servant not only failed at his task, he disobeyed his master’s instructions. And he suffered the consequences. According to the story he was thrown "outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Bummer.

The first two servants put their master’s capital at risk, they had to; it’s part of the nature of investing. But the possibility of turning a profit is also in the nature of investing. These two succeeded at their task and enjoyed the reward. "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your master’s happiness."

*****

So what’s the point Jesus was trying to get across? That we’re supposed to turn a profit? Well … yeah. I think that’s exactly what he meant.

Now you can allegorize or spiritualize this whole thing by saying investing "talents" in the parable means investing the talents God has given each of us. You know, talents, like singing, or speaking, or teaching, or managing a business, or raising kids. Whatever your talents are, use them for God’s glory. That’s nice.

But for today’s discussion, let’s just keep it simple. Jesus said "talents of money" in the parable. Let’s leave the allegory for another day and just talk about money. The parable fits; everybody gets a different amount of money, "each according to his ability."

Some people get a lot of money. Some get less. Some get even less. Each according to his own ability. That’s not a very popular concept.

Doesn’t everybody deserve to get the same amount? That would be fair. Of course it’s only fair if we all get a lot. The fairness idea loses its attractiveness if everybody getting the same amount means we get less than we think we deserve.

And we deserve a lot, don’t we? We deserve whatever we want. More money, a bigger house, a newer car, a more important job; we deserve it all. At least that’s what we’ve been told. Just watch the commercials; that’s what they’re all about, making us believe we deserve what we want.

It’s not just the commercials. We hear it all the time from guys who claim to be God’s spokesmen. Want to know how you can get your best life now? Just listen to the guy behind the pulpit. As a matter of fact you can measure how much God likes you by how much stuff you have. By the way, don’t’ forget to send in your monthly support check to the ministry.

Maybe they’re just commercials too (I know I beat this horse a lot, but it needs beating).

If you listen to Jesus, when it comes to money, we get what we get, "each according to his own ability." The important thing isn’t how much we get; it’s what we do with what we’ve got. And I don’t recommend burying it in the ground. We’re supposed to turn a profit.

That brings up another point I believe I’ve mentioned before. It’s not our money. We’re just managing it for our master. It’s His money. He’s given it to us to turn a profit while he’s gone. We he comes back, there’s going to be an accounting.

So let’s boil down the parable into a few points we can put to use.

1. Jesus was trying to explain what the "kingdom of heaven" at the "end of the age" is going to be like. So we know he was talking about then and not now.

2. The man who was going on the journey was the one who owned everything. He entrusted his property to his servants (they stayed behind) to manage (turn a profit) while he was gone.

3. Each servant got the amount of money he could handle, not the amount he thought he deserved. How much each servant could handle wasn’t up for a vote; it was up to the master – it was his money.

4. Only the servants who actually invested their money made a profit. Investing is risky, they could have lost what they had been given, but they invested it anyway. No guarantees. The guy who buried his money in the ground had two guarantees; his capital wouldn’t be at risk and he wouldn’t make a profit.

5. There was an accounting when the master returned. And his focus was on how well his servants did with the money they were given, not the money itself. If they managed risk and turned a profit they were given more, a lot more. If one was risk averse, fearing the consequences of making a bad investment so much that he hid his master’s capital in a hole in the ground until he returned, the master wasn’t satisfied to receive back his original capital. The servant screwed up, and the consequences were worse than he ever imagined.

*****

Money is a funny thing. We think it’s worth a lot, but it turns out that it really doesn’t have any value at all. We think that more money will let us do more stuff, but is only what we do with the money we already have that matters.

Money isn’t something you own, it’s something you use. It’s been given to you to use by the One who ultimately owns everything. How you use matters more than how much you’ve got to use.

Risk is inherent in everything. That’s why you’ve got to manage the money you’ve been given. If you invest it in stupid stuff, you’re going to lose it; and there’s a price to pay for that. If you bury it in the ground … well, we know from the story that there’s a price to be paid for that.

And, by the way, if you give your money to somebody that claims to be God’s spokesman but really isn’t, he’s not the only one facing consequences. You were given that money to manage; the accounting is going to come home to roost on your doorstep. If you’re going to give money to folks who say they’re God’s representatives, you’d better make sure they really are.

The most important thing I can say about money is that it’s not about the here and now. It’s about the then and there. What you do with it here and now only counts then and there.

Invest wisely.

Next week we’ll tackle a new subject - courage.

In Him,

Steve Spillman

Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 14 April 7, 2008
The weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing

Money Part 2

Thanks for your patience while I was away.

Elaine and I were out all of last week at an “equipping the saints” conference. It wasn’t really named “equipping the saints,” but you know what I mean. It was a conference for Christians by Christians, with subject matter focused on a particular facet of the faith. This one was about “prophecy.” Not “exhort-your-brother” prophecy; “end-of-the-world” prophecy.

As a book publisher, I’m supposed to go to things like this; we were invited, we went and we sold some books. So it worked out.

That was the business side of it. Usually there’s another reason I go … one I don’t know about in advance. I find out after I arrive or after it’s over and say, “oh, that’s why I was supposed to go.” This trip wasn’t any different; there was an object lesson (or two) waiting for me.

*****

Before I go any further, let me just say for the record – I’m not the kind of guy who likes to over-spiritualize things. I’d rather not. The problem is, spiritual stuff keeps happening and the only way I know how to tell you about it is with words that sound kind of … well … spiritual.

I don’t like using “spiritual” vocabulary when regular vocabulary will do. If I’m thinking something or read something in the Bible, I’d rather say, “This is what I think,” or “I read this in the Bible,” than say “God told me.”

But if God tells me or shows me something or I’d rather just be honest about it.

One last thing. When God talks to me I don’t hear an audible voice; so you don’t have to worry about that one. I wonder why people always worry about that one? It’s like if you say God speaks to you and you can’t actually hear His voice, you’re a spiritual guy. But if you do actually hear His voice, you’re a nut.

Some people think it’s a little off to think God speaks to His followers. I think it’s a little off to follow a God who doesn’t speak.

*****

Anyway, back to my trip.

This was a prophecy conference. At prophecy conferences people talk about what hasn’t happened yet, but what they believe will happen based on what they think the Bible says about what will happen, held up to the light of what’s happening now. It’s fairly confusing.

Since it hasn’t actually happened yet, not everybody agrees with everybody else. Even the people who agree with each other don’t always agree; it depends on how detailed you want to get about things that haven’t happened yet.

And there are charts. Lots of charts. My favorite chart was an illustrated timeline of every important event from the creation of the world to 2005. As you can imagine, it was a really long chart. What I liked about it was that everything had already happened. That was a chart I could follow. The chart was for sale. I should have bought it. Elaine told me to, but I didn’t. Maybe I can get it at the next conference.

The lesson I was supposed to learn last week wasn’t about prophecy; it was about people.

When I was six I had a poster of the Peanuts character, Snoopy, on my bedroom wall. He was in his classic pose, lying prone on the roof of his dog house. Inside Snoopy’s thought balloon was, “I love humanity; it’s people I can’t stand.” The saying stuck with me.

Too often, people can be jerks or nuts and their leaders can be self-aggrandizing, self-serving demagogues. It’s just human nature and, like Snoopy, I shouldn’t be too surprised when I see it.

I’m especially sensitive to it in the Christian world because we’re supposed to represent just the opposite. We’re supposed to be light and salt to the world, giving it sight and flavor. Our leaders should be servants; patterned after their leader, God who became man to be our example.

So already you know I have a low tolerance level of human frailty and have my own issues with plank-in-eye disease (see Matthew 7:3).

I show up at a prophecy conference, where everybody’s focused on lining up things that haven’t happened yet and everybody’s got their own opinion of what hasn’t happened yet, so I know I’m not going to agree with at least some of what’s being said.

I really had mixed feelings about being there … before I showed up.

After we got there, everything I was worried about evaporated like mist and things I never thought about, like the fact that I might actually enjoy being around these people, began to materialize.

Sure, there were varying opinions floating around about the nuts and bolts of the apocalypse; but that didn’t define the conference. At least not for me.

It was the people, their spirit and their attitude that affected me. It was something that I knew I was a part of; something I wanted to be a part of. The people listened, talked, shared, laughed and prayed together.

Like I said, I don’t like to overuse "church words," but if I had to name what I saw, “fellowship” would be a good word.

Oh yeah. The leaders led by serving. It was in their attitudes; you could hear it in their words and see it in their actions. Elitism and hierarchy to the greater glory of man didn’t show up at this conference. It was nice.

*****

I know. I know. This week’s letter is supposed to be about money. What’s the prophecy conference got to do with money?

Not much.

That was one of the nice things. There weren’t any tickets. The conference was free; it has been for fourteen years. They take up some offerings and sell some books and CD’s. They pay for the conference center and cover expenses. Not much more than that.

The hotel gives the guy who runs the conference their presidential suite … for free. He lets some of the guys whose ministries can’t pay for rooms share the suite and he takes a regular room. He never said anything about it; I heard about it through the grapevine. Nice.

While I was there I saw an ad for another prophecy conference that’s coming up. Different city different bunch of folks. Tickets are fifty bucks … unless you want VIP seating, that’s seventy-five. There are some big names on the marquee at the upcoming conference; real superstars.

I believe I’ll pass.

In Him,

Steve Spillman

Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 13 March 21, 2008
The weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing

Money Part 1


"I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor and believe me, rich is better." My dad told me that. I’ve mentioned it before. He was just kidding around when he said it and he sure wasn’t rich, but the saying stuck with me.

Funny how some things stick, isn’t it?

Everybody’s got an opinion about money. Religious people always have an opinion about money. I wonder if the opinion they give you is really the opinion they keep way down inside, away from prying eyes? I guess that’s why you got to watch what they do and not pay so much attention to what they say.

*****

Jesus told a parable about money I never could quite figure out. Like I said last week; I was getting mixed signals. It’s in Luke chapter 16. Here’s the short version:

A rich guy finds out that his accountant is crooked. He goes to the accountant and says, "I’ve heard you’re wasting my money. Put my accounts in order and turn in your ledger – you’re fired."

Well, the accountant, realizing he’s been caught, cooks up a scheme. He calls in the people who owe his boss to settle accounts. He changes the first guy’s balance from eight hundred gallons of olive oil to four hundred and second guy’s balance of a thousand bushels of wheat to eight-hundred. The accountant figures that since he’s getting fired anyway and his chances of finding another job are pretty bleak, that he’d better make friends with his boss’s debtors by cooking the books to reduce their debt. Maybe they’ll show him some financial consideration on the back end.

The accountant’s boss is no dummy. He finds out what the guy has done and in spite of being cheated out of a considerable amount of oil and wheat, he thinks the accountant is pretty shrewd.

To me, this didn’t sound like parable material. I knew Jesus was trying to make a point, but it sounds like he was giving an atta-boy to the dishonest accountant.

Right after the story Jesus said, "the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light." I picked up that he was making a difference between two groups of people – people of the world and people of light.

Jesus was telling this and some other stories to a big crowd of people who had been following him around. The crowd was filled with all kinds of people - commoners, tax-collectors and "sinners."

It’s funny; Luke is telling this story and when he describes the crowd he puts "sinners" in parentheses. Like whether or not they were really "sinners" compared to those who considered themselves "not-sinners" was up for debate.

On this particular occasion, another group showed up; kinda standing off to the side with their arms folded. They were the Pharisees and teachers of the law - the religious leaders. They liked to be in charge of telling people what to do and what to think. Jesus had been screwing that up lately.

I’m pretty sure Jesus started in on this particular set of stories just because they showed up. His words embarrassed them and people who regard themselves as important don’t like being embarrassed. But they needed embarrassing; so Jesus fired away.

You’d think that, knowing who-all was present, the religious leaders would be the "people of the light" and the tax collectors and "sinners" would be the "people of the world." I don’t think Jesus meant it that way.

He tells the crowd, "… use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." That was a head-scratcher. I didn’t get how using "worldly wealth" (money) to make friends now would get me "welcomed into eternal dwellings" later.

Jesus followed up with: "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?"

Finally, the light in my head clicked on. Money is something you’re entrusted with - like the crooked accountant in the story. It’s not yours; you’re just managing it for someone else. As manager, your job is to turn a profit for the One to whom the money belongs. Treating it like your own leads to trouble.

None of the money is yours; that’s the point. And in light of what’s coming, it’s not even all that valuable. What you do with your money (not really your money) on earth is kind of a test for what you’ll do with really valuable stuff later.

Like every other money manager, you’ve been entrusted with a certain amount. It may be just a little or it may be a whole lot. The One who owns it decided your share to manage for His own reasons.

By the way, if you’re one of the managers with just a little bit to manage, don’t envy the guy who has tons of it. He’s got his own row to hoe. "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12:48)

Back to the story:

Then Jesus got right to the root of what he was trying to say. "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

Money’s a pretty useful tool. You can do so much stuff with it. You can buy food; you can buy a house or a car. You can send your kids to college and play golf on the weekends. You can give money to someone in need. You can give it to a church so they can spread the gospel, or feed the hungry, or build a new sanctuary, or buy a really cool chandelier for the foyer. You can even try to buy love or prestige or a little peace with it - but that has a way of backfiring.

The point is, money being so handy for doing almost anything, people kind of loose sight of the fact that it doesn’t really have any value; not in this life and for sure, not in the life to come.

When people loose sight and begin to think money is valuable, the relationship begins to change. Instead of thinking like a money manager, responsible for Somebody else’s money, you start to think that maybe the money’s there for your own uses. You know – like you own it.

When that happens things get topsy-turvy. Now the cart is pulling the horse. The servant is the master. The thing you’re supposed to be watching over for the One who owns is starts to own you. Like I said, because of all the stuff it can do, money is an excellent servant. But it’s a lousy master. And God says that there’s only room for one Master in your life. You can’t get away with trying to serve both. It doesn’t work.

As Jesus was wrapping up his parables about money and he saw the "... Pharisees, who loved money …" over in the corner sneering at him. The crowd knew how self-righteous and money-grubbing the Pharisees were, but they were the religious mucky-mucks - who were tax collectors and "sinners" to question their righteousness?

Jesus handled it. "He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.’"

Wow. The stuff we value is detestable in God’s sight. That includes money. But if we’re God’s money managers and we’re supposed to turn a profit and money is detestable in God’s sight, what are we supposed to invest our money in?

We’ll cover that next week when we talk about making a profit, when to invest, when to hold on to your money and when to give it away.

We’ll wrap up this week with a few assumptions and high points from Jesus’ story:

1. If we say we belong to God, then everything we have belongs to Him too. That makes sense.

2. That means he owns everything in our possession, including our money; and we’re just managing it for him (by the way, if this is true, then He really owns everything; your kids, your spouse, your house, your job, your plans … everything. Money’s the least valuable thing on the list).

3. If you’re managing somebody else’s money, you’d better turn a profit (that’s in the Bible too). But a profit to God doesn’t mean just making more money for Him. Money’s not very valuable to God … what’s He going to buy? He wants something that’ll last … into eternity … like your family members, your neighbor, the homeless guy under the bridge or maybe even a whole bunch of little children in a dying country that, once their stomachs are full, will listen to somebody tell them about Jesus and about another life not too far away where stomachs are never empty and where disease and civil war don’t kill their parents.

4. Everybody gets their share of money to manage. Don’t worry about how little or how much you have. He knows what you can handle. Handle it wisely and He’ll trust you with more. Good money managers are hard to find.

5. Be warned. Money’s a tricky thing. If you forget that you’re the manager and it’s the servant, it’ll poke its nose in the door. Before you know it, you’re the servant and it’s the manager … and that doesn’t work.

6. Do your job right, manage His money diligently here and now (not a very long time really) and you’ll be rewarded beyond what you can imagine later. He pays in tender He considers valuable, and that lasts for a long, long time.

Until next week,

Steve Spillman

Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 12 March 20, 2008
The Weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing

Money

Ooh boy. We could spend a while on this one. We will, as a matter of fact. We’ll be on this for a few weeks.

Money isn’t a comfortable subject for Christians. Privately, we don’t have much of a problem with it at all. Who doesn’t like money? But publicly, we traverse the subject like we’re walking on a new froze-over pond. We’re not sure if our next step will be on solid ice or if we’ll fall through.

It’s because we’re getting mixed signals.

"The wealth of the rich is their fortress; the poverty of the poor is their destruction." (Proverbs 10:15 NLT)

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19)

"With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity." (Proverbs 8:18)

"How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" (Mark 10:23)

"A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children …" (Proverbs 13:22)

"… Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven …." (Mark 10:21)

Wealth is a fortress … Do not store up treasure on earth. Riches, honor, wealth and prosperity come with wisdom …It’s hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children … Sell everything you have and give to the poor.

Sheesh! The Bible applauds good stewardship and promises blessings to the faithful; at the same time it says that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil.

What’s a guy to do? It takes money to live and the harder I work the more I’m supposed to make, right? Success is a good thing, right? What’s the answer?

It’s not like we’re getting the straight scoop from those in charge either. When you go to church, you hear that it’s more blessed to give than to receive and to reinforce the point, they take up an offering.

Listen to Christian TV and radio. Whatever the message, one message is clear; you need to send in your money to keep the message on the air.

So if your money isn’t supposed to be important to you, why is it so important to everyone else?

*****

That’s why we’re going to explore what the Bible says about money … and maybe un-mix the message a little. We’ll start the Hebrew and Greek languages (like usual) to find out what the original words really meant.

"Money" is used 116 times in the KJV translation of the Old Testament. All 116 times it’s the same Hebrew word: "keceph." That’s "silver"; the currency of the day. Whether it was silver coins, bars, earrings, nose rings, bracelets, or some other precious or semi-precious metal that traded like silver; "keceph" was cash.

Sure, people could buy, sell and barter with a lot of stuff other than "keceph"; gold, cattle, goats, wheat, wine and oil were used at times. But when the Hebrews talked money, they thought "keceph." At least they weren’t confused.

For two thousand years a single Hebrew word was sufficient to describe money. It’s a different story in the New Testament. Christ was born in Bethlehem around 6 BC and John penned the last words of his Revelation around 95 AD; about 101 years, start to finish. One twentieth of the Old Testament time period. In that short time the New Testament writers couldn’t describe "money" in less than eight different Greek words.

Is confusion about money a New Testament thing? Let’s see.

"Stater" after the Greek word for "standard" described a coin or a unit of money. There were actual coins called "staters" usually of silver, but sometimes in gold. A silver "stater" in Jesus time was worth four drachma. When Jesus and Peter showed up in Capernaum the tax collectors wanted them to pay a temple tax; two drachma each. Jesus told Peter to go to the lake and throw in a hook; the first fish he caught would have a "stater" in its mouth – four drachma – tax for two (Matthew 17:24). Funny how things work out.

"Argurion" is Greek for money too. Like the Hebrew "keceph," it means "silver"; not a specific amount, but cash in general. Remember the parable of the talents? A master gives his three servants five, two and one talents of money respectively (a talent is a certain weight; they weighed out money back then to make sure they weren’t getting short changed). The servants with five and two talents took the money and made a profit. The servant with one talent buried his in the ground to avoid risk … bad idea. When the master returned he rewarded the two who made a profit and threw the risk-averse servant into the "darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 25:14-30)

"Nomisma" is money that’s paid for a tax or required by law. It refers to money that’s not given up voluntarily; some things don’t change. Jesus used "nomisma" to turn the tables on those who tried to trap him by painting him as a rebel against the oppressive Roman government. "Is it right to pay taxes to the Romans?" they asked. Jesus knew what they were up to. "Show me a coin," he replied. "Whose portrait and inscription is on the coin?" "Caesar’s," they answered. "Then give Caesar what’s his and give God what belongs to Him" (Matthew 22:19). That shut ‘em up.

"Chalkos" means "copper"; small change, walking around money. When Jesus sent his disciples out to preach repentance among the villages of Judea, he told them not to bring along any food, luggage, or "chalkos"; walking around money. He wanted them to be totally dependant for their needs on those who heard the gospel.

"Kerma" means literally "clipping" or "shearing." "Kerma" referred to money from money-changers. Back when the idea of using coins for money was new, an easy way to make change was to clip or shear a coin in half or in fourths. If a loaf of bread cost one fourth of the local coinage, the dealer could simply whack the customer’s coin into fourths with a cleaver and give him three-fourths back as change.

Whacking up coins and making change eventually became the job of the guys who traded local coins for foreign coins in the market place. These guys weren’t the most honest of folks; they knew how much the foreign and local coins were worth and often their customers didn’t. They were called, you guessed it, "money-changers." Jesus had an issue with money-changers setting up shop in his Father’s house. He still does.

"Chrema" means literally "a thing that one uses or needs." It was a term for money used in business transactions or big purchases; which implies a substantial sum. More than walking around money. In the book of Acts, Barnabas sold a field and gave the money (chrema) to apostles of the nascent Christian church to help cover expenses. Remember Ananias and Sapphira? They tried the same thing, but skimmed off some of the "chrema" for themselves. That was a bad idea (Acts 5).

Now we’re getting to the touchy stuff.

"Philarguria" means "love of money." "Phileo" is the Greek word for "affection." "Argurion" (above) is the Greek word for "silver." "Philarguria" is loving money for itself and dreading the idea of parting with it. Remember "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils …." (1 Timothy 6:10)? That’s "philarguria." It’s a nasty habit. Common, but nasty.

There’s another word for money, the KJV calls it by its old Greek name "mammon." It’s one step further out than "philarguria." "Mammon" is confidence in or the personification of money. That means your hope and trust are tied up in money. Money has become a personal thing for you, you know, like a god. "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Luke 16:13) God doesn’t appreciate the competition.

******

That was a lovely history lesson Steve, but what’s it got to do with me?

More than you think. When it comes to money, we’re like the New Testament Greeks. We can’t think about money with just a single word or idea coming to mind. We can’t even describe it without a half dozen synonyms trailing behind. Cash, dollars, dinero, moolah, greenbacks, paycheck, bills, taxes, tithes offerings, savings, credit, debt.

Money isn’t a single idea to us. That’s why we have so many words for it. That’s why the Bible has different words for it. In reality, money is what it is. It doesn’t have any value or meaning on its own. You put value and meaning behind it by how you think about it and what you do with it.

That’s where the mixed signals are coming from. And that’s what we’re going to get to the bottom of.

Next week.

Until then, don’t worry; "saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:31-34).

In Him,

Steve Spillman

Purpose



Vol. 2 Issue 11March 14, 2008

The weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing


Integrity



Integrity is an interesting word.



Everybody wants it. A lot of folks claim to have it. And a lot of folks that claim to have it, turns out, don’t really have so much of it as they led us to believe.



All you’ve got to do is watch the evening news. Preachers, politicians, business leaders; all folks you’d expect to be full of integrity, we find out maybe didn’t have so much after all.



Like I said, integrity is an interesting word. We all use it, we look for it in others and, oh yeah, in ourselves. And we all know exactly what it means to have integrity.



Integrity means … well, it means … when somebody has integrity, he … well … umm ….Integrity is an interesting word. We expect it in others. We think we’ve got it, but secretly know we don’t have as much of it as we let on. But we can’t say exactly what it means when we’re put on the spot.



That’s why I figured I’d dig into it a little. I didn’t want to preach to others about integrity without really having a handle on it myself.



I thought about asking the folks who talked about integrity the most, you know, the movers and shakers. I thought about going to our government leaders … but who would I ask? Maybe getting a politician’s advice regarding integrity isn’t such a good idea right now. I thought about asking religious leaders, but that could get a little dicey too. Maybe we’d better stick with folks we don’t know too personally.

*****

I was a businessman in a former life. I’m a businessman now, I guess, but back then I was a real businessman, if you know what I mean. I’ve always liked books and since I was in the business world for so many years I collected a lot of books about business, leadership, personal effectiveness, success - that kind of stuff. I still have the books so I looked up what the best-of-the-best had to say about “integrity.”



This is what I found out:



Personal effectiveness guru Stephen Covey has a reserved seat at the top of the human empowerment pyramid so I thought I’d hit him first. Covey, in his modern classic, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has this to say:

• Integrity is the opposite of being “inwardly duplicitous.”

• “Integrity includes but goes beyond honesty. Honesty is telling the truth – in other words, conforming our words to reality. Integrity is conforming reality to our words – in other words, keeping promises and fulfilling expectations.”

• “… if we have integrity, our intent cannot be to deceive.”

• “… if we can’t make and keep commitments to ourselves as well as others, our commitments become meaningless.”



Corporate leadership gurus James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner weigh in on personal integrity in their business textbook, The Leadership Challenge.



“You cannot lead others until you have first led yourself through a struggle with opposing values …. personal integrity is essential to believability. A leader with integrity has one self, at home and at work, with family and colleagues. He or she has a unifying set of values that guide choices of action regardless of the situation. This does not mean that leaders are one-dimensional people who only focus narrowly on their work …. We are not suggesting that the ideal leader is a saint. However, we are suggesting that leaders who cannot personally adhere to a firm set of values cannot convince others of the worthiness of those values. Leaders without integrity are only putting on an act. The believability and credibility so essential for leadership are earned when your behavior is consistent with your beliefs.”



Lastly, management gurus, Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, in their book, Leaders, contribute: “In order for an organization to have integrity, it must have an identity – that is, a sense of who it is and what it is to do.”



Okie-dokie. The gurus of personal effectiveness, business leadership and management have all weighed in. Let’s try to boil it down into something we can use.



Covey seems to be good at telling us what integrity isn’t. According to Covey integrity isn’t “inwardly duplicitous,” “deceptive,” or “meaningless.”



If I look up the opposite of all that, I get that he’s saying integrity is similar to honesty; but he also say’s it’s more than honesty. This is about the best I can get from Covey regarding what integrity is: “keeping promises and fulfilling expectations.” No wonder Covey’s so popular in the business world; he’s turned integrity into a McDonald’s slogan.

Kouzes, Posner, Bennis and Nanus are a little more practical. According to them integrity has to do with knowing who you are and allowing your values to guide your actions. That sounds pretty good. You have integrity “when your behavior is consistent with your beliefs.”

Of course … if your beliefs are all screwed up and your behavior is consistent with them, are you still to be considered a person of integrity?

Growing up, I knew a girl who thought she was a horse. She whinnied and neighed and pranced around. She loved oatmeal. Her behavior was consistent too. I never saw her when she wasn’t acting like a horse. Her behavior was in line with her beliefs, but I’m not sure I’d call what she was doing “integrity.”

The business gurus have taken a shot at defining “integrity”; but I believe I’ll keep looking.

Webster (I’ve always liked him) defines integrity as: “moral soundness, probity (scrupulous honesty) // wholeness, completeness // the quality or state of being unimpaired. From the Latin integritas – wholeness.”

I like the part about “moral soundness,” “completeness,” and “being unimpaired.” I’m beginning to feel like I may be getting a grip on the meaning of “integrity.”

The Old Testament (ESV) mentions “integrity” twenty-four times. It’s the Hebrew word “tom” or “tam.” It means “complete,” “blameless,” “upright,” “sound,” “wholesome.” The word and its derivatives come from the Hebrew “tamam”; meaning “to be complete, be finished, be at an end.”

The New Testament (ESV) only mentions “integrity” once. It’s the Greek word, “adiaphthoria”; meaning “incorruptibility.” The KJV uses the word, “uncorruptness.”

Incorruptible means “incapable of being corrupted” (so much for the politicians). Incorruptible also means “not subject to decomposition,” “imperishable,” “living forever.” One of my favorite mentions in the Bible is when Peter is comparing our old flesh to grass that withers and goes away, but our new flesh to the word of the Lord which lives forever. “… having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever ….” (I Peter 1:23)

So, according to the Bible, integrity means “to be complete” and “to be finished.” It also alludes to “incorruptibility” or “imperishability.”

*****

It’s funny how the experts can stumble around with a word like “integrity.” They’ll give a whack at telling us what it isn’t, and they’ll formulate answers that sound pretty good, but don’t really work - but they just don’t seem to have a purchase on the meaning themselves.

Webster does a pretty good job, but my guess is that he was leaning a little on biblical interpretation anyway.

The Bible, like always, cuts right to the chase and give the big picture at the same time. Living with integrity means showing signs that we’re being completed. Not complete, but being completed. Completed means finished, that restoration or “putting back together.” It’s the work Christ does in everyone who takes advantage of it.

Someday we’ll experience the full meaning of integrity. We’ll be fully integrated, fully complete, fully finished, and fully alive.

“For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” (I Corinthians 15:52-54)

Until next week. Walk in integrity.

Steve Spillman

Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 10March 7, 2008
The weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing

Self-Control

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

It’s probably fitting that “self-control” is the last fruit of the Spirit in our nine week study. It may be the most personal of all the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit. It’s certainly the most inward looking. The struggle for self-control goes on entirely inside an individual, but the results of self-control, or lack of it, show up entirely on the outside of a person.

Our struggles with fear, anger, addictions, indulgence, laziness, escapism all happen inside of us. Our struggle is with ourselves; it’s private. Yet the evidence of the struggle, defeat or victory, is very public.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness can all be demonstrated on others. I can only demonstrate self-control on me.

But if self-control is me acting on me, why is it listed as a fruit of the Spirit? Isn’t it, by definition, self-generated; something I’m supposed to do on my own?

If we look at the worldly (carnal) idea of success, self-control plays heavily. The self-made man or woman is supposed to demonstrate self control; a person that has mastered his desires, exercise regimen, eating habits, positive mindset, and time management.

Self-control seems to be a pretty worldly facet of success. If we’re Christians, isn’t God supposed to be in control of us? Haven’t we surrendered our wills to His? Shouldn’t we be shooting for God control rather than self-control? It just doesn’t seem to fit as a fruit of the Spirit.

There’s got to be a reason it’s on the list.

*****

The apostle Paul had a lot to say about self-control. He said, “I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can’t. I do what I don’t want to – what I hate.”(Romans 7:15) And “When I want to do good I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway.” (Romans 7:19)

This is Paul talking. He’s the guy that came up with the fruit of the Spirit list in the first place. It sounds like he’s totally out of control. It sounds like he finds the concept of self-control completely unreachable.

The same Paul wrote to the churches in Corinth, “So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I fight to win. I’m not just shadow-boxing or playing around.” (I Corinthians 9:26)

So Paul, super-apostle, tells the Christians in Rome, “… I really want to do what is right, but I can’t.” He tells the Corinthians, “… I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step.” And he tells the Galatians that “self-control” is a fruit of the Spirit.

This guy is all over the place.

Was Paul a hypocrite? Maybe he was totally out of control when he wrote to the Romans but then developed the habit by the time he wrote to the Corinthians and the Galatians. After all, Romans comes first in the New Testament, then Corinthians and Galatians.

Nice try. Paul’s letters in the New Testament aren’t in chronological order. Fact is, Paul wrote his letter to the churches in Corinth and Galatia before he wrote to the Romans.

So how can he preach that he’s got his act completely together; “I fight to win.” And then confess that he can’t control himself? “… when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway.”

Paul wasn’t a schizoid or a hypocrite. And he didn’t have behavior issues; at least not any more than you or me. He was trying to get a point across.

Paul was telling the Christians in Rome about human nature. It’s human to want to behave one way but behave another. It’s human to try to do right, but end up doing wrong. It’s human to be totally out of control.

No matter how much it looks like a person has his act together, if he’s operating on his own power, from his own will and direction, he’s not really in control at all. The surface may look calm, but down inside there’s a war going on.

That’s why the world’s idea of human potential, purpose, success and self control doesn’t work. Man can’t do it on his own. There’s a piece missing. It’s in our nature – something we can get rid of.

Unless. We get rid of our human nature and take on another nature.

Now we’re beginning to get Paul’s point.

Real self-control goes against human nature. We’re a bundle of desires. We want what we want and we’ll scream til we get it. No matter how hard we try to put a lid on our desires, they’re going to pop up somewhere, some way. It’s human nature.

The only way to get real self-control is to loose self-control. Sounds a little confusing, doesn’t it?

The whole idea of Christianity, of being a follower of Christ, is to take on His nature. To identify with Him. Christ was crucified, hung on a cross until his body was dead, to make payment for man’s sin. In our identifying with Him the Bible says that we have to “crucify ourselves” if we want to be His followers.The Bible doesn’t mean it literally. We don’t have to have Romans nail us to a cross until we die. It means it spiritually; we have to nail ourselves to a cross (spiritually) until we die (spiritually).

We’ve been studying the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23, for nine weeks now, right? You want to know what the next verse, Galatians 9:24 says?

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” There it is. It’s the secret to self-control. It’s the secret to every item on the fruit of the Spirit list.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are not aspects of human nature. They’re aspects of Spirit nature. That’s what Paul says in the next verse, Galatians 5:25. “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

It goes against our human reasoning to say that in order to get self-control you have to give up self-control. It goes against our human reasoning to say that in order to live you’ve got to die. But that’s just what we’ve got to do.

The Savior of man had to die in order for men to live. In accepting that death He took on life for all men. When we identify with Him by taking on our own spiritual death, killing spiritually the sinful man we were born with, we take on His life. When we’re alive in Him, His Spirit lives inside of us. His Spirit living inside of us begins a change in our natures. As His Spirit does it’s work, our human natures begin to loose control and His Spirit nature begins to take over. That begins to show certain results in our lives, you could call it fruit … fruit of the Spirit. Yeah that’s it, fruit of the Spirit.

Until next week, may His Spirit live inside of you.

Steve Spillman

True Potential Publishing, 103 Hush Hole Road, Travelers Rest, SC 29690, USAIf you didn't receive last week's letter you can go to www.gotpotential.org any time and read or print back issues. When you forward Purpose Weekly to friends (and we want you to), ask them not to report it as SPAM. If they like the letter encourage them to go to www.gotpotential.org so they can sign up for a complimentary subscription. We've been getting some great mail. Keep it coming, or post a comment to this week's blog at http://gotpotential.blogspot.com.

Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 9February 29, 2008
The weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing

Gentleness

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5: 22-23)

We’ve been at this study of the fruit of the Spirit for eight weeks now; and we’ve got one week yet to go. Why spend nine weeks studying two Bible verses when this weekly letter is supposed to be about finding and achieving purpose in our lives?

The reason we’ve spent so long on the fruit of the Spirit is the same reason I started this letter in the first place. It’s the reason I started True Potential Publishing. A lot of what we’ve been told, a lot of what we’ve come to believe, about purpose, success, achievement, fulfillment, meaning and human potential is wrong. It starts in the wrong place; which means you end up in the wrong place.

The nine attributes of fruit of the Spirit, spelled out in Galatians 5: 22-23 are absolutely key to understanding God’s perspective of what we ought to be. The term “fruit” means “end product” or “result.” The “result” of God’s Spirit dwelling inside of you is (or should be) these nine attributes we’ve been studying. And, as we’ve discovered, these attributes God expects us to exhibit are really attributes of God Himself. God’s purpose for us is to be more like Him. The Bible calls it “being conformed to the likeness of his son.” (Romans 8:29)

They’re the building blocks of human purpose. Purpose begins with being conformed into the likeness of God. The tragedy of the world’s concept of man’s purpose is that it begins and ends with man. They start in the wrong place … they’ve got to end up in the wrong place.

There may be no better example of the difference between God’s idea of success and man’s idea of success than the idea of “gentleness.” Another word for gentleness is meekness. Both gentleness and meekness portray a sense of submission. From man’s perspective, meekness means weakness. From God’s perspective, nothing could be further from the truth.

Gentleness is a measure of true strength and maturity. It’s a sign that I’m taking on the attributes and perspective of God. Gentleness speaks of relationship on three levels: my relationship with God, my relationship with others and my relationship with myself.

*****

A gentle spirit in my relationship with God is a sign of trust. It’s a sign that I’m relying on God to act on my behalf; relying on God’s strength rather than my own. It’s submission to Him; the understanding that He’s the author of my purpose and destiny and that His will for my life isn’t up for a vote. It’s His plan, He’s in charge, He’s the potter and I’m the clay.

Even understanding that, when life is looking up, I have a tendency to revert back to relying on myself. When life is good it’s easy for me to trust in me. I don’t know why it’s so easy for me to slip into the habit of self-confidence when things are going good, but it seems to be a universal phenonmenon.

Our society as a whole may be suffering from the good-times self-confidence disease. As a culture, we’ve had it pretty good for a long time. The better things are the less we feel we need to include God in our daily plans.

I’ve got to admit, I like it better when things are going well than I do when things are going bad. I don’t want to wish any hardship on myself or on our nation as a whole, but it seems to be a truth that we reach out to God more when things go wrong.

Even when things begin to go wrong, I still believe I can keep things under control through my own efforts. When I start to see things go south, my first response is to jump in and fix it; as if the problem isn’t worthy of relying on God’s help if I think I can still handle it on my own.

Finally, when things have gotten so far beyond my control that I have no hope of fixing them without help I cry out to God, “Oh God, You’re in control. Please get me out of this!” THEN, my problems are worthy of God’s attention.

I may feel in control sometimes, I may feel like I’m loosing control sometimes and I may feel like things are completely out of control sometimes. The reality is that I’m fooling myself to ever think that I had any real control in the first place. It would be a lot easier just to trust in Him whether things are good, bad or in between.

*****

When I know that God, provides for me, defends me, and guides me, it’s easier for me to regard others with a gentle spirit.

Why should I be offended if I’m not responsible for my defense? Why should I be proud or haughty if God fights my battles and wins my victories?Why should I compete or argue? Who am I really competing or arguing with? God has reserved my job for me since the beginning of time. Am I really competing with Bob, in the next office, for that? If I take my orders from God, who would I argue with and what would I argue about? If there’s a real argument to be had, let the other guy argue with God. He’s my defender and His win/loss record is pretty spectacular.

Gentleness with others is a sign of strength and maturity. Competition and discord with others is a sign of spiritual immaturity and weakness.

Another reason for having a gentle spirit with others is that gentleness is an attribute of God. If Christ showed gentleness and compassion to me, shouldn’t I show gentleness and compassion to others?

*****

Lastly I should have a gentle spirit with myself. It may sound a little weird at first, to be gentle with myself, but that’s where most issues of gentleness toward others come from. There are a lot of self-generated emotions that can not only screw up my relationship with myself but spill over into my relationship with others and with God. Worry, fear, anger, bitterness, self-interest, ambition, and pride are all self-generated and are all signs of who I’m putting my trust in.

If I really believe that God has a plan for me, that He loves me and takes care of my needs, that he defends me; what do I have to be afraid of or worry about? Who am I going to hold a grudge against?

If I’m under orders from Him; If I’ve already submitted myself to His plan for me, what place do self-interest, selfish ambition or pride have in my life. He’s in charge. I work for Him. I don’t have a plan outside of His plan. Outside of what He wants for me, I have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about nothing to strive for.

Gentleness (King James would have said meekness) is really a very peaceful and a very powerful place to be. It’s peaceful in that I don’t have to create a way on my own. He’s already made the way, I just have to listen and obey. I’ve already submitted my will to His so I don’t have to worry about getting my own way, whatever that is.

I don’t have to worry about competing with others. I already have a custom plan to follow, made up for me by the Creator of the universe at the beginning of time. Who would I compete against?

Gentleness is powerful in that I work for God. I belong to Him. Who or what can stand against that?

If you’re worried that submitting to God will somehow take away your freedom or limit your options, think again. Life is submission. Your only choice is who you’re going to submit to. Submit to the Creator of the universe, the One who planned for you when He brought everything into existence, and you’ll be given power to stand against any power or authority in existence. Try to hold on to your “free agency” and you’ll find yourself a slave to every petty dictator of your time and attention that comes along.

We’ve been sold a lie. The world wants us to believe that gentleness, meekness, is weakness and slavery. The truth is just the opposite. There’s no one as powerful and no one as free as someone who has submitted his or her will to the God of the universe. Out of that power and freedom comes a gentle spirit. It’s being conformed into the image of Christ. Who could ask for more?

Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 8February 21, 2008
The weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing

Faithfulness

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22)

Holman’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary has a pretty extensive entry under “Faith/Faithfulness.” You’d expect that. “Faith” and “faithfulness” are pretty big subjects in the Bible. But here’s the part in the Holman’s definition that caught my eye: “… faith (a human response to God) and faithfulness (a virtue of God and his servants).”

It seems like we keep coming back to the idea that these attributes (the fruit of the Spirit) that God wants us to have are really attributes of God Himself. We’ve lived under this idea (at least I have) that the Bible is a list of rules for human behavior: “God wants you to be good, to be faithful, to be kind, to be gentle, to love, to experience joy, to have peace.” But the bigger message is that God is good, God is kind, God is gentle, God is the author of love, joy and peace. God is saying, simply, “Be like Me.”

It’s a lot more personal than I had imagined.

So, in light of Holman’s definition, what’s the difference between “faith” and “faithfulness”? To me, it’s the difference between an act and a habit.

When I was first presented with the Gospel, the message of who God is and how He wants to interact with me; and I either had to accept that it might be true or might not be true. If I accepted that the message might be true I had to believe in it enough to act on it. When I acted on it, that was faith.

That initial act of faith may not have been too powerful on my account, I probably just raised my hand in public or mouthed a silent prayer; but it was sufficient as far as God was concerned … for the moment.

*****

If you’re old enough, you remember what a “Red Man Writing Tablet” was. It had a red paper cover with a picture of an Indian on the front. The pages were a sort of wood-pulpy grayish-white and they had rows of lines printed on them. Each row consisted of a solid top and bottom line with a dashed line in the middle.

These were the tablets on which we practiced writing our ABC’s in first grade. We were taught to stay inside the lines and that the capital letters reached from top to bottom, but the lower-case letters couldn’t come above dashed line in the middle (unless they had little sticks like b’s and d’s). My six year-old intuition told me that that’s why they were called “lower-case.”

Technically, I learned to write when I was six. Upper-case, lower-case, Aa, Bb, Cc; I knew ‘em all, all twenty-six of them. That was my first act of writing.

As the years went by and I progressed through the first grade, second grade and beyond; I practiced and my writing advanced. By third grade I was learning cursive. By sixth grade I was writing stories. By eighth grade I had a pen-pal in Belgium. The older I got the more I learned what writing was all about.

Today I’m pushing fifty and still writing. Some days I do a lot better than those stories I wrote in grade school … some days I wonder. I know this however; I’m a lot better at writing today than I was that first day I put pencil to my Red Man tablet. I’m hoping that ten years from now I’ll be a lot better at writing than I am today. It’s a progression; a habit. The more I practice it the more I learn.

*****

That’s about as close as I can come to explaining faith and faithfulness. For us, faith is that first act; like the first time I focused all my concentration on making that first “A a”. Then it’s on to the next act and the next. Each act of faith grows us just a little.

With each act of faith we become just a little more comfortable with acting out our faith. By persistence we get better; but then the challenges to our faith tend to get a little bigger too. That’s a good thing.

It’s like writing lessons. The lessons I faced in fifth grade composition were a lot tougher than those I conquered in third grade cursive. They planned it that way. It was a progression. I was supposed to be making progress with each lesson; tackling tougher problems as I practiced.

Faith is a progression. Each lesson is a little tougher than the last. When that progression becomes a habit, or as Holman says, “a virtue,” faith becomes faithfulness. Faithfulness is a kind of running record of acting on faith.

Another thing I noticed was that the Bible mentions God’s faithfulness several times, but never states that God has faith or acted on faith.

Faithfulness is a sign that, through the Holy Spirit, we’re taking on God’s attributes; having faith or acting on faith isn’t an attribute of God. That’s our territory only. God doesn’t need faith and He doesn’t need to act on faith. But He is faithful.

Faith, according to Webster, is “trust, confidence, complete acceptance of a truth which cannot be demonstrated or proved by the process of logical thought.”

That’s why God doesn’t need faith. He’s the author of all truth; He was there at the beginning and He will be there at the ending of all things. As a matter of fact, ideas like beginning and ending don’t have the same relevance to God as they do to us; because He exists beyond our sense of time and space; beyond past and future. He knows the past and future because He is in the past and He is in the future. He’s not “was” or “going to be.” He just is. That concept defies man’s logic; which is exactly why we need faith and He doesn’t.

Faithfulness is another matter. Faithfulness denotes “reliability” or “trustworthiness to adhere to an original precept.”

Faithfulness, on God’s side of the equation, means that He can be trusted to reliably complete what He started or bring about what He promised. Faithfulness, on man’s side of the equation, if faith is defined as “mans response to God,” means a reliability in responding to God.

To respond to God by trusting that what He says is true and then acting upon it is faith. To make a habit of reliably responding to God by trusting that what He says is true and continually acting upon it is faithfulness.

Faithfulness then, in the relationship between you and God, is God reliably doing what He says He will do and you trusting that He will and reliably acting on it.

So how do you develop the “virtue” of faithfulness? Practice, practice practice.

Respond to God. Trust that what He’s saying is true, in spite of your ability to justify it logically. Act (another word for obey) based on what you know God wants you to do and trust that He’ll keep His promise. Do it over and over again until it becomes part of your resume. That’s faithfulness.

God doesn’t expect you to live a life of blind trust though. He’ll throw evidence your way that your faith is working. Be prepared though. Like I said, this faithfulness stuff is a process. Just when you think you’re getting the hang of it, a challenge comes along that your logic can’t cope with. That’s why it’s called faith; each step gets a little bigger.

I really don’t think that Jesus was just being metaphorical when he told his disciples, “… if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

We make it a metaphor because we don’t believe it; it defies our logic. But that’s kind of the point of faith, isn’t it? What defies your logic right now? What’s the thing you know you’re supposed to do that you can’t do because it’s impossible?

If God says that nothing is impossible and you “respond to God” by obeying Him even though the chances of success “cannot be demonstrated or proved by the process of logical thought.” Then you’re acting on faith.

You act on faith, God proves Himself faithful, and the thing your logic told you was impossible yesterday is now possible. Your logic readjusts and you’re ready to move up the next “impossible” task. It’s a progression. Keep at it long enough and moving the mountain doesn’t seem so metaphorical.

*****

By the way, I didn’t learn to write that day I scratched my first capital A on the Red Man page. I haven’t finished learning to write yet. It’s a process, a progression.

If you think “faithfulness” began and ended the day you lifted your hand in church or mouthed a silent prayer, think again. That was an act of faith; your first but not your last. “Faithfulness” is a progression. If you’re sitting fat and happy in the Christian life and your faith hasn’t been challenged for a while, you’d better check your progress.

The Holy Spirit’s job is to mold you into the likeness of God. How you know that’s working is demonstrated when you start taking on attributes that belong to God; kindness, goodness, faithfulness – the fruit of the Holy Spirit. “Fruit” means “produce” or “product” or “result.” The end result of the Holy Spirit doing its work in you is that you begin to take on the likeness of God. It’s not a single event; it’s a lifelong process.

I promise, you’re not there yet; neither am I. But we will be one day. That’s the way He meant for us to be in the beginning and that’s the way we will to be in the end.

Until next week, In Him,

Steve Spillman

Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 7 February 14, 2008
The weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing


But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22)

Goodness

Last week we talked about “kindness” as a fruit of the Spirit. When Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians, “kindness” comes just before “goodness.” That’s what I read in the Bible I study most, which is a New International Version. The King James Version uses the word “gentleness” where the NIV uses “kindness.” A few fruit down the list, the NIV uses “gentleness” where the KJV uses “meekness.”

“Kindness,” “goodness” and “gentleness” kind of sound like three ways of saying the same thing to me. I figured I’d better dig into the words to find out why Paul would have listed all three if they all meant pretty much the same thing.

Looking the words up in my concordance didn’t seem to clear up the matter. Searching out all the times “kindness,” “goodness” and “gentleness” are used in the Bible turned out to be sort of a jumble. Sometimes “goodness” is the Hebrew for “kindness.” Sometimes “kindness” is the Greek word for “goodness”. The words are mixed around and mixed together. It’s all very confusing.

Why are “kindness,” “goodness” and even “gentleness” used so interchangeably in different translations of the English Bible? Do they all pretty much mean the same thing? If they all mean pretty much the same thing, then why does each have its own word in the original language? And if they all mean pretty much the same thing, why would each be listed in Galatians 5: 22-23 as fruit of the Spirit? Was Paul just repeating himself, using different words to convey the same meaning for emphasis?

For us, it’s kind of easy to fall into the trap of spiritualizing what Paul was saying and blend each of these attributes of the fruit of the Spirit into a sort of homogenous pudding of spiritual “niceness.” Is that really what Paul was trying to get across? A benign, cloud-floating, passive, “niceness”?

Well, Paul wasn’t repeating himself by using different words all having the same general meaning. And he wasn’t mixing up a “niceness” pudding, by blending all these words with apparently similar meanings. Galatians 5:22-23 lists nine attributes of the fruit of the Spirit. Each of these nine is different from the others; none are redundant and none are superfluous.

“Kindness” (the KJV uses “gentleness”), is “chrestotes” in Greek. We talked about kindness last week. The closest way to describe “chrestotes” in English would be “moral goodness,” “integrity,” “benignity,” or simply, “kindness.”

“Gentleness” or “meekness,” is something we’ll be talking about in a few weeks. The Greek word the NIV translates as “gentleness” and the KJV translates as “meekness” is “praotes.” It’s like “chrestotes,” but more passive; “mildness” is another English word you might use for “praotes.” Again, we’ll talk more about it in a few weeks.

“Goodness,” in the NIV and KJV (and every other English translation worth a flip) is the Greek word “agathosune.” “Agathosune” only appears in the Bible four times, and it’s always translated “goodness.” It means, “uprightness of heart and life.”

So why all this back and forth on these three words? Don’t they really mean about the same thing? Aren’t they all trying to say, “be good,” “be kind,” “be nice,” “be meek,” “be mild,” “be benign”?

“Benign.”

That’s an interesting word, isn’t it? According to the Encarta Dictionary, “benign” means: “kindly, not life-threatening, harmless, favorable (mild).” Is that what “goodness” is describing? Is it just another word for “harmless” or “mild”?

Two of our nine words describing the fruit of the Spirit are “kindness” and “gentleness”. Jesus taught us that the meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5) and that if someone strikes you on your right cheek you should turn your left to him as well (Matthew 5:39). Meekness, mildness, benignity and harmlessness are pretty well established facets of following Christ, are they not? So why am I trying so hard to make a distinction between “kindness,” “goodness” and “gentleness” they’re all different words for the same general idea, right?

Wrong.

Let’s take another look at the definition of “agathosune” (goodness): “uprightness of heart and life.” Again, the word is only used four times in the Bible. Besides Galatians 5:22, it’s used in Romans 15:14, Ephesians 5:9 and II Thessalonians 1:11. Do you want to know the words it’s associated with in those passages? “Knowledge,” “instruction,” “righteousness,” “truth,” “power” and “purpose.” Is it starting to sound a little less “benign”; a little less “harmless”?

“Goodness” isn’t a sissy word. There’s something extremely powerful, sometimes even frightening (if you’re on the wrong side of it) about goodness.

William Barclay writes in his Daily Study Bible commentary, that: “It [agathosune] is the widest word for goodness; it is defined as ‘virtue equipped at every point.’ … Agathosune might, and could, rebuke and discipline ....”

John W. Ritenbaugh, in Forerunner Commentary says of Romans 15:14: “This verse provides a clear sense of an active, even aggressive, goodness.”

Agathosune is a pretty big word; it covers a lot of territory. It’s “virtue equipped at every point.” That can mean doing the right thing in a quiet and gentle way, like giving a cup of cold water to a thirsty man. But it can also mean not letting wickedness and hypocrisy stand; being consumed with the knowledge and power and purpose of God’s goodness. It can mean causing a stir, when it’s a stir that’s needed.Remember when Jesus made a whip out of cords and went on a tirade in the Temple; kicking over tables of the merchants and moneychangers?

Remember when he berated Israel’s religious leaders in front of the crowds, calling them “hypocrites” and “blind guides”? Jesus’ behavior doesn’t sound very “benign” or “harmless,” does it?

A lot of Bible scholars believe that Jesus was showing “agathosune” in one of its purest forms. John remembered the prophecy that the Christ would be consumed with zeal for God’s house (John 2: 17). Jesus was consumed with “goodness”; consumed with “uprightness of heart and life.”

Jesus allowed himself to be spat upon and allowed a crown of thorns to pierce his brow; he allowed a mob to put him on a cross and he asked his Father in Heaven to forgive them for what they had done. He fed the hungry, healed the sick and allowed children to come and sit on his lap as he spoke to the crowds. The same Jesus violently and forcefully cleared the Temple of thieves dressed as respectable businessmen and publicly rebuked hypocrites who pretended to represent God.

“Goodness” is a bigger word than “kindness.” “Uprightness of heart and life” means that you’ll feed the hungry and care for the sick. It means that you’ll love your neighbor as yourself. It means that you’ll take time for a child, even when the crowd is pressing in; and that you’ll be ready to forgive and turn away anger with a soft word.

But “goodness” also means that “uprightness of heart and mind” will consume you. You’ll not let evil stand; especially in the place where goodness is meant to be made manifest.

Do you want goodness to rule your life? Answer anger with a soft word. Turn the other cheek. Forgive. Care for those who hurt. And when necessary, kick over a few tables; cause a stir when it’s a stir that’s needed. It’s all goodness.

In Him,

Steve Spillman

Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 6 February 7, 2008
The weekly newsletter from True Potential Publishing

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22)

Kindness

When I told my wife I was writing about “kindness” this week, she choked … I’m sure it was just a reflex action; nothing personal. But still, I figured I’d better do a little more research.

It’s funny how sometimes a thing can be so important and so obvious and so easy to overlook all at the same time. “Kindness” might be one of those things. Especially for men.

Let’s look at the definition of kindness: “sympathetic, helpful, friendly, thoughtful, gentle, well disposed” … it almost sounds effeminate, doesn’t it? Maybe kindness is women’s territory. Women are the nurturers, the caregivers; they build the nest and care for the young.

Men are warriors, protectors, providers. They’re job is to leave the cave, kill something and drag it home. “Kindness” sounds a little girlie for a man’s world. That’s what we’ve been taught, right? Listen to the TV psychologists. When they talk about men being kind and sensitive to the needs of others they say that we need to “get in touch with our feminine side.”

My feminine side is my wife. I’m okay with both halves of me being masculine.

If it sounds like I’m picking on men it’s because I’m prejudiced by my own experience. Kindness doesn’t come naturally to me. Rough and tumble comes natural. Battle and conquest, no problem. But not kindness. It’s not that I’m a mean or cruel person; it’s just that I’m a man – and probably a typical man. I’m sure there are a lot of naturally kind and sensitive guys out there; they’re just not crowding out the rest of us.

When I say that kindness doesn’t come naturally, don’t assume that unkindness does. Unkindness implies action and intention; that somebody is doing something unkind. What I’m really talking about is lack of action and intention on the kindness side. Intentionally doing acts of kindness as opposed to not intending anything and letting nature take its course. And when nature takes its course guys tend to fall short on kindness.

Rather than dig myself any further into this hole, why don’t we just get on to kindness in general.

*****

Kindness, like the other fruit of the Spirit, is really an attribute of God. The reason we are to practice kindness is because He practices kindness … on us.

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” (Titus 3:4-5a)

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6: 35-36)

Kindness isn’t a state of mind or a mood; it’s an action. And until it becomes a natural part of who you are, it needs to be an intentional action. That means until kind actions flow naturally from you because your heart is filled with kindness you have to practice kindness.

Kindness isn’t just a matter of helping an old lady cross the street or rescuing a cat from a tree. It’s not just good deeds you put into your schedule as part of your “practicing kindness master plan.” This kind of kindness really doesn’t get in your way. It doesn’t require that you change your schedule, your lifestyle, or your mood. It’s Kindness Lite – “do nice things without really changing your day!”

Sometimes kindness doesn’t work out that way.

Remember the story of the Good Samaritan? (Luke 10: 30-37) I don’t need to retell the whole story, everybody knows it already; let’s just hit the high points.

The beat up guy in the ditch was a Jew. The Good Samaritan was … well, a Samaritan. These two groups didn’t like each other, they didn’t associate. The Jews reviled the Samaritans and the Samaritans knew it.

The Samaritan had a schedule to keep. He was apparently a man with business to conduct. He wasn’t poor and he was on the road to somewhere so we’ve got to assume he had things to do and people to see. He didn’t have a lot of time for distractions.

Helping the Jew in the ditch was going to cost the Samaritan time and money, and there was no promise of ever getting reimbursed. Knowing the injured man was a Jew and knowing what Jews thought of Samaritans, there was wasn’t much hope of even getting thanked.

The Samaritan dragged the injured man out of the ditch, dressed his wounds, set him on his own donkey and brought him to an inn, where he could have a bed and be cared for. The Samaritan, already late for his appointment, stayed the night with the injured guy at the inn. The next morning he paid the innkeeper in advance and promised to return and pay any further expense for the traveler’s recovery. The Samaritan made sure the guy was taken care of; he followed through and followed up.

Sometime kindness puts you into contact with folks you’d really not prefer to have contact with. Sometimes it forces you to go out of your way and totally wrecks your schedule. Sometimes there are out-of-pocket expenses you’re probably not going to recover. And once you’re involved, kindness often requires some follow-up to make sure the job’s completed. Kindness can be intrusive like that.

The Good Samaritan story brings up another side to this kindness coin I really ought to mention. God first practiced kindness to us so that His mercy would lead us to repentance. What that means, is that God has given us a massive break that we might, in turn, give others a break. When we fail to show kindness to others, it’s like spitting on the kindness God showed us. And that does not play well with God.

“Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?

5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” (Romans 2: 4-8).

Remember the first part of the Good Samaritan story? After the guy gets beat up, robbed and thrown in a ditch, two people pass by; a priest and a Levite. Both of these men were Jews; their brother was beaten and lying in a ditch, naked. The first guy, the priest, was a religious leader, supposedly a representative of God. The second guy, the Levite, was a civic leader, folks in town looked up to him. Neither man could be bothered with their brother in the ditch; they had schedules to keep. I would not want to be one of those guys on Judgment Day.

Kindness is a serious business. It’s serious because of how God showed kindness to us and what it cost Him. We didn’t deserve His kindness; He provided it out of the goodness of His heart. In light of the great kindness He did us, He doesn’t take lightly the little kindnesses we do each other. We practice kindness and we reap immortality. We take His kindness too lightly by neglecting kindness to others and we are subject to His wrath.

*****

One more thing about kindness. It’s pretty important so stay with me.

Kindness might not have anything to do with helping strangers. It might have to do how you treat those you know real well. Practicing forgiveness and forbearance is practicing kindness. (Forbearance is an interesting word. It means “to control one’s patience,” “not give way to anger,” to endure,” “to tolerate.”) This kind of kindness doesn’t mess with your schedule or your or your pocketbook; it messes with your mood and with your rights.

Listen to your spouse and your kids and your parents and the guy at work who always has something to say. Don’t listen to answer back, don’t listen to show what a great martyr you are by listening – just listen. When a careless word offends you, let it roll off your back like Teflon. When your kid screws up by acting like a kid, don’t blow up; put your arm around her.

Be aware of this: those you’re around every day are the ones to whom you’re most blind to your little unkindnesses and they’re the ones who will be most profoundly affected by your little kindnesses. Practice kindness with those you know best – your spouse, your kids, your parents, the folks you work with every day. They’re the one’s who know if you’re a hypocrite or not.

By the way, my wife says I’m getting better at this … I think she’s just being kind.

Until next week. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

Steve Spillman

Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 5 January 31, 2008
The weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Being “Long of Nose”

This is week four of a nine week study of the fruit of the Spirit and what it has to do with finding purpose in life. This week’s subject fruit is “patience.” How does possessing patience relate to understanding and achieving my purpose in life?

First, let’s define “patience.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines “patience” as: “the capacity, habit, or fact of being patient.” Not much to go on there. We could look up “patient” or find another dictionary that might expand Merriam-Webster’s un-generous definition, but you know by now, that’s not where I generally head next.

The Old Testament writers got their point across in Hebrew or Aramaic. The New Testament writers studied Hebrew (Luke was the only Gentile in the pack) and wrote in Greek. So to really understand what they said we need to understand what they said.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few weeks going over the meanings of Greek and Hebrew words and I’d apologize if I thought I owed it to you, but a lot of this stuff is just too good to pass up and if I don’t tell you who’s going to?

*****

When your English Old Testament says “patience” it’s actually translating two Hebrew words, ךרא (arek) “long” and ףא (af) “nose”. The literal English translation is “long nose.”

So having a long nose is a fruit of the Spirit? Maybe literally, but not really. Ancient Hebrews (possibly modern Hebrews) saw someone’s nose turning red as a sign that they were getting angry. Therefore the word for “nose” and the word for “anger” became synonymous. If a person didn’t anger easily, if it took a long time for his nose to turn red, he was, in Hebrew parlance, “long of nose”; slow to anger.

I’ll bet not everyone knows “patience” means “long nose” in Hebrew. You could corner the dinner table conversation with that one.

Bible translators probably didn’t want to go to the trouble to explain all this so they substituted “patience” for “long nose,” which seemed to work out well.

There are two Greek words for “patience” in the New Testament; both of them are worth digging into. The first is “makrothumia.” It’s the same word the English Bible translates “longsuffering.” “Makrothumia” means: “patience, endurance, constancy, steadfastness, perseverance, forbearance, longsuffering, slowness in avenging wrongs.”

The other Greek word for “patience” is “hupomone”. Strong’s Lexicon defines “hupomone” as “the characteristic of a man [or woman] who is not swerved from his [or her] deliberate purpose and his [or her] loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.” Boy, I like that one. I could write a whole book on that one … maybe later.

So “patience,” the character trait Paul mentions as a fruit of the Spirit, is a lot richer than I ever imagined. It means “slow to anger” and “slow to avenge wrongs” (turning the other cheek); but it means a lot more. It means “endurance,” the capacity to keep going or put up with pain and hardship for a long time; “constancy,” loyalty as a partner and a friend; “steadfastness,” adhering firmly and faithfully to a principle or cause; “perseverance,” trying hard and continuously in spite of obstacles and difficulties; “forbearance,” refraining from action, even when it’s your legal right; “longsuffering,” forgiving, resigned, tolerant, accommodating, selfless.

Wow.

What kind of person could I be if my life was characterized by that kind of patience? What affect would it have on the world if believers demonstrated that kind of patience in their lives? Living out “makrothumia” patience would make us better people and make the world a better place to live, wouldn’t it?

But what do you think the Bible means when it calls patience a fruit of the Spirit? Why do you think it lists nine characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit at all? Is it to make us better people? To make the good, gooder? To make the world a better place to live?

I think it’s something deeper. Let me show you what I mean.

“What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory …?” (Romans 9:22-23)

“But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.”(I Timothy 1:16)

“Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.” (II Peter 3:15)

Do you see it? Patience isn’t a characteristic of man; it’s a characteristic of God. His goal isn’t to make us into good people; He’s making us to be like Him. That’s what the fruit of the Spirit is describing.

Look at the list again; “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Those aren’t characteristics that come naturally to people, we know better than that; they’re characteristics of God. He’s got something much bigger in mind for us than just being good folks.

Something eternal is happening in you when the Holy Spirit dwells inside. The Holy Spirit’s job isn’t to remake you into a better person; it’s to remake you into the image of God. That’s the way it was in the beginning. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness ….” (Genesis 1:26)

God’s intent wasn’t to make us into the image of really good folks; it was to make us in His own image. The fruit of the Spirit is evidence of a restoring process. It isn’t an indication that we’re being molded into good citizens of this world, but that we’re being transformed into children of the next.

God’s characteristics are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” The fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” See the connection? We’re not being made into a better version of the old man; we’re being made into something new, into a reflection of God.

And that requires patience … on His part and ours. He is our example, we’re to copy Him. Why should we be “slow to anger” with those who have wronged us? Because He is “slow to anger” with those who have wronged Him (you’re in that group, by the way). Why should we endure - put up with pain and hardship?

Remember when God endured - put up with pain and hardship, even the point of being nailed to a cross?

We’ve been adopted into a new family, born into a new life. Patience is a characteristic of that new life and of the Father who has adopted us. It’s a characteristic that makes us better people, as this world sees things; but that’s only because it is a characteristic of that life we’re intended toward, a reflection of what is to come. Like the other fruit, it’s a piece of eternity allowed to us today.

Until next week, live in God’s image … practice patience.

Love & Prayers,

Steve Spillman

*****

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