It's a First Fruits Phenomenon Thing

Dear America,

"Few people understand 

that abundance 

is a far tougher test 

of character 

than poverty,"

Pastor Robert Morris, from his book, 

Beyond Blessed

and it explains America today, in a nutshell; more like a nut safely stored away for future generations to enjoy and reap its benefits, as this new generation -- of the AOC -- are coming up totally oblivious of the efforts and prudence and suffering of all mankind to this point.

For further context, just before the good pastor says this, he notes, that there are "believers that God simply cannot bless with great wealth because he knows it would destroy them."   And basically giving us a wee bit of tough love, that if we are not good stewards with a little, there is not a chance in hell we would be good stewards with a lot.  And vice versa, if we start abusing the privileges of having a lot, it can be taken away, in an instant.

As a whole -- America has grown too big for her britches.  [that link there tells a good tale of this phrase and it's possible origins...And given my book club just finished Kilmeade's, Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans, I must say, I sorta take offense to Davy Crockett's jaded impression of the guy; me thinks he may have been a tad jealous?  who knows....right...but it sure makes for a good scenery turn of a phrase; plus, it's from a blog@ It's a Southern Thing!  Which kinda makes me kin.   teehee]. 

Anywho, back to reality, 

this courtship with socialism going on around here is enough to make this girl's head spin.

And besides all that, 

this thing...this great and magnificent thing that started here in America so long ago -- with Divine Providence guiding our every thought, word and deed, from one to another, in the macro and micro, from shining sea to shining sea and over the purple mountains majesty,  is somehow or other getting lost in the proverbial woods.  As a people, we are no longer being led in the direction and good council of recognizing one very essential doctrine: being of divine stewardship. 

Morris talks about this thing called stewardship right from the start, and boldly points out this ah-hum-ah-dinger:  "Stewardship is living with a heart recognition that your money, your possessions -- even your body -- do not belong to you."

He says this because, "Of course, God owns it all."

The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it. 

The world and all its people belong to him.  

(Psalm 24:1 NLT)

so there.

So the thing is, are we being good stewards of everything that belongs to God?   Are we being good stewards of the foundation laid by our founders?  Are we being such good stewards, we deserve even more?

No

No

and that would be another, big fat no.

every good course direction begins with a sound foundation...and then you must work at it, sticking to the principles that made it a sound foundation in the first place.

perhaps it's a pair of misguided loyalties that jeopardizes our being beyond blessed as a nation --  

1. idolizing things other than God

2. replacing God with government

As Morris says, "Materialism takes a good thing that God gives us and makes it the ultimate thing...[and a few pages later, adding] God's love, for example, doesn't feel valuable in a world that only measures what we can see and visibly measure."

wow.  mind.  blown.

And with the direction we are going with all this new found love for what is surely the mass corruption of American society under socialism, it's no wonder God is growing more and more irrelevant in the making of this brand new world.   

It isn't a great secret that both communism and socialism despise religion -- and especially the Judeo-Christian foundation laid down from America's beginning. As The Naked Communist explains, "the Communist intellectual believes that everything in existence came about as a result of ceaseless motion among the forces of nature.  Everything is a product of accumulated accident.  There is no design.  There is no law.  There is no God.  There is only matter and force in nature."  And in a paragraph later, quotes Ludwig Feuerbach: "The turning point of history will be the moment man becomes aware that the only God of man is man himself."

oh boy.

really, everything about socialism is ungodly:  it takes away the joy of good stewardship...the owning of property and the spending of our earnings wisely, the sharing of one's blessings with others by giving generously, the discipline of saving money and living within our means...all by virtue of everything being reduced and redistributed in order to create this uber-utopian even-steven playing field through the policies of an oppressive government which only aims to control every aspect of our lives.

Nothing is owned individually, nothing is owned by God, and everything is owned under the not-so-divine government... because anything other than that would just be unfair.   waaaaahhhh

um.  no, thank you.

you know, having read the entire book of Beyond Blessed just this past Sunday afternoon, fresh in my mind is perhaps a bold answer to where we go from here:  we all start tithing, like, yesterday, and see what happens.

And then there's this news, coming from the highest court in all the land; seems proper stewardship meeting up with historic preservation is crumbling our foundation on a couple of cornerstones.  

Beginning of the end anyone?

Back to how this day all began, being a wee bit too big for our britches, it would behoove us to pay attention to what we idolize and how we got here.  It wasn't just a flip of a switch, mind you; it was the slow plow through the field once covered with the Tree of Life, with roots that grew wide and long and strong and deep, in the company of productive, blossoming, seedlings, born in It's image,  and fully recognizing the glory of everlasting truth and the bounty of unwavering faith.

First fruits, people, first fruits.

I hope it's not too late.   

The tithing of first fruits will not only solve all our troubles individually, we will collectively grow to be the best and the brightest good stewards on God's Great Earth; because, in our heart of hearts, we all know, IT IS ALL GOD'S ANYWAY.  Let's get this first fruits phenomenon off the ground, shall we?

There is an absolute connection we make, or break, with God in our every day, from one moment to the next; how we choose to relate with God not only matters, it's the ONLY THING that matters.  The sooner we get that, the sooner we will live beyond blessed, once again, as a whole, as a nation, as a people who truly believe, In God We Trust.

blog #985, sealed and delivered with gratitude for one amazing gift of Spirit, Pastor Robert Morris.  

Make it a Good Day, G