You cannot outgive God!

One of the lasting memories that I carry from my adolescence, concerns my late father. We were a "churchgoing" family and, in the congregation to which we belonged, most people, including the Ross family, gave their offering in special envelopes. These, my mum and dad filled each Saturday evening, one for each of them, and one each for me and those of my siblings who were old enough to attend the worship service.

I recall, clearly, one specific Saturday. I don't know if there had been some additional, and perhaps unexpected, household expense during that week, or coming up in the week ahead, but my mum told my dad that they would have difficulty putting the usual amounts in the church offering envelopes. However, my dad had one personal pleasure - he smoked a pipe. Suddenly he said that if he did without tobacco in the coming week, the envelopes could be filled as usual. 

My mum tried to dissuade him, but he was adamant. "After all", he said, "the Lord is no man's debtor". I had never heard that particular saying before - but it has stuck in my mind for, now, some 65 years. I should add that, on the Monday evening, there was a knock at the front door. My dad went to answer it, and I could hear him speaking with someone. When he returned to the living room, he had a smile that stretched from one ear to the other! "Who was that?", my mum asked. My dad named the person. "What did he want?" my mum asked. "Nothing!" replied my dad, enigmatically! Then he put his hand into his trouser pocket and pulled out a £5 note. "Which bank", he asked, "would take a deposit of  6 shillings on Sunday, and give me £5 on Monday?" It turned out that that my dad had done some work for this other person, and had never been paid. He had accepted the loss but, that evening, he had been paid - with interest!

Many years later, as a student at the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow, the student body were addressed by Stanley Collins, the then Superintendent of the Tent Hall. His message was on the subject of tithing. I had heard the word, but it wasn't something to which I had given a great deal of thought. However, he did say something that brought me up short! He made the point that many of us had given up much to study at the BTI, and that we probably appreciated every penny we received. Then he also told us that if we received a gift of £1 (remember that this was in the latter half of the 1960s) 2 shillings belonged to the Lord - our tithe! 

I am not able to claim very much for myself, but I can say that I have tithed ever since - and eventually added a "love offering". 

One more story! I was now married and the father of two healthy children. But I was also unemployed! I had occasional teaching jobs, but nothing permanent. Three or four times each week, I would sit down to check the family finances. I didn't have a computer with a spreadsheet programme, but pen and paper did the job. I wrote down our income; I wrote down our necessary expenditure; I arrived at a balance - usually "in the red"! However, we maintained our tithes and love gifts. Then, one evening, the Lord spoke to me. "Are you going to get through this month?", He asked. "No, Lord. It looks as if we will be short." "Were you going to get through last month?" came the question. "No , Lord, it didn't look possible." "Did you get through?" A moment of thoughtful silence, then "Yes, Lord. Actually we did!". "And the month before?" "Okay. That was the same." "Has there been a month since you became unemployed , in which you were definitely going to make it?" "No, Lord." Has there been a month when you didn't make it?" Another thoughtful silence. "No, Lord. There hasn't!" "Are you getting the message?" "Yes, Lord. Your mathematics work on a different plane than mine!" Since that evening, I only check the figures when there is a change in our income. 

I can testify, from personal experience, that I - and my family - have never lost out by giving to the Lord. I think it was the late Billy Graham who said: "The Lord can do more with the 90%, than I can with 100%! As my dad said, "The Lord is no man's debtor." 

I have just applied for a job.  I have been informed that the salary is £60,000 per year (plus expenses).  I have decided that that is not a good enough package.  So, what do I do?  Being a person of reasonable intelligence, I cancel my application, and look for a job that will pay me what I consider myself to be worth!

Unless, of course, I am an Honourable Member of the Westminster Parliament!  Yesterday, I listened to the news report concerning the former Labour MP, and Minister for Europe in the B.Liar government, Mr Denis McShane, who has offered a 'Guilty' plea to the charge of having fraudulently claimed almost £13,000 in 'expenses'.  Regrettably, I didn't catch the name of the person who spoke during the report, and who seemed to be suggesting that if MPs were paid a "reasonable" salary, then there wouldn't be the temptation to fiddle their expenses!

My first thought was that £60,000 is a more than reasonable salary for the majority of the British population.  I certainly never earned that amount, or even its contemporary equivalent, at any time during my working life!  And, of course, MPs know the salary level, and other conditions, when they offer themselves for election.  The old adage has it: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!"  We might amend it slightly and inform those MPs who feel themselves to be so hard done by that "If you can't stand the heat, don't bother entering the kitchen in the first place"!

My second thought was that "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." (I Cor. 10:13).  The thing to do with temptation is to resist it!  My personal Bible reading, today, was from Luke 4 - his account of the temptations of the Lord Jesus.  Jesus resisted temptations that we will never face.  None of the rest  of us is sinless - but that doesn't mean that we have to knuckle under when the enemy of souls shouts.

Perhaps if MPs were to seek the help of God the Holy Spirit in resisting any temptation to defraud their employers (that's the taxpayers, by the way!), they might discover that He would, indeed, strengthen them to do so.  Of course, if they were to seek His guidance in all matters, the UK would be a much better governed country than it presently is!

A Tale of Two (and more) Children

In yesterday's copy of the free newspaper, The Metro, was an article advising readers that the four-year-old daughter of "Hollywood superstars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie" has landed her first film role - with a pay-packet of £2,000 per week!  I suppose that it's yet another case of "It's not what you know, but who you know, that counts"!  Oh, and there is also a mere £40 per day for "expenses".  That buys a lot of sweeties, even in these days of austerity!

Perhaps it's just me, but I found it almost obscene that any child should be considered worthy of such a financial package.  However, what makes the situation worse, in my opinion, is the knowledge of what that amount of money could do for some of the thousands of children in Syria who, as I type, are facing freezing temperatures without winter clothing, or shelter, or food.  I imagine what £2,000 per week could do for some of the millions of children, worldwide, whose life chances will be permanently damaged by the impact of childhood hunger.  I wonder how many children from Niger, and Ethiopia, and Armenia; from Bangladesh, and Zambia, and Uganda; could be sponsored with £2,000 per week.

I was, however, heartened by a brief letter to the newspaper.  It referred to the reports that a number of "celebrities" have been encouraged to pay the bill for the Rehab Clinic being attended by former football (soccer) 'whizz-kid', Paul Gascoigne, in an attempt to deal with his alcoholism.  It read: "Celebs are paying for Gazza's rehab bill.  I wish they'd do the same for people in Malawi who don't even have clean water, let alone booze."  Well said, Elfontheshelf, Helensburg.  I couldn't agree more!

I suppose it all goes to show what a crazy, upside-down, world we live in, where one already pampered child is paid a ridiculous amount, while millions of others die from starvation and malnutrition; and where there is more concern over the self-inflicted condition of one man, than over the condition in which millions find themselves, through no fault of their own!

Who's watching the children?

Although it would appear that they have not broken any of the relevant regulations, Labour's dynamic duo (no, not the Milliband boys!) of Ed Balls and his wife, Yvette Cooper, have been named by a Conservative M.P. who has asked the Standards' Commissioner to investigate claims on their expenses for almost 400 journeys - by their three children!  The accusation is that Mr and Mrs Balls have had their family's travel subsidised more than other "Honourable Members" have had for their families!

Of course, the Party machine has quickly moved into operation, and the shadow Children's minister has pointed out that the couple have to be in Parliament, and in their constituencies, each week; and asks who is supposed to look after the children if they have to leave them behind in London, or in Yorkshire?

May I be so bold as to suggest that, with two ministerial salaries in the last government, and two shadow ministerial salaries in the current parliament, together with all of the expenses that members are still able to claim, they could at least afford to employ a nanny?!  Better, if Mrs Balls feels the need to be employed, let her take up a job that would allow her to be at home with her children at least as much as the average working mother!  Best of all, she could be radically reactionist, and stay at home to look after her children by herself!

Of course, there will be those who will defend this woman's right to take on whatever job she pleases.  However, I would wish to defend the right of her children to be surrounded by a mother's love!
 
The Biblical model of the family - with the husband being the provider, and the wife being the carer - may be out of fashion in our modern secular society.  But it's still the healthiest, and the best!