Glad TithingsFamily newsletter of Christian Stewardship Ministries |
| "Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy." (1 Cor. 4:2) Sept. 1998 * Vol 17 No 3 |
Volume 17 No 3
© 1998 by Christian Stewardship Ministries
Glad Tithings is a newsletter of Christian Stewardship Ministries, a nonprofit public foundation. To receive Glad Tithings regularly, send your name and address (with a zip code) to CSM. Gifts are tax deductible, greatly needed and deeply appreciated. The ministry's annual cost per person is approximately $15. Any portion of this newsletter may be quoted or reproduced without further permission, provided excerpts are in context, by adding the following credit line: "Reprinted from Christian Stewardship Ministries' newsletter Glad Tithings, Fairfax, Virginia," and furnishing a copy to CSM.
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| Robert L. Fredericks, Jr. Attorney at Law Annandale, Virginia (703)750-3400 |
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| Christian Stewardship Ministries Contribution-based Counseling call today for an appointment |
| Manassas Family Medicine Vincent J. Buchinsky, M.D. Manassas, Virginia |
Changing Lives Through Managing Lives
How can I live a more disciplined life? How can I get out of debt? How can I juggle the competing demands of my job, my family, my church? How do I know what God’s will is in this circumstance?
What is the LMS?
The tool God is using to help Christians answer those questions is the Life Management Study. This 13-week class, which begins this month, combines scripture study, practical application, reading assignments and scripture memory. CSM hopes to offer the class via Internet very soon. LMS students learn that God has a plan for their lives and begin to discover more about His specific plan for them. At the same time, students receive tools to actually implement life changes–some beginning immediately.
In the short term, students learn to identify what is interfering with their ability to live the life they know God wants them to live, and they begin to change the way they communicate with God. Many graduates testify they have made significant progress in overcoming procrastination, overcommitment or chronic tardiness. They report getting more sleep, spending more time with God on a regular basis, finding more time to do what they want to do and experiencing less anxiety. Their families affirm that they spend more time together. Their employers say they’re getting more work done.
In the longer term, LMS graduates begin to understand where they should be headed and the direction God wants them to take. They may receive new insight about their careers or ministry or marriage or relationships. They may be freed from anxiety or develop greater intimacy with God.
God’s Plan
God has a plan for each of our lives–a detailed plan. In some unfathomable way, God can keep track of the details of our lives just as competently as He can run the entire world. Scripture tells us that He knew all the details of our lives before we were born or before our great, great grandparents were born. He knew you would be reading this article at this precise point in time in your life when He created the world long ago. Isn’t that incredible!
Not only that, every time we do something that is inconsistent with God’s plan for our lives, He adjusts things so that at the next instant, He has a "revised" plan for our lives. From God’s viewpoint, it’s all part of the same plan. He knew the mistakes we were going to make from before the beginning of time, and His plan for each of us takes all those mistakes into consideration. At the same time, He gives us freedom of choice. He lets us make all those mistakes. In His mercy, God even promises in Romans 8:28 that He will turn every mistake we make to good, if we will just try to obey Him. The LMS helps students learn to appreciate the consequences of disobedience and motivates them to become more obedient.
Obedience and Disobedience
Obedience is the key word. We’re all disobedient to God, every day of our lives. But if we have the desire to be obedient, if we want to know and do things God’s way, He will honor that desire. He will carry us through every trial, help us recover when we fall and set us back on the path He has set before us. The LMS is designed to foster the heart’s desire to obey and provide tools to increase obedience.
To many, the word obedience connotes restriction, having to live life within a rigid, inflexible set of rules that take all the fun out of life. It’s true that there are restrictions on our actions if we desire to be obedient to God. But instead of boxing us in, obedience gives us greater and greater freedom to do the things we learn we really want to do. It produces minimum rigidity and maximum flexibility. We discover a daily quality of life that has absolutely no equal.
We tend to think of disobedience as something big and obvious–murder, adultery, stealing. That’s not our problem. So we don’t really see ourselves as disobedient. After all, we go to church, read the Bible and pray. But how do we use our money and our time? How well do we get along with other people?
Money, Time, Relationships
Do you see yourself as the steward of God’s money or as the owner of all you possess? Do you give generously at the level you believe God wants you to? Do you owe money you believe God does not want you to owe? Do you consider whether God wants you to purchase the things you buy before you plunk your money on the counter?
Do your see yourself as the steward of the 24 hours of each day, the 168 hours of each week, the 728 hours of each month and the 8766 hours of each year? Do you believe you will be accountable for how you spend your time? Do you decide how you will use your time or do you just go with the flow? Do you do what you tell others you will do? Are you reliable? Trustworthy? Do you find yourself spending time on lower priority things?
Is there anyone with whom you have a poor relationship? Have you done everything God wants you to do to be reconciled? Have you asked God for direction in that relationship and then done what He has asked you to do? Are you the husband or wife God wants you to be? The parent? The adult child of older parents?
We don’t usually think of money, time and relationships in terms of being obedient or disobedient to God. But the Bible tells us that God sees them that way. The LMS helps students understand how God sees their lives and gives them the tools to change their lives to conform to His expectations.
If God is speaking to you about personal holiness, personal obedience, then now is the time to register for an upcoming LMS class with Christian Stewardship Ministries. Ask God if He wants you to register. Is this the first step, or the next step, God wants you to take to become the person He wants you to be? If so, don’t miss the opportunity. It could change your life here and now–and for eternity.