When is Magic NOT Magic

There’s no doubt in my mind that most people, believers or not, would like God to be more like magic. We would love for tough times, our looks, the traffic, the line we’re in, momentary crises, enormous crises, whatever… to simply change, and become better for us, in the blink of an eye. We would love to be able to just ask God to change our circumstance and see it fit with our dreams or hopes or even our desires. Instead, God works within us to change us in order to change the world. In this season, coming to the end of the calendar year, we regularly ask people to pledge for the coming year. Committing to giving provides a basis for the church to build budgets and to make serious plans, but it also does something within us. It speaks into our hearts about coming alongside God, of saying, “I’m part of God’s kingdom and I want to do my part.” That’s a good thing to tell our souls. Charlatans and penny-ante magicians have focused on leading us into giving them money in order to see their “magic.” There are plenty of ways to see our money disappear from our pocket to simply go into someone else’s. When we invest in the work of the church, on the other hand, we turn our silver and gold into life. That’s a bit of “magic” that any of us can do. We take this powerful, influential, spiritually authoritative aspect of our lives – money – and we turn it into LIFE. That’s what God wants to see us do with money. He wants us to turn our money into life. Every year we hand out an Annual Report just to take a look at the changes we’ve created here, around our neighborhood and in so many places in the world. This is the season when we talk with God and say, “Teach me how to do some more of your magic in the world… change it by changing me.” After a time of prayer, please send in your pledge. It’s more than important. Blessings, Geoff