Winter 2010 Newsletter
"The truth about the recession"
I've been traveling in the New Life Drama Company for almost two years as of writing this newsletter. It's been a great two years. Of course there have been many ups and downs, as is to be expected in any endeavor.
If there is one thing that I have seen have a strong impact on our nation it is the recssion. I have seen and felt the impact of it on the churches we visit and on myself. If there is one thing I want to talk to you about in this is the difference between being impoverished and having a mindset of poverty. One of the ways this recession has impacted me is that I don't have as much financial support from home as I used to.
My shoes had gotten to the point where they were looking pretty bad. Not only did my every day shoes look awful, my service hsows were falling apart too. I didn't have the money to replace either of them. I prayed for God to give me new shoes somehow. A few churches later, we were doing a Sunday evening service. At the end of service, the pastor called me up to the front and pointed out that I needed new shoes. I hadn't said anything about it, he just noticed. He took up an offering, just for me to buy new shoes. They congregation had given me $190 dollars to buy new shoes!
Now you may be wondering what my getting new shoes has to do with the recession. I want to explain to you why I believe that happened. As I had said before there is a difference between being impoverished and living in a mindset of poverity. I believe that it is possible to have a mindset of poverty without being impoverished. This is the mindset that I feel most of our nation has. I also belive that it is possible to be impoverished and not have a mind set of poverty. Too often in America, and even in the church, we compare ourselves to the wrong people. We compare ourselves to celebrities and musicians and those who have more money then we do. We think selfeshly to ourselves:
"Why can't I be that rich?" or "Why don't I have as much as they have?"
Even in the church we take it as far as:
"God, why are all the sinners blessed, and You're not blessing me?"
I know this is true because I have been through it myself. The problem with this thnking is that we are looking at the things of this world, like money and cars, as rewards. However, any reward that is fleeting is not a true reward. This life is only a drop in the ocean of eternity. Which would you rather have if you wanted to live, a drop of water or a whole ocean? We are telling God that He is not enough when we ask for more and more because we are unsatisfied.
The answer does not lie in comparing ourselves to the less fortunate either. There is some merit in looking at those less fortunate, and knowing that we are blessed, but there is really only one person who we are to compare ourselves to, and that is Jesus. It's easy to see Jesus, as the Son of God, is the wealthiest man to ever exist. He's God for crying out loud. Everything in the entire universe belongs to Him, and yet He chose to come to this earth and live a life among us where he was broke, single, homeless. Jesus Christ himself chose to live that way, yet we complain because we can't have as nice a car as our neighbor or friend. We live in a mindset of poverty because we believe we are not blessed and highly favored as the Bible says we are. We think this way because we don't have the money to buy our petty things that will only pass away at the end of this life.
We blame our lack of money on the recession. I don't know about your god, but I know my God has always been my God. He was God in the Great Depression, He is God now, and He will still be God the next time our economy takes a dip. He will still be God if our economy goes bankrupt and ceases to exsist. My God never changes. He supplied Jesus' needs and He can supply mine. Why don't people believe that? Why is that so hard to grasp? We'll beleive God for anything until it comes to money, then we doubt Him.
Jesus lived a life of poverty. He had next to nothing, but didn't have the mindset of poverty. He knew God would take care of Him. He knew who He was. Even if He hadn't been the Son of God as a human and a believer, He would have had God's favor.
He believed as a child of God, that He would supply all His needs.
Why can't we?
Thank you for reading this newsletter. I hope it ministered to you in some way. Please continue to support me and this ministry with your prayers.
God Bless,
Josh
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