Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.” Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” Exodus 18:15-23
“Almsgiving is thus the wing of prayer. If you do not provide your prayer with wings, it will never fly. When, however, your soul sprouts wings, it flies immediately to heaven. How long will the love of money and the desire for possessions last? All those things, brother, last no longer than the present life. But you will say to me, “Say these things to yourself!” And indeed I do say these things to myself, and also to you, because this is advice for everybody. When I myself hear these things and amend my ways, then I am benefited by you. Even if it is a slave who says these things, I would still take the advice; and if it is a free man, I listen eagerly, because it is not a person’s station in life but the utility of the advice that makes me accept their words. For if that great Moses, who spoke with God, did not shun the advice of his father-in-law, though he was a barbarian, but to the contrary received his advice, which was confirmed by God, how much more should we? I am not telling you to give away everything you own, but from your surplus to give to the poor, so that your surplus may become the foundation of your salvation.”
John Chrysostom (347-407) in On Fasting and Almsgiving.
It’s my dad’s birthday today. Happy birthday Dad. Thanks for your sharing of your surplus all the years I watched you growing up. It proved to be the foundation of your salvation and mine too.
I saw you and mom help others in need, not so much with a hand out, but rather a hand up.
That shaped my understanding of life in God’s economy. I learned that each of us has been blessed to be a blessing. And when coupled with the words of Jethro, one person can’t do it all alone.
In today’s Scripture, Moses had to serve as the representative of the people before God.
And He also empowered others to share the load with him. This leads me to a request. The work of GTP continues to grow and the needs grow faster than we have resources.
Can you make a gift to GTP to deploy staff to grow stewards and set up peer accountability groups? Click here to give.
in the first four months of this fiscal year we will minister to workers in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Cayman Islands, Australia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Albania.
Lack of funding may cause us to postpone work in Brazil, Barbados, Grenada, Dominica, and Antigua & Barbuda.
Thanks for considering this need during Lent. Please see it as an opportunity to lay a foundation for your salvation and to give to help strengthen and empower others to grow as givers and to help ministries grow capacity.
Moses could not do everything. Ministry workers need our help like Moses did.
GTP shows them how to be good stewards who follow standards which builds out the administration and governance and positions gospel ministry to reach more people.
I wrapped up speaking and mobilizing workers in Melbourne and headed to Sydney today, city three of five on this trip.