A Beautiful Accent

"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." NIV Bible.

Yesterday, after our church service, I had the opportunity to spend some time in conversation with a man who was baptized in our service. He had moved to the United States from Scotland and he spoke with a beautiful Scottish brogue that reaked of masculinity and history. His accent made me feel as if I were talking to someone from another time and place and I secretly wished that I had an accent like his. He told me the story of how God had changed his life.....so much so, that he was now out of a job.....allow me to explain.

Before coming to know Christ, my new friend was a salesman. Apparently, he was a very good salesman and based on his own telling, had no problem decieving or shortchanging a customer in order to get the sale. After recieving Christ, he found that he could no longer ignore his conscience (apparently, the Holy Spirit speaks much louder than the unredeemed conscience) and started telling customers the truth about the product that he was selling. The company that he was working for did not like the fact that he was actually looking out for the customer and they eventually fired him.

I have to be honest, it was so refreshing to hear his story because in our American christian culture, I don't hear stories like his enough. It wasn't like he was trying to make some grandiose "stand" for Jesus. He just simply could not be deceptive any longer, even at the risk of losing his job, because he was truly a new creature acting out of a new nature.

I am so glad that my friend has come to Christ in America but I hope that he does not assimilate too deeply into the American christian culture because if he does, he may learn the fine art of compartmentalization and learn to say things like "well, that's just the business and that's how it's done" or "this is just a necessary part of sales and everyone knows that exaggerating and telling half truths is what a salesman is supposed to do".

I pray that my new friend's beautiful accent will never diminish and that it will be symbollic of a life that people envy because it reminds them of the reality that there truly is another time and another place to be lived for.

A New Currency

Matthew 25:34-36 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'" New International Version Bible



The value of the "almighty" dollar seems to be not so "almighty" these days. Because of the current state of the U.S. economy, the value of dollar fluctuates frequently and there is much conversation of moving to a new global currency. All of this serves as a sobering reminder that cash, in and of itself, is only a symbol of value. It was designed to be a representation of the assets that we actually have, not the asset itself.



Strangely enough, our current monetary system has greatly influenced the way I think about giving. Most of the time, when I think about giving, I am immediately frustrated because I can't give as much as I would like to give due to the amount of dollars that I have in the bank. Does the dollar amount in my bank account truly represent what I am able to give? I don't really have an oppinion about whether the global financial system should move away from the dollar but I may need to personally consider a new form of currency.



In Matthew 25, Jesus gives a picture of what exemplary giving looks like and it is definitely not limited to money. If you are going to feed someone or give them something to drink, it might cost you a little bit of money but it will also cost you something else. If you want to clothe someone or take them into your house, you may incur a small financial expense but it will cost you even more in another form of currency. To take care of someone who is sick and to visit someone in prison will probably not cost you a whole lot of money but will require a very costly investment of one of your most valuable resources...your time.



This thought has become very liberating for me. I don't have to limit my giving to the money that I have in my bank account (don't get me wrong, that does not get me off of the hook of constantly streamlining my finances so that I can give as much money as possible). This especially becomes applicable when I think about using the "handy man" skills that I have recently been learning. How much money could I save a family that is living below the poverty line if I am able to go in and make substantial improvements to the physical structure of their house? If I go over and take care of a bathroom plumbing problem for the widow in my neighborhood, how much money have I given her now that she will not have to pay the expense of having a plumber come to her house? When I think about giving in this light, the possibilities grow limitless. The financial equivalent of what I can potentially give becomes exponential regardless of the current state of the "sometimes mighty dollar".