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May 31, 2007 |
Courageous Money Management
"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong." - 1 Corinthians 16:13
During what would be my father's final year of life, I wrote him a letter. He was deeply depressed over the recent passing of my mother and his own health was declining rapidly. Mostly I wanted him to draw some measure of satisfaction from the courage with which he had lived his life, including his heroic service in World War II.
As navigator of a B-17 bomber, there were missions he flew where he saw planes ahead of his just disappear into thick clouds of smoke and fragments of exploding artillery shells. He wondered how he and his crewmates could possibly survive. By the end of his tour of duty, he had flown 35 missions, many over heavily armed targets.
In my letter, I quoted from the St. Crispian's Day speech contained in Shakespeare's Henry V, in which the king exhorts his outnumbered army by telling them that all who step up to the challenge that day would be forever changed.
He that shall see this day, and live old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say, "To-morrow is Saint Crispian."
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say, "These wounds I had on Crispian's day."
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages,
What feats he did that day.
Most of us will never know the courage required of war. Yet we all face decisions that test our courage, many of them related to money.
A good friend spent a sleepless night wrestling with a decision about how much to give to his church's building campaign. His business was coming off a great year, but the amount to give that kept coming to mind seemed crazy. Was he really being called to give that much? A lesser amount would still be generous by anyone's definition. As night turned to day, he wrote a check for more money than he had ever imagined giving away. With tears in his eyes, he was filled with gratitude for God's work in his life.
What financial decisions are you wrestling with? Our culture calls us toward comfort, but God often calls us toward choices that require great courage. And years from now, it's the courageous decisions we made that we will remember "with advantages."
The Gift of Nothing
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“Matt speaks from the heart with passion, conviction, and credibility. His message is not about the obligation of biblical money management, but about the adventure and joy.”