In 2007 I took the plunge and quit a good job in IT to work for a Christian organisation called Fusion. Fusion was founded in Australia in the 1950’s as a creative response to at-risk young people. Now it’s in 17+ countries around the world. During my first 12 months I worked part time for a community centre in my home town and part time for Fusion. Following that I went full time with Fusion.
The biggest challenge presented was that Fusion staff live by faith.
What that means in practice is that your support is raised through individuals and churches or that’s the theory.
In reality the books are seldom balanced. And this is where I had to learn what God’s economy is all about.
It’s fair to say that God’s ways are not our ways. He knows that, especially in the West, our mindset is so focussed from an early age on becoming a ‘bread winner’ that we have forgotten who supplies the bread. Consequently he leaves us financially on the wire often leaving it to the 11th hour before he meets our needs to teach us His Kingdom economy and to remind us who the provider really is. It’s a matter of trust. Trust and faith. What will you do when it comes to the crunch? Hold on and trust or take back charge yourself, thinking you know better?
In Hebrews 11:1 it says “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”.
How can you be sure of something you don’t see?
The honest answer for me was practice and no short amount of prayer. Like the next man it matters to me to provide for my family.
But also as a husband and parent you want to role model the Kingdom to your family as well as to the wider world.
If I have shaky knees they’re not going to see what God can do. But if I hold fast and show that God is our great provider, they will, sure as eggs is eggs go on into the world with a confidence that God will provide for them too.
The thing about being sure of what you do not see is that you have to let go of everything you think you know about how provision works.
“There’s no accounting for it” is quite an apt phrase. If you do the maths you’ll be left scratching your head!
The bible is full of weird and wonderful ways that God provides for his people from manna in the desert to a coin in a fishes mouth. From big hauls of fish to overflowing jars of oil and flour. Oh and let us not forget water into the finest wine and feeding 5000 men plus women & children from 5 loaves and 2 fish.
God loves to get creative in his provision and he loves to be generous.
The only thing we need to remember is that all we need is our Daily Bread – his provision for us today.
If we expect more we may well be disappointed. However expecting less is selling God short.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about living by faith, it’s that God is generous.
Often His provision doesn’t come financially. Over the years we’ve had cars bought for us, people have paid for holidays, meals, cinema tickets, shopping, bus fares, DIY vouchers, fuel costs, flights, conference fees, training fees, car repairs and so much more. It’s been so humbling.
However, because of some mistakes in the past, it’s not all been a bed of roses. During my IT career days we accumulated quite a bit of debt and were at the point of always looking for ways for how to make 500 dollars fast – always reliant on overdrafts and credit cards.
I now see that credit cards are an instrument of the evil one!! I had to learn the hard way that you can’t trust God and run back to your credit card whenever you’re in a fix.
But for many years that’s how it worked for us. Car repairs, house repairs and holidays were often what tipped us over the edge and we’d slap the bill on the credit card.
But with stupid levels of interest, over the years it mounted up.
Thankfully, 4 years ago we plucked up courage and sought help. Christians Against Poverty are an amazing organisation that help folk out of debt. They are professional and very good at what they do. Within a few months they had negotiated with all our lenders and had negotiated zero interest rates and a sensible repayment plan. Within 3 years (with the exception of our now affordable mortgage) we were completely debt free.
If you had told me in 2007 that I would quit my job, live by faith and not only afford to travel to Australia three times and also Greece x 3, Germany x 5 & Poland once; but also on top of that own a nearly new car and pay off all our debts, I’d have called you crazy. But that’s what God did! He did it not because we deserve it but because He’s gracious.
In addition to the daily bread thing, the other lesson I am learning (it’s a journey) is that when you are skint, that’s when you should be the most generous in your giving. Crazy stuff huh! My coordinator Dan Evenhuis told me that gem and it seems to be true!
You see God knows that’s it’s easy for a wealthy man to be generous but the point of the ‘Widows might’ parable that Jesus taught is that giving impresses God most when it’s costly for us. The amount is irrelevant, it’s the cost to you personally that matters. However- and here is the good news – you can’t out give God. It’s like a universal law. You can’t do it. Try it!
Now sometimes there’s nothing left to give. But you see in the Kingdom there’s always a way. You can give of your time or of your skills and that all counts too!
Now I can’t claim that we’ve really learned that one fully. Generosity is a work God is doing in me right now but, in the times that we have given sacrificially, He’s blessed our socks off!!
Now one final word on being wealthy. My observation is this – it’s about being a good steward with all that God has given you. To be honest, for many years we really were not. Often living beyond our means. But I have witnessed godly men and women who have been good stewards with their money / property / possessions from an early age and so God has blessed them financially. It’s like the relationships thing. Give a child a plant and if they manage to keep it alive, give them a goldfish, then maybe a hamster then perhaps a dog or a rabbit. Then when boy/girlfriends come along they’ll have learned how to treat another living being and will hopefully go well – and so too, on into married life.
“Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves” is a useful phrase. It might sound a tad old fashioned but when you learn to look after a little God will entrust you with a bit more, and then a little bit more and so on it goes.
Now unless you’re one of the lucky ones to have learned that lesson well and applied it over many years, I’m afraid it’s unlikely that God has a big bank balance planned for you(!) But I’m happy to be proved wrong 🙂
All I know is, it’s not your bank balance that matters but what you do with what you have and who you trust as your provider. It’s irrelevant whether you “live by faith” or hold down a regular 9 to 5 job. It’s an attitude of the heart. Don’t assume that God wants you to go without – that’s nonsense. Just because you’re short doesn’t mean that God doesn’t want you to have a holiday or a working vehicle. Pray, ask Him to provide. Your provider is not your employer, your pension pot – or even the government if you’re on benefits. Your provider is Father God. The disciples were instructed by Jesus to take nothing with them. They too had to learn God’s provision as they went from town to town and provide he did, and he will for you too!
It is not just about being better informed about others, but rather about reaping what the Spirit has sown in them, which is also meant to be a gift for us. To give but one example, in the dialogue with our Orthodox brothers and sisters, we Catholics have the opportunity to learn more about the meaning of episcopal collegiality and their experience of synodality.