Ordinary Time 
Pause
In Lord of the Rings, Frodo the hobbit complains about the times he is living in, and the sage Gandalf agrees and adds, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
We are given this time in history, no matter how you see it. And, we are all equal when it comes to TIME; all of us have 24 hours in our days, and 7 days in our weeks. But, we are not equal when it comes to MONEY and POWER.
Let us explore some ways God’s Word speaks about the inherent inequalities in our lives and how we can handle (or not) what we have.
Listen
"No household servant can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Luke 16:13
Think
I used to have an app on my phone. I played it for hours. It was fun, but after a while, I noticed that the point of the game was to get a higher level so I could play more to get to a higher level, so I could play more… Once I came to that revelation I was angry at myself and the stupid game, but then I laughed. I had been a slave to that app. I kept “feeding the monster” so that I could keep “feeding the monster.”
Jesus confronts the primary fallacy of our culture (and his). We think that money will give us happiness and fulfillment. Nope. It won’t. You would think after 2,000 years we would have figured this out.
Do we work for money, so that we can make more, so we can make more…? Do we keep “feeding the monster”? Or do we serve God?
Do we use our money (and time and talents) to further God’s Kingdom or ours? Which one of those will last?
Rock Higgins
Pray
Lord, all my time is in your hands. All my power, all my wealth, even all of myself comes from you. I play at thinking that I deserve any of this, instead of seeing that all that I have and all that I am are a gift — grace from you. Help me to use these good gifts you showered upon me, every second, every penny, every influential word, to your honor and glory this day. Amen.
Go
“When you get your, ‘Who am I?' question right, all the 'What should I do?' questions tend to take care of themselves.”
Richard Rohr, Falling Upward, 2011
The World will tell you to keep score by its rules. Define yourself by who you are in God, and the score loses its meaning.
