Whose $$ Is it Anyway?

One of my favorite shows is "Whose Wedding is it Anyway?" It's a show about wedding planners and their journey through the process of dealing with brides, buying what needs to get bought, and avoiding wedding disaster generally. It's not a show like "Bridezilla," which chronicles women who are apparently normal when not planning a wedding, but are insane and overdemanding now that they are. "Whose Wedding is it Anyway" does a good job of showing what both the bride and the wedding planner go through in the process. I've always had penchant for wedding planning. The funniest thing that I see is the battle between mother (and sometimes mother-in-law to be) and the bride to be.  Sometimes the mother gets in the way so much that you would think it was their own wedding.

It can be funny to watch that interaction and it makes me wonder what God thinks about our lives - especially money.  If there was a show called, "Whose Money is it Anyway?" I am sure that it would bring in millions of viewers.  God would have given His people, His sons and daughters, an unlimited amount of money. He would tell His babies to give 10% to His work, his business. He would ask them to be cheerful givers and to take care of widows and orphans.

On this show, though, there would always be a struggle, though.  Things would rarely go smoothly.  Instead of following simple directions, they would rationalize all the reasons they couldn't give 10%.  They would forget that God gave them what they had.  They would rely on themselves for everything instead of simply trusting the Giver.  God would remind them of these facts and that He had more than they could ever imagine only if they could believe.

The people watching could see everything objectively.  They would yell and scream at the TV, encouraging the kids, young and old, to just trust their Father.  Some struggles would end well, some would simply end, leaving the audience frustrated.

The show would be a fairly accurate reflection of how we as Christians live our lives.  And this is simply an encouragement to everyone - take the perspective of God and lay your money down to Him. He has promised that those things we sow will be reaped. It is a principle that occurs in nature.  We never need to fear, even when sacrifice seems too great.  God is greater, still.

Mediocrity

"Go big or go home." I have no clue who said that first or, at all, where it came from. I do know that we used to say it about Michigan football all the time. Now I say it to people when they need encouragement to step outside of their comfort zones. Wherever it comes from, the lesson is the same. Mediocrity is not an option. If it is, don't start. It is pointless to do something half way. It is useless to do something without your whole heart, sans passion. I once read a quote by Martin Luther once, "Sin boldly, but love God more boldly still." Even that statement, by a great man of faith, implies that even sinning mediocrely isn't okay. Yet, we live out our lives lazy, complacent with the way things are - stuck.

When we do not live passionately, live out of all that we are, we are not truly living our lives in the fullness of who God created us to be. We must decide to never do anything half-way. It's all or nothing.