A Proverb a Day: 4 Ill Booten Gottey
Proverbs 10:2
Ill gotten treasures are of no value; but righteousness delivers from death.
My first thought was...um...huh? What an odd pair to put together. Ill gotten treasures and righteousness? Heh - and, of course, as soon as I read "Ill gotten treasures" I remembered a quote from the TV show M*A*S*H (Michael, Google it...heh) where Hawkeye Pierce says something about "Ill Booten Gottey" (instead of "Ill Gotten Booty" which is a saying about...oh, nevermind).
But then I started to think about our Bible study this morning. We're...how can I put this tactfully...um...PLODDING our way through Leviticus and we just read about the Year of Jubilee (chapter 25) and there's a couple of passages in that chapter that talk about not loaning money with intrest (and that's probably a whole 'nother topic). But we jumped to Jeremiah 7 & 9 because one of the guys this morning had some insight from God about this whole thing. And there (the verses we looked at) talk about how we treat the poor, the outcast, the widow and the alien... The people of Israel had completely blown it at that point. God was going to send punishment like a refiner's fire...
So, how have I/we taken advantage of...the poor, the helpless, the hopeless, the needy. Televangelists are easy to pick on: "Just lay your hands on the TV to receive the spiritual blessing and if you send in just $1000 I guarantee you will be blessed 10 fold...what's that God? Oh, Lord have mercy - if you send in a $1000 right now God has promised you a HUNNERD fold blessing!!!! Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus! Oh, and we take all major credit cards..." Yeah, yeah. But we do it too. Some of the greatest tithers and givers in our church are not the people "who can afford it" but the people who "can't afford it." I'm not kidding. We have some of the really rich people in town and some of them don't give squat (or so I'm told - I refuse to look at the numbers - but someone else who has looked at what EVERYBODY gives told me that - which makes me sick in a whole bunch of ways - but it's also why we don't pledge everything we give - what I give to God is my business and God's business - nobody else needs to know - not even the IRS - I don't take the deduction, thank you very much - is that using the Lord's name in vain? It is definitely using God's name for an advantage...not sure, now...). ANYWAY - think about the widow's two pennies. Jesus said she gave more than all the rich people. I bet there were more pennies in the collection in Jesus' day than $100s...
Do I eat or tithe...God will provide... Sigh, it's not easy being in this position - since I really do believe that you can't out give God - He will provide. Just heard about a lady who put her bills on her table, prayed for God to provide, and then threw them away! God will provide. Um...I don't think that's quite what He meant...
The path to righetousness is NEVER on the back of anybody else - it never runs THROUGH or OVER another person. Beside, maybe. But NEVER over. But we do that all the time - in the name of righteousness (right-living, if you will).
Oh, I'm rambling now...
Peace...
Ill gotten treasures are of no value; but righteousness delivers from death.
My first thought was...um...huh? What an odd pair to put together. Ill gotten treasures and righteousness? Heh - and, of course, as soon as I read "Ill gotten treasures" I remembered a quote from the TV show M*A*S*H (Michael, Google it...heh) where Hawkeye Pierce says something about "Ill Booten Gottey" (instead of "Ill Gotten Booty" which is a saying about...oh, nevermind).
But then I started to think about our Bible study this morning. We're...how can I put this tactfully...um...PLODDING our way through Leviticus and we just read about the Year of Jubilee (chapter 25) and there's a couple of passages in that chapter that talk about not loaning money with intrest (and that's probably a whole 'nother topic). But we jumped to Jeremiah 7 & 9 because one of the guys this morning had some insight from God about this whole thing. And there (the verses we looked at) talk about how we treat the poor, the outcast, the widow and the alien... The people of Israel had completely blown it at that point. God was going to send punishment like a refiner's fire...
So, how have I/we taken advantage of...the poor, the helpless, the hopeless, the needy. Televangelists are easy to pick on: "Just lay your hands on the TV to receive the spiritual blessing and if you send in just $1000 I guarantee you will be blessed 10 fold...what's that God? Oh, Lord have mercy - if you send in a $1000 right now God has promised you a HUNNERD fold blessing!!!! Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus! Oh, and we take all major credit cards..." Yeah, yeah. But we do it too. Some of the greatest tithers and givers in our church are not the people "who can afford it" but the people who "can't afford it." I'm not kidding. We have some of the really rich people in town and some of them don't give squat (or so I'm told - I refuse to look at the numbers - but someone else who has looked at what EVERYBODY gives told me that - which makes me sick in a whole bunch of ways - but it's also why we don't pledge everything we give - what I give to God is my business and God's business - nobody else needs to know - not even the IRS - I don't take the deduction, thank you very much - is that using the Lord's name in vain? It is definitely using God's name for an advantage...not sure, now...). ANYWAY - think about the widow's two pennies. Jesus said she gave more than all the rich people. I bet there were more pennies in the collection in Jesus' day than $100s...
Do I eat or tithe...God will provide... Sigh, it's not easy being in this position - since I really do believe that you can't out give God - He will provide. Just heard about a lady who put her bills on her table, prayed for God to provide, and then threw them away! God will provide. Um...I don't think that's quite what He meant...
The path to righetousness is NEVER on the back of anybody else - it never runs THROUGH or OVER another person. Beside, maybe. But NEVER over. But we do that all the time - in the name of righteousness (right-living, if you will).
Oh, I'm rambling now...
Peace...
Comments