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In God We Trust, February 22, 2021

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

We can find our nation’s motto in a lot of places – on our coins and bills, on government buildings, in several federal department and state seals. It has been around for almost two centuries, first embellishing the one-cent coin in 1837 and becoming part of all our coins in 1873. It became the United States’ official motto under President Eisenhower in 1956 and has been on our paper money since 1957.

At the passage of the Coinage Act in 1873, the country still reeled from the effects of the Civil War. We needed a reminder that God remained as the guiding light from whom all things would prosper and proceed after a war that killed more Americans than any other. We needed to remember our real treasure didn’t reside in money or wealth or property but God. So by putting “In God We Trust” on our coins and bills, every time we paid for an item, we are reminded God provides, not the government, or our jobs, or some other tangible or intangible force we might presume gives aid. God is the source of our strength and success.

Many have tried to remove the words from our currency from the first day it appeared. To date, all attempts have failed. I’m afraid it won’t be long until those opposed to God will soon succeed to the detriment of the nation, but as Christians, we need to continue to press to keep the motto alive across the land for as long as possible. Our heritage lies in the providence of God’s grace. Were all our founding fathers Christian? No. As many point out, some were deists; some were atheists. But many did claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

The reason for the several groups’ departure from the European continent certainly involved escape from religious persecution. Others wanted to take advantage of the prospect of new lands for development, the potential for finding rare minerals, power, and a host of other reasons. However, the earliest settlers from Europe came seeking religious freedom, as seen by the early charters within their settlements.

What can we learn from them? Perhaps the most important lesson, trust in God. I’m reminded of those words as I read the lectionary for this week from Psalms 25:

Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.

Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O LORD!

Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.

All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees. (Psalms 25:4-10 NIV)

Lord, teach me. We become so arrogant in our seeming knowledge, but we know so little. If we had real wisdom, we would face the mess we find ourselves in today with its racial strife, the enormous political divide, the clashes between socioeconomic or ethnic groups. We would not create such misunderstanding between people because of disparities in material or immaterial things that might cause those disparities. If we had real wisdom, we would work together in community to help each other, lift each other, encourage each other, strengthen each other, understand each other.

So, my prayer is to teach me, Lord. Help me know your paths. Somehow get through my thick head, and lead me in your truth, not what some party or newscast or social media writer might want me to hear, but rather, lead me in your truth. I know that only your truth can save me from myself and from the evil that surrounds me. That’s what the psalmist knows, and that’s what I am learning daily from God’s truth recorded in his word.

I like the way “The Voice” renders the next verses. “Gracious Eternal One, remember Your compassion; rekindle Your concern and love, which have always been part of Your actions toward those who are Yours. Do not hold against me the sins I committed when I was young; instead, deal with me according to Your mercy and love. Then Your goodness may be demonstrated in all the world, Eternal one.” (Ps 25:6-7 The Voice)

I am so glad God doesn’t give me what I deserve, but rather, in his compassion, his mercy, and love, which have always been part of his actions toward his children – humanity – he extends his grace instead. He forgives our sins. He forgets our transgressions. He wipes away the wrongs we commit against him because he is good and merciful and loving.

But God doesn’t leave us at that point. He doesn’t abandon us at the point of forgiveness. Instead, God instructs us to live right. He teaches us to live honorably. God leads us down paths that will benefit us and keep his reputation and name clean and clear. The humble find themselves lifted by God’s teaching. But what does humility mean? I think the best definition I’ve heard is not thinking less of yourself, but not think more of yourself, either. Remember that you are a child of the King, but only because the King died on the cross for you.

So, where does all of this put us? I think it’s time to pay attention to our motto. Whenever you pick up a coin or lay a bill on the counter to pay for something, remember where to put your trust. Faith in money doesn’t work. There will never be enough to do everything you want to do. We will probably never pay off those trillions of dollars we owe that keep growing every day. The government won’t fix things. For 245 years, the government has tried but has never succeeded in making life better for everyone. Someone always gets the short end of the stick. Social change doesn’t make a difference. The change will benefit one group but harm another; it always does.

Our only hope for the future comes from putting our trust in God. The psalmist knew it. The Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. Chase knew it in 1861. President Eisenhower knew it in 1956. As believers, we know it today. We need to show by our actions that we believe it, though. Read God’s word. Soak your mind in it. Let it become part of your life. Act on it as you let God’s Spirit work through your life to show his love in a world desperate for something more than what they get every day through their standard fare. Make a difference because of what you learn in and through Jesus, the Messiah, the true King of this world.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

It’s best to be generous (Luke 16:19-31) December 11, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 2 John

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 16:19-31
Jesus There was this rich man who had everything—purple clothing of fine quality and high fashion, gourmet meals every day, and a large house. Just outside his front gate lay this poor homeless fellow named Lazarus. Lazarus was covered in ugly skin lesions. He was so hungry he wished he could scavenge scraps from the rich man’s trash. Dogs would come and lick the sores on his skin. The poor fellow died and was carried on the arms of the heavenly messengers to the embrace of Abraham. Then the rich fellow died and was buried and found himself in the place of the dead. In his torment, he looked up, and off in the distance he saw Abraham, with Lazarus in his embrace.
He shouted out, “Father Abraham! Please show me mercy! Would you send that beggar Lazarus to dip his fingertip in water and cool my tongue? These flames are hot, and I’m in agony!”
But Abraham said, “Son, you seem to be forgetting something: your life was full to overflowing with comforts and pleasures, and the life of Lazarus was just as full with suffering and pain. So now is his time of comfort, and now is your time of agony. Besides, a great canyon separates you and us. Nobody can cross over from our side to yours, or from your side to ours.”
“Please, Father Abraham, I beg you,” the formerly rich man continued, “send Lazarus to my father’s house. I have five brothers there, and they’re on the same path I was on. If Lazarus warns them, they’ll choose another path and won’t end up here in torment.”
But Abraham said, “Why send Lazarus? They already have the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets to instruct them. Let your brothers hear them.”
“No, Father Abraham,” he said, “they’re already ignoring the law and the prophets. But if someone came back from the dead, then they’d listen for sure; then they’d change their way of life.”
Abraham answered, “If they’re not listening to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be convinced even if someone comes back from the dead.”

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I don’t know if you’ve ever been around burn victims. It’s pretty terrible. Being stationed at Ft Sam Houston, Texas for the last few years of my service, I saw patients in the burn center more often than I’d like to remember. Most of them had recently returned from Iraq or Afghanistan, victims of explosions on the battlefield in which fuel in the vehicles they were riding also caught fire before they could be extracted. Some of those soldiers were 60, 70, and 80% of their body surface covered with disfiguring burns. It’s a horrible, painful injury and recovery is also long and painful.

The average burn victim undergoes more than 20 surgeries during the first two years of recovery and usually never gets full range of motion of limbs affected by the burns. We still haven’t been able to perfect plastic surgeries to heal disfigurement, so every time a burn victim looks in the mirror, there is the constant reminder of that fateful day that changed their life forever. Post traumatic stress disorder often accompanies the injury and causes frequent nightmare interrupting much needed sleep and disrupting the healing process. Burns are horrible injuries.

Every time I read this story, I’m reminded of those soldiers I visited on the burn wards at Fort Sam Houston. And I think about how horrible hell must be. To continually exist in a place of fire and brimstone as Jesus describes it, always burning but never being consumed by it. Always experiencing that agony with no hope of the pain ever stopping. And in hell, there are no drugs to ease the pain, no narcotics to allow even the shortest, restless sleep from the intense agony.

Then I think about the rich man’s request. Just the amount of water that can be held on the tip of Lazarus’ fingertip to cool his tongue. Have you ever tried to quench you thirst with the amount of water that you can hold on the tip of your finger? It’s not much water. If you stick your whole finger in a glass of water you’ll only get about two or three drops of water off the end when you pull it out. But that was the rich man’s request. He was in such agony, such torment, he would be happy with just the amount of water that would fall from Lazarus’ fingertip.

I don’t know about you, but I never want to go to a place like that. Was the scene real? It seems to me that the parables Jesus gave the crowds were more often based in reality than not. They seemed to be scenes He had witnessed and then shared with those around Him. These were not Aesop’s fables with animals living out morals to be learned. Jesus’ parables always had truths in them that could easily be seen in every day life. So had Jesus witnessed just this kind of scene before He came to earth in human form? In His glorified form, had the Son of God witnessed the rich man plead for Abraham to send one of God’s children across the divide with just a few drops of water to cool His tongue?

There is always more truth in Jesus’ parables than not. I don’t want to find out, do you? I think that means we need to be generous with the things God entrusts into our care. Think about it.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Be generous, helpful, and kind (Luke 16:1-13) December 9, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Revelation 7-11

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

16:1-13
Jesus: Once there was a rich and powerful man who had an asset manager. One day, the man received word that his asset manager was squandering his assets.
The rich man brought in the asset manager and said, “You’ve been accused of wrongdoing. I want a full and accurate accounting of all your financial transactions because you are really close to being fired.”The manager said to himself, “Oh, no! Now what am I going to do? I’m going to lose my job here, and I’m too weak to dig ditches and too proud to beg. I have an idea. This plan will mean that I have a lot of hospitable friends when I get fired.”
So the asset manager set up appointments with each person who owed his master money. He said to the first debtor, “How much do you owe my boss?” The debtor replied, “A hundred barrels of oil.” The manager said, “I’m discounting your bill by half. Just write 50 on this contract.” Then he said to the second debtor, “How much do you owe?” This fellow said, “A hundred bales of wheat.” The manager said, “I’m discounting your debt by 20 percent. Just write down 80 bales on this contract.”
When the manager’s boss realized what he had done, he congratulated him for at least being clever. That’s how it is: those attuned to this evil age are more clever in dealing with their affairs than the enlightened are in dealing with their affairs!
Learn some lessons from this crooked but clever asset manager. Realize that the purpose of money is to strengthen friendships, to provide opportunities for being generous and kind. Eventually money will be useless to you—but if you use it generously to serve others, you will be welcomed joyfully into your eternal destination.
If you’re faithful in small-scale matters, you’ll be faithful with far bigger responsibilities. If you’re crooked in small responsibilities, you’ll be no different in bigger things. If you can’t even handle a small thing like money, who’s going to entrust you with spiritual riches that really matter? If you don’t manage well someone else’s assets that are entrusted to you, who’s going to give over to you important spiritual and personal relationships to manage?
Imagine you’re a servant and you have two masters giving you orders. What are you going to do when they have conflicting demands? You can’t serve both, so you’ll either hate the first and love the second, or you’ll faithfully serve the first and despise the second. One master is God and the other is money. You can’t serve them both.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Did you get that lesson about the purpose of money? We really blow it these days. We think the purpose of money is to get more stuff for us. We think it is to make us more comfortable or make us look more important or ensure our future. But Jesus didn’t mention any of those things when He talked about the purpose of money as He discussed this parable with those around Him, did He? “The purpose of money,” He said, “is to strengthen friendships, to provide opportunities for being generous and kind.”

That is a far cry from what the world tells us to do with our money, isn’t it? Financial managers will tell us to hoard it away. Make sure you multiply it so you don’t run out. Don’t give too much of it away because then you won’t have it. The world says use it for your personal gain. That’s how you get ahead in this world.

Jesus’ advice and the world’s advice are rather contradictory to each other, aren’t they? But who should we listen to? If God made the world and He will be the final judge of our actions at the end of time, doesn’t it make sense to pay attention to His rules instead of the world’s rules? Doesn’t it make sense to take God’s advice since He’s the one we will face someday?

Even if you don’t believe there is a heaven and hell, being generous and kind doesn’t do any harm to you or anyone else. And if you are right, you have done good things for others all your life. You have been good and kind and generous and helped others along life’s path. But if you’re wrong and you fail to give to others, hoard everything you make, push aside others and fail to help others along life’s path, what will you say to God when you face Him at the judgment?

If you don’t believe, you still might not make it across the threshold into heaven, but I’m not God, thank goodness, and I don’t know how He will judge at the end of time. Perhaps ignorance of Him will be weighed against good things you have done or failure to do those good things. Perhaps generosity and kindness will have something to do with the intensity of punishment received. I have to tell you I don’t know how all that will work. The Bible doesn’t tell us. But one thing for sure, Jesus’ words about the use of money point us again and again to using it to help others not ourselves. Being generous and helpful and kind with the assets God entrusts to us. So we’d best get on with those duties, don’t you think.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

How useful is that money now? (Luke 12/14-21) November 15, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Ezra 1-5

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 12:14-21
Jesus: Since when am I your judge or arbitrator?
Then He used that opportunity to speak to the crowd.
Jesus: You’d better be on your guard against any type of greed, for a person’s life is not about having a lot of possessions.
(then, beginning another parable) A wealthy man owned some land that produced a huge harvest. He often thought to himself, “I have a problem here. I don’t have anywhere to store all my crops. What should I do? I know! I’ll tear down my small barns and build even bigger ones, and then I’ll have plenty of storage space for my grain and all my other goods. Then I’ll be able to say to myself, ‘I have it made! I can relax and take it easy for years! So I’ll just sit back, eat, drink, and have a good time!’”
Then God interrupted the man’s conversation with himself. “Excuse Me, Mr. Brilliant, but your time has come. Tonight you will die. Now who will enjoy everything you’ve earned and saved?”
This is how it will be for people who accumulate huge assets for themselves but have no assets in relation to God.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I hope you’ve never been part of those inheritance squabbles. I’ve seen a few in my lifetime. I think my family on both side through several links are smart enough and genteel enough not to get into those kinds of brutal arguments. But I’ve seen some of those battles. No one comes out well when a wealthy or even a not so wealthy family member dies and siblings or children and grandchildren start fighting over who should receive what portions of the estate. People come out of the woodwork demanding their part. Court battles erupt and there is anything but respect for the deceased’s last will and testament, especially if a large portion is given to a charity. It seems people just don’t want to work for their money anymore.

Jesus addressed the man who wanted arbitration about an inheritance, but that wasn’t the case for the wealthy person in Jesus’ parable. The subject of the parable was a man who earned his fortune through hard work, but then decided it was time to retire early. He built his estate and accumulated more than he could ever spend. He was ready to sit back and enjoy the good life.

That sounds just like the pitch all our financial planners give us, doesn’t it? Start saving your money at a young age. Set aside all you can as soon as you can. Then by the time you’re 55, you’ll have enough to retire and do what you want. You can quit working and travel the world. Put your money in the right stocks and watch them grow at enormous rates and then just sit back with your toes in the sand and do nothing but enjoy the fruits of your short life of labor. Doesn’t that sound good?

Only that’s not God’s plan for us. He never talks about retirement. God never gives us a date to quit working on His plans. He never tells us to sit back and do nothing. And there are some important reasons for that. I haven’t looked lately, but a few years ago, there were some interesting morbidity mortality rates concerning military retirees. Those were the only ones I was researching at the time because at the time I was looking at my own retirement. The research showed that the average life expectancy for someone retiring from military service was just under ten years.

That was a little scary to me. There were several reasons given. Many stopped their daily exercise routine the military sort of forces us into and so gained enormous amounts of weight in the first several months out of service that never came off. That contributes to lots of other problems like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc. Many stopped getting routine medical care because they weren’t required to as they were while on active duty so those underlying problems weren’t found soon enough to take care of them. But one of the astounding reasons given for many died so quickly after retirement was their lack of purpose for living. The just quit feeling useful to society and gave up on life. So if any disease popped up they didn’t fight it, they just died. The flu killed them. Pneumonia killed them. A heart attack killed them. Because they didn’t have the will to fight to live.

Solomon learned the hard way, and wrote in Ecclesiastes for us, life is meaningless unless lived for the right reasons. We can dabble in lots of stuff, earn lots of money, have our names in lights and be known around the world. None of that matters. Unless we are working out God’s purpose in our lives, life is truly meaningless. All the riches in the world don’t matter and don’t do anything for us. Besides, ask all those rich folks lying in those neatly mowed graves and polished mausoleum, how useful is all that wealth to them now?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Join my household (Luke 15:11-31), Jan 15, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Devotional

Today’s background scripture comes from Luke 15.

I want you to stay with Me and enjoy the life I can provide for you. But you have a choice. You can choose to leave Me and settle for the temporary pleasures of the world. Beware, though, those pleasures run out. They satisfy for a moment and then they’re gone. You’ll be left with nothing.

The young man in the parable I told was like that. He thought he could do better than second place on his father’s farm. So, he demanded his inheritance and left. I want you to note the sacrifice his father made for this second son. He liquidated his assets to give his son an early inheritance. The property and business he spent his life building, he gave up so he could satisfy the desires of his sons. The man willingly started over in his old age because he loved his sons.

I sent My son to you to show you a different way to live. He lived with you for more than 30 years and showed you how to live the way I want you to live. Things didn’t impress Him. He spoke with ease to the rich and the poor alike. He came to liberate men and women from the enslavement of things. He came to release you from the captivity the focus on material things can cause.

I know that money is important to help with the necessities of life, but the world has turned its importance upside down. It’s not something you need to hoard. It’s not something you need to worry about. I can give it or take it away. In fact, the gift of giving comes with the gift of accumulating so you can give abundantly. But if you’re tight-fisted with what comes, you will stifle My gift of giving to you.

More important than money is your reliance on Me. Like the son in the parable, you must discover the Father’s house is the place you want to live – My house. I, too, will embrace you with open arms. We will feast together. I will welcome you when you come in repentance to Me. I want you in my household, not as one of the servants, but as one of my children. Wake up from your most harrowing situation and turn to Me.

Today’s Scripture

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Luke 15:11-31
Set – Psalms 7; Luke 15
Go! – Genesis 37-38; Psalms 7; Luke 15

Luke 15:11-31
Once there was this man who had two sons. ¹² One day the younger son came to his father and said, “Father, eventually I’m going to inherit my share of your estate. Rather than waiting until you die, I want you to give me my share now.” And so the father liquidated assets and divided them. ¹³ A few days passed and this younger son gathered all his wealth and set off on a journey to a distant land. Once there he wasted everything he owned on wild living. ¹⁴He was broke, a terrible famine struck that land, and he felt desperately hungry and in need. ¹⁵ He got a job with one of the locals, who sent him into the fields to feed the pigs. ¹⁶ The young man felt so miserably hungry that he wished he could eat the slop the pigs were eating. Nobody gave him anything.

¹⁷ So he had this moment of self-reflection: “What am I doing here? Back home, my father’s hired servants have plenty of food. Why am I here starving to death? ¹⁸ I’ll get up and return to my father, and I’ll say, ‘Father, I have done wrong—wrong against God and against you. ¹⁹ I have forfeited any right to be treated like your son, but I’m wondering if you’d treat me as one of your hired servants?’” ²⁰ So he got up and returned to his father. The father looked off in the distance and saw the young man returning. He felt compassion for his son and ran out to him, enfolded him in an embrace, and kissed him.

²¹ The son said, “Father, I have done a terrible wrong in God’s sight and in your sight too. I have forfeited any right to be treated as your son.”

²² But the father turned to his servants and said, “Quick! Bring the best robe we have and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. ²³ Go get the fattest calf and butcher it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate ²⁴ because my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and has been found.” So they had this huge party.

²⁵ Now the man’s older son was still out in the fields working. He came home at the end of the day and heard music and dancing. ²⁶ He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. ²⁷ The servant said, “Your brother has returned, and your father has butchered the fattest calf to celebrate his safe return.”

²⁸ The older brother got really angry and refused to come inside, so his father came out and pleaded with him to join the celebration. ²⁹ But he argued back, “Listen, all these years I’ve worked hard for you. I’ve never disobeyed one of your orders. But how many times have you even given me a little goat to roast for a party with my friends? Not once! This is not fair! ³⁰ So this son of yours comes, this wasteful delinquent who has spent your hard-earned wealth on loose women, and what do you do? You butcher the fattest calf from our herd!”

³¹ The father replied, “My son, you are always with me, and all I have is yours.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
Music by the Booth Brothers from Room for More, “Faithful One” ©2008.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.