Graduation Counsel (Daily Reflections on Prov. 6:20-23)

Graduation time is always exciting. Donning the cap and gown. Marching down the aisle to "Pomp and Circumstance." Traversing the stage as your name is called to receive THAT diploma. Flipping the tassel or being hooded. Tossing the cap as the ceremony closes. Embracing loved ones who greet you with congratulatory remarks. It's all exciting! You did it!

I can remember all three of my graduations, although I confess it's a little more hazy with age. In high school after everything was over it was a race to get from the football field back to the check in station in the school to turn in our robes and get our actual diplomas. Since I was pretty fast in those days, I was one of the first. There was no hanging around and hugging classmates. It was get in and get out as fast as possible. I was in an out so fast that I beat my parents back to my house for the reception being held in my honor.

At my college graduation, I will never forget that my parents had to leave immediately because my grandmother's house was on fire. I had to finish to packing my things and all my fish and tanks. (I used to raise tropical fish in college.) By the time I got packed and made the 60 mile trip, her house was nothing but a crispy critter. My grandmother at the time was in Tennessee, recouping from a broken hip. We were able to drag a few things from the embers, and I was so grateful that my bass amp, which I had taken over days before graduation was spared any damage.

By the time my Masters graduation came, I was married with children. Having my wife and daughters there is about the only thing I really remember. Hanging out with my parents and family was more meaningful at that time than it was seventeen years prior and getting out of high school.

I couldn't wait to get out of high school. I had moved my senior year and missed my friends with whom I had carved out life from grade school. I moved back to "my" hometown to find work within two weeks of graduating and never lived at home again. 

I remember how weird it was sitting on that plane, waving good-bye to my folks, knowing that I was leaving the nest. I was now on my own. It was a pretty daunting thought. You can't wait to get out, but once you're on your own the reality can be frightening.

Making your own way in the world is a challenge. Even though you've had plenty of counsel growing up, you are bound to make mistakes; sometimes major mistakes. Everyone makes them. I made them. You made them or will make them. It's the hard elements of life. They say we learn from our mistakes. My observation is that some do and some don't. Some of us are prone to keep making the same mistakes over and over again. If only we had the assurance that everything, every decision, every move we made was the right one in advance.

Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived actually gives us some counsel that will help us in choosing the right path. In Proverbs 6 he advises, My son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction. Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck. When you walk, their counsel will lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up, they will advise you. For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light; their corrective discipline  is the way to life.

Solomon is talking about Godly instruction from your parents that teach you Godly principles for living. He's saying that we need to incorporate those principles into our everyday life. If we do, then more than likely we will be able to choose the right path, the right actions, say and do the right things that will profit us. It's the incorporating of those principles that will form and shape our character. You won't have to question whether something is right or not because  those principles are second nature to you, they are part of you. 

As you set out to conquer your world upon graduation, grabbing hold of God's principles will serve you well. You are free from household rules, but you are not free from consequences of your actions. Many just want to run wild once they leave the safety of the nest. To those I would say, you will soon find out that the principles that God lays out are the most solid, profitable, beneficial ones you could wrap your life around.

God, thanks for sharing your wisdom for living life with us. Thanks for demonstrating it through your son, Jesus. Thanks for granting us Your Word and Your Holy Spirit to guides and instruct us. Thanks also for forgiving us and helping us find our way back to the right path.

Confessions of a Worrier (Daily Reflections on Lk. 12:22-34)

It's easier said than done. "Don't worry," they tell you. Right. That's a lot like telling water, "Don't run down hill." Just like gravity, worry seems to be a natural force of nature over which we have no control. Be assured, worry is a force. It has the power to consume you. It can raise your blood pressure, give you sleepless nights, shape your thoughts, create a variety of other emotions and do incredible damage to your psyche. I know because it does that to me.

I know that Jesus said not to worry. I know that the Father clothes the lilies of the field more elaborately than Solomon. I know that He feeds the birds of the air. I even know that I'm more valuable than birds and that He has the hairs on my head numbered. I believe that. I am trying my best to seek first His Kingdom and His Righteous, and for the most part I believe that He has added things to my life. However, that doesn't seem to stop me from worrying.

Right now, my worries are of a personal nature. I'm worried about finances. I'm worried about if and where God wants to use me. I'm worried for my kids and their recent moves. I'm worried about my granddaughter. I'm worried about my aging mother who lives more than a day's drive from me. I'm worried about my own value and sanity. I'm worried because God seems silent to my prayers for directions.

I'm sure none of you have any such worries. I'm sure that it's easy for you to put aside your worries. I'm sure that your able to trust in God completely and any anxiety is washed away and things are right in your world. Okay, maybe not. Maybe you're like me. You get depressed and frustrated and angry and melancholy. You can't see God working in your situation even though you pray and pray and pray. You read your Bible and go to church, but nothing seems to be resolving the issue of your worry. Then you feel guilty for worrying or worse unworthy of God's attention. You start to wonder if God really cares. Maybe He's punishing you for something in your past. Maybe He really doesn't exist.

I don't know about you, but I find that worry gets the better of me when I realize that I have no control whatsoever. I can't make things happen. I can't make things go away. I can't speed time up to see the future or make it go backward and change things that might correct my predicament. I'm not a very patient person, so waiting for things to resolve or even to give God time to work things out His way only exacerbates my worry.

Another observation I've made when I'm consumed with worry is that I become pretty self absorbed. I can really only see things that deal with me and my situation. It's not that I'm incapacitated completely that is, but my tunnel vision comes back again and again making it hard to relax, enjoy life and other people.

I keep going back and reading this passage out of Luke 12. I hear the words. I memorize the words, but somehow I can't seem to make my worry go away. I ask myself, "Don't you believe that God is big enough to handle your issues?" "Hasn't He handled things for you in the past?" "Aren't you being selfish?" "Don't others have a lot worse things than you?

I realize that this is an exercise in faith. I recognize that I really don't have control of the world or people or events around me. I can't make anyone do what I want or anything happen the way that I want. It forces me to live in a total dependent state. Faith also isn't about getting what I want or living without hardship. It's about living in those uncertain, uncontrollable times when you can't see a positive resolution anytime soon.

God, Help! I feel lost and abandoned. Can't you show me a pillar of fire to follow or open a Red Sea before me? Can't you speak to me from a burning bush or any bush for that matter? Can't you throw a little manna my way? I confess that worry has seized me. Please release me from this worry bout! I'm doing my best to trust you, to rest in you, to seek You and Your Kingdom. I need your reassurance. I need to see your hand move in my behalf. I need to feel your presence upon me and around me. Help me to keep moving toward you and strengthen my belief. Show me the path to take. Open the doors before me and close the ones behind me.

Detours, Directions and Devices (Daily Reflections on Prov. 16:1-9)

GPS devices are life savers. Almost everyone has access to one via a smart phone, a portable unit or now built into their vehicle. What did we do before them? I'm old enough to remember! We used things called maps. You could pick them up in gas stations or rest areas. I used to have my glove boxes in the car full of them from different states. They worked wonderful as long as you knew where you were. But unfolding them out in the car while you were driving could be more dangerous than glancing down at your smart phone while zipping down the highway.

It also helped if you had someone with you who could read a map. I can remember as a kid that my mom would navigate with map in hand as my dad would mostly follow her directions. We usually got to our destination point without any problem. In fact, my parents would give us a map to follow along on our journey. It taught us how to read a map and cause us to quit asking that age ol' annoying question, "how long till we get there?" 

However, if the person with you couldn't read a map, like my wife, things got a little more challenging, frustrating and even led to a few heated exchanges. I confess on more than one occasion I would grab the map away from my wife and try to decipher where we were and how to get to the place we were going. Even though I knew I needed to memorize the route ahead of time, there were always those things that detoured our path and unclear road markings.

Now I don't go anywhere unfamiliar without a navigation device. I prefer the turn by turn voice models/apps. The ones with pictures of the arrows pointing to the lane I need to be in are even more helpful. I love it when my GPS device tells me of traffic delays or unfavorable road conditions ahead and offers an alternative route, or when the road is out or closed and I have to reroute my path. Oh it's true that I occasionally get into an argument with my TOMTOM and question where it's taking me, but normally that's when I know which way I want to go and it's trying to take me a different way. Ok, there have been times when TOMTOM was right and I was, well let's just say, "off course." It's at that point when my wife usually says something like, "If you are going to use that thing, why don't you follow it's direction?" My response to her is...! I hate it when she's right.

Generally before a trip I try to map out my journey using the google maps app on my iPhone or iPad to get an idea of what roads to take and get an idea of how long the trip should take. I usually have a pretty good idea of where I'm going before I ever start. But without the turn by turn navigation of a GPS device, I sometimes get lost and have difficulty recovering my path. It can be pretty frustrating when you have no idea where you are and how to get to where you want to go.

Although Solomon didn't have access to a GPS device, he did have the wisdom to point us to a solid path to follow. In Proverbs 16:1-9 he talks about getting on the right path and staying on the right path. There is a tendency for all of us to choose a path on our own and blindly set out in a direction we think will get us to what we want. We make our plans, carve out where we want to go and then pursue that path only to discover that there are hardship, disasters, detours, rugged conditions and dead ends. Solomon suggests that instead of running off in some direction on our own, that we plan our route out ahead of time with God. That is the safest, most reliable, most profitable, most beneficial path we could take. Following that path doesn't mean we won't run into any hardships. In fact God allows some hardship for us to strengthen us and our faith and to form us into what He wants us to become.

However, many of us, even though we have turn by turn navigation through the Holy Spirit, do exactly what I sometimes do with my navigation device, and ignore the direction being given. We assume we know where we are going only to get lost or "off course" with no idea of how to get back. Solomon says that we can make our own plans, God does give us free choice. But God gives the right answers, he directs our steps.

If you're feeling a little off course, lost, frustrated, confused or disoriented, I suggest plugging in, turning on God's GPS system. Listen in. Open His Word. Seek out His Spirit. Cry out! Focus in on praising Him and drawing close to Him. Soon you will begin to see the right path again and your spirit will be lifted. There is nothing like finding your way back to familiar territory. He's calling you back to His path of righteousness.

God, why am I so independent and so stubborn sometimes? I take off in my own direction without consulting you, listening to you, following you. I am so arrogant sometimes thinking I know where I/we should go on my own. I leave you behind or quite frankly just shut you off completely. God, I want to stay focused on your path. I don't want to wander off it. Keep me aligned with Your Holy Spirit. Direct my steps daily.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness? (Daily Reflections on Prov. 21:21)

It's in our constitution that all men are created equal and are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There you have it, God has given me the right to live my life anyway that brings me happiness. Well, that's seems to be the interpretation by many, but I'm not sure that that was the intentions of Jefferson and the crafters of the constitution. "It's all about me and what I want" seems to have developed in more recent years. So people argue today that since I have the right to pursue what makes me happy, nothing that brings me happiness should be excluded and you don't have any right to impose your values on me.

Further more happiness or the pursuit of happiness is defined as anything that makes me happy. If it makes me happy, it shouldn't be against the law or immoral or...do you see where this is going? Cultural trends shift rapidly. In less than a generation cultural opinions can tip to polar opposites. Some chalk it up to social evolution or enlightenment. The pursuit of happiness has power.

For many the pursuit of happiness is a way to find real life. So for many the pursuit of happiness is about the pursuit of wealth, power, status, material possessions, pleasure or self gratification. People kill themselves trying to get any or all of those things. We work long hours, overextend our finances, sacrifice family or family priorities, or engage in questionable activities. Charles Swindoll has said, "we have become a generation of people who worship our work...who work at our play...and who play at our worship."

But Solomon gives us some better advice if we really want to find real life. Instead of pursuing what we think will bring us happiness and thus real life, Solomon says, "Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor." (Prov. 21:21) If we really want to find real life, real prosperity and real honor, then we should pursue righteousness and unfailing love. It's not about self. It's about pursuing God, Godly living and Godly loving. What does that look like?

It means that our energies become centered on understanding God, His principles and practices. Hanging around a church service will help catch a glimpse of God, but we won't really understand Him until we actually dig into His Word on our own, studying and meditating upon it, closely examining His practices and ways. But pursuing righteousness and love also means employing those principles and practices in our own life. Godly living and Godly loving are simply enacting those principles and practices through the investment of our lives into others. Authors Hugh Halter, Michael Frost, Alan Hirsch, Lance Ford and others have suggested that pursuing righteousness and love is really about incarnating Jesus through our lives or in other words following the example of Jesus in serving/blessing people in practical ways. Pursing righteousness is not about trying to live a perfect sinless life. It's about letting Jesus live His life out in us.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs have always intrigued me. How do I get to that final level of self actualization? It isn't focusing on self, self needs, or self gratification ironically. It's actually doing exactly what Solomon says in Proverbs 21, pursuing  righteousness and love and that is spelled in pursuing God, Godly living and Godly loving.

God, I confess I find myself focusing my energies on self fulfillment or self gratification most of the time. I know that that is an empty pursuit. I know that I feel a greater fulfillment, inner peace, joy, rich, etc when I've poured myself out into others in your behalf. I have a greater sense of respect and honor from others when I humbly and genuinely serve others. I want to be more like Jesus. Empower me. Coach me through your Spirit. Keep my eyes focused on Kingdom things and not earthly or selfish things.

KEEP CALM AND... (Daily Reflections on Ex. 14:5-31)

Perhaps you've seen the signs, bumper stickers or T-shirts that depict a crown with the words, "Keep Calm And" then some other statement like, "Carry On" or "Chive On" or "Eat a Cookie". The latter part of the phrase could be almost anything and doesn't even have to make sense. In fact some I've seen border on the ridicules and even profane. Even the Christian paraphernalia marketers have gotten in on this fad. I'm sure to a stressed out world this "Keep Calm" craze is appealing. However, it drives me absolutely nuts. Perhaps because it goes against my charge ahead, Type A personality that I dislike those phrases. I also don't like the phrases, "Chill Out" or "Take a Chill Pill" either. And whoever started the phrase, "Chillax"...well, anyway where was I.

Everyone recognizes the need to stay under control or calm in those heated moments of stress or intensity or high pressure, but very few actually do it. Oh it's easy to stay calm lounging at the beach or viewing the majesty of a serene mountain lake. But staying calm behind the wheel in a driving rainstorm during heavy rush hour traffic in a strange city when you don't really know where you are going is a different story. Under those circumstances you find yourself yelling at the inanimate feminine GPS voice on your navigation device.

We live in a high pressure, high stress world. Time demands, business demands, parenting demands, financial demands, relational demands, personal demands compound upon each other stretching us to our limits. Even getting everyone out the door and on time in the morning can become such an ordeal that we get to work in an already frenzied state of mind. Too often we find ourselves either reaching for a couple extra shots of caffeine to keep us going at a high level of efficiency or reaching for glass of wine or some other alcoholic beverage or our medicine cabinet to calm us down.

Reading through Exodus 14 I was reminded of the stress and oppressive  circumstances facing the children of Israel who were in slavery in Egypt. They were crying out for deliverance, but when it came it seemed to them a much worse fate. I'm sure as they initially headed out of Egypt with the chariots on their tales they felt like they had gone out of the proverbial frying pan into the fire. I don't have to speculate about this because the text says they were screaming at Moses, 10 As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, 11 and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? 12 Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’”

We've all been there. Just when we thought things or the pressure couldn't get any worse, something else happens to make our lives or our situation seem hopelessly impossible. That's when we crack, break down, cry out, blurt out in anger or fall into deep depression. Verse 10 says it, "they looked up and panicked." And their response was typical, "can't we just go back to being miserable." That is ultimately what the Israelites were saying to Moses.

If I were one of the Israelites that day, I probably would have found myself on the side that wanted to strangle Moses. As I often said, "Oh ME of little faith." Sometimes even following God seems like you've gone from the frying pan into the fire. And our immediate response is almost always, "how am I going to solve this or get out of this." We start analyzing things from our abilities or resources or perspective. We may cry out, but we do so in panic mode, still trying figure out how to get ourselves out of our difficult situation.

It's in those hopelessly impossible situations that God often does His best work or His glory is best seen anyway. Looking closely again to what happen intrigues me. Moses tells them to stop freaking out. Don't be afraid of this massive, well trained army bearing down on you. I know easier said then done. Fear is a crippling. It refocuses your attention so much on the potential harm that you can't think, act, or often reason properly. It even causes us to take our attention off of God. 

Moses goes on to tell the people to just stand still and watch. Watch what? Watch God begin to do His thing. It must have been weird for the Israelites to watch that pillar of fire that had been before them raise up, drift overhead and then settle in between them and the Egyptian army. The Israelites weren't out of danger but now they had a glimmer of hope.

The New Living Translation says in verse 14 that Moses said, "The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm." There it is, "stay calm." I can hear the Israelites now, "Yeah Right." However, the NIV says, "be still" and New American Standard Bible  says "while you keep silent."  I might not have been so diplomatic if I were Moses. I would have more likely said something like, "Shut up and stop your whining." But I confess that Moses was probably more Godly than I am. The point is that when you are in panic mode and just gibbering you really can't see that God is actually working. You have to be still for a moment, cease your striving as Ps. 46:10 says and know that He is God. When we are so freaked out by our circumstance, we have a tendency to squeeze out the voice of God or see Him moving.

So under this extremely tense situation, Moses has said, dump the fear, slow your motor down and watch for God to do His thing. Then God tells both Moses and the people to do something strange. He tells them to get moving! Moving? Where? Away from the Egyptians means moving toward the Red Sea and there are no boats there. Here's the deal, God is telling the people to move away from the trouble and go forward from where they are. God also told Moses to hold up his staff over the water and a way would be provided. 

When I played football my running back coach always told me look for the hole and run to daylight. He was basically saying let your blockers do their job. Don't watch what they're doing or zero in on your opponents. Watch for the open opportunities and run hard and fast toward those. I soon discovered that if I stayed in the backfield and tried to juke the oncoming tacklers I was tackled in the backfield and found myself on the bench. But when I did what the coach told me, I always picked up positive yards.

When the people did just what God told them to do and let Him do His thing, they were not only saved, delivered, rescued, they saw a miracle of God. He totally destroyed the Egyptian army before their very eyes and not a single arrow was flung, spear tossed or sword drawn. In fact, not a single person in the Israelite camp were harmed. Amazing! God smashed the world's most powerful army of its day with simply His breath.

God, I need to feel your breath upon me and around me right now. I seem to get so caught up in all the stressors and pressures of life that I find myself in panic mode all too often. Help me put aside my fears, to slow my motor down long enough to see Your hand at work. I don't want to be a whiner, Lord. I want to simply follow your path. Show me the open path so that I can run to daylight, your daylight. I want to see your glory and bring you glory through my life.

Passing on Values (Daily Reflections on Prov. 23:15-18)

Becoming a grandfather has caused me to do a little reflecting. Images of my girls when they were little pop into my mind frequently. I begin to question how well I did as a parent really investing in my kids and did I portray Godly values consistently before them. I just thank God for their mother that my girls have grown to be Godly women. 

Reading through Proverbs, one gets the sense that Solomon is almost writing to his own kid. He refers often to "young man/men" or even "my son." It's like Solomon tried to write down things that would help his son keep on the right path, do the right things and be an outstanding young man. If only Rehoboam had read and adhered to the writings of his wise father. I wonder if Israel would have split into two kingdoms. I wonder if idol worship would have crept into both kingdoms or even if the people would have had to suffer through captivity. We will never know because apparently either Rehoboam never read or decided not to adhere to his father's teaching.

There is another possibility. It has been said that in parenting, especially regarding values and practices, more is caught than taught. Looking at the lifestyle and practices of Solomon at the end of his life, one will see a quite different Solomon than when he assumed the throne and wrote those words of wisdom. Unfortunately Solomon himself did not adhere to his own words at the end of his life. It is no doubt that Rehoboam simply adopted many of the patterns and practices of his dad's latter life. 

The old adage, "Practice what you preach." has great relevancy when it comes to parenting or even discipling someone. It is true that more is caught than taught. If your lifestyle or daily practices do not match what you proclaim, then you are not just a hypocrite, you proclaim your actual beliefs. Just because you say you belief something, doesn't mean that you actually belief it. Your actions do speak louder than words and reveal the truth about you. 

As a parent, I pass on the values that I live and practice, not what I spout. And just because I show up at church on a somewhat regular basis, does not mean that I'm living the values that Jesus taught and I verbally espouse. Wow! That's a heavy load to think about. It is important to teach your kids Godly principles and truths. But it is also another thing to live them. It is easy to say that we should care for others, the poor, widows and orphans, sick, naked, etc. But if we as a family never spend anytime actually helping people, then we have just told our kids that Jesus didn't mean that we should help people in need. If we spend all our time on us and never spend time giving to others, then we have told our kids that life is all about us. If we never reach out to unchurch, unsaved neighbors in genuine friendship like Jesus did, then we tell our kids that eternal for others and loving our neighbors are unimportant.

Maybe it's time to do a little reflecting on our own. Take a hard look at your life. Are you reflecting the values that you really want to pass on? Are you demonstrating to your kids what it means to live a Godly life? A Godly life not a perfect life. Are you really pursing God with everything you've got and relying on the Holy Spirit to guide you daily?

God, even though my girls are now young women, I want to reflect your glory, your principles, your truths in my life even more. I want them and my son-in-laws and now my grandchild to catch the value of serving you and being faithful until death from me. I am asking your Holy Spirit to continually mold me after your will. Thanks for forgiving my imperfections and tendencies to drift from you. Thanks for continually restoring me. Give me your wisdom as a parent.

The Sneaky Grip of Greed (Daily Reflections on Luke 12:13-21)

As a pastor, sometimes you face some interesting, bizarre challenges in working with people in your congregation. It hasn't been uncommon following a death of a loved, especially a last surviving parent, that the adult children come to me and want me to tell their sibling(s) how to divide their parent's estate. On one occasion I received a call from one such surviving adult child telling me that I should call that person's brother and tell him to return a piece of furniture that rightfully belonged to them, and then proceeded to tell me all the reasons. The mother who passed and both the children were active members in our church. The issue was causing a major rift in the family and had become so divisive that they were no longer speaking to each other.

I don't believe that my response was what that person was looking for when they called me. The mother who had just passed was a godly, fun-loving women who could be very direct when she needed to be. I loved her and loved being around her. She had passed away unexpectedly. She was full of life and very active even though she was well advanced in years. She had a quick wit and a poignant way of getting her point across. So I simply replied, "You both are solid believers in Christ and I'm sure your mother would certainly have something to say to you both. What do you think she would say to you both right now?" That was the end of the conversation and they resolved the issue.

Sometimes the quest for material possessions get the better of us. The Bible word for that is greed. Even people who are mostly generous can get caught in the grip of greed. I'm not talking about envy or jealousy or even selfishness. I'm talking about pure, unadulterated greed; that deep, insatiable desire to have more and more and more.

We adopted a puppy about 8 months ago who has gone through all the puppy growing stages. It is funny to watch him because he is not satisfied having just one toy in his mouth at a time. Often times he has two or even three in his mouth. He will even chase his ball with one or two other toys in his mouth. It get's even funnier when he has two or three in mouth and tries to drag his old sheet around that he has in his bed. He has to get them in the right order or he can't fit them in his mouth.

My wife and I laugh at our dog trying to manipulate his jaws around his toys, but it causes me to wonder what God thinks of us trying grab all the stuff we can into our little mits. Our consumer society in the west plays on those inner desires of wanting more. And even though we don't think of ourselves as greedy, we are captured by it nonetheless. 

In Luke 12:13-21 Jesus gives us a gentle but stern warning about the greed that can creep into our lives, even without us being aware. Notice that Jesus points out how our attitude can shift from just trying to be productive to getting more and more and bigger and bigger; making life about us. 

The antidote for greed is generosity! Jesus clearly states that there is a huge difference in making life about yourself and the emptiness it ultimately brings and a life that He says is rich toward God. Being rich toward God is about investing in His Kingdom, not just financially, but wholeheartedly. The nature of God is give. The nature of man is get. Remember Jesus also says here that it's not about how much a person has, greed can seize us no matter what our income level is, so we should guard our hearts. 

God, I don't want my life to be about me and getting all I can. I want it to resemble You. I want to be a giver. I want to pour myself out before You by pouring my life out to others, especially those in need. I want to be rich toward You, Lord. Help me guard my heart against those inner desires for more material things.