....So what are you giving back to him?

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”

1 Chronicles 29:14

In my blog last week, I focused on the fact that everything belongs to God, nothing you own is truly yours but a blessing from God. So here’s a challenge: what are you giving back to him?

Being a student is financially challenging, but is also an amazing time to learn how to give. As a student every penny is precious and because of that we also know the importance of budgeting. How often are you willing to sacrifice one thing in order to do another? For example, do you spend less on a weekly shop in order to go on a night out? And therefore, how much more are you willing to sacrifice to the God who has given you everything?

As students we justify our lack of money as a reason not to give, when in actual fact we just don’t want to give. The first step towards changing our attitude to money is to recognise this; once we have acknowledged this, we can ask God to change our hearts.

“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few pence.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.’"

Mark 12:41-44

In the passage above, Jesus makes it quite clear, he’s not concern about the amount that we give, but the hearts that give it. The widow trusted that God was ‘El Shaddai’ The All Sufficient One. She trusted that if she gave God everything she had, he would provide for her, so she gave everything. This trust probably came from years of giving and being provided for; it probably didn’t spring up overnight, and yet we often put giving off until we have developed that trust. This trust will only develop if we put our faith in God into action. 

So here's is my advice: start small, but start somewhere. Work out what you can give and what you’re willing to sacrifice, it might mean bringing a pack-up and a thermos flask to campus rather than buying lunch, or fewer take-aways and nights out, giving up your spotify subscription and listening to the music you already own. But start somewhere and most importantly ask God to change your heart towards giving.

(This blog was originally posted on www.belfreystudents.org/blog)

Everything belongs to God...

You are rich

So often as a student I saw myself as poor, having to carefully consider what I could do due to their financial cost. I forgot that actually I am rich. You’re probably reading this off your laptop or smart phone, or maybe even a tablet. All signs of our wealth that we ignore. We have food in our cupboards (even if its the basic range) and clothes to wear, we are able to go out and socialise with friends. Yes, we have to budget, yes we have to turn down opportunities, but no, we are not poor.

Whilst as students we don’t really earn a salary, most of you will either have a student loan or receive money from your parents and I’m suggesting that you start to think of that as your income. It is a gift from God.

If you receive a student loan of £3500, you are in the top 25.09% richest people in the world. That means that 74.91% of the global population are financially poorer place than you. So stop comparing yourself against those who are richer than you, and start seeing what God has blessed you with, start being grateful that you have money to budget, rather than ungrateful because you have to budget.

God has blessed you with so much, and yet how often do we say “Is that all?” Everything you have belongs to God, it is a blessing from him, but when was the last time you gave anything back to him?

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”

1 Chronicles 29:14

The verse from 1 Chronicles comes after David calls upon the Israelites to give gifts to God to build the temple, and I love that David recognises the dependency of the Israelites on God for wealth and material goods. Over the next week I would like to challenge you to also ask God for this outlook upon your material wealth, remember that everything comes from God, and that he has richly blessed you. Rather than watching the bank balance decrease, focus on thanking God as you spend your money.

Also, if you have the time, work out your income (including maintenance loans/grants) and check out this website to compare yourself against the rest of the globe.

This is the first in a two part series, if you want to be challenged further read ....so what are you giving back to Him?

(This blog was originally posted on www.belfreystudents.org/blog)

A Day of Rest

When I started my degree, I can remember being challenged to take a ‘rest day’ from my studies. Unfortunately, I thought I knew better, I was a chemistry student, and didn’t they realise I had to study at every available moment? However, the person that challenged me pointed to the biblical teaching on this. Genesis 2:2-3 says:

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

And also the fourth commandment, Exodus 20:8-11

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all you work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor any male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your town. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in it them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

I then started to try and put into place a day of rest, not because I felt like I was commanded to, but because I felt it was important. I still did things which the Pharisees would have taken to be ‘work’, for example a food shop, but I enjoyed a lazy morning, studied God’s work, something that for the rest of the week often had a time limited, and just enjoyed resting. 

So, I want to encourage you to do try and take a day of rest a week. I know there are many arguments not to, but as well as being a style of living commanded by God, I also believe it is beneficial to your health and is also an amazing witness. When your friends are in the midst of exam panic, it can be very difficult to take a day off, but in doing so you’re showing you’re trusting in God rather than your academic success. That you put your dependence on God, rather that on your own ability. I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t work, Exodus 20:8 says "Six days you shall labour and do all your work..." which clearly suggests that as God's people we should work hard, and that we can honour God in our studies, but we need to be careful to take the seventh day as a Sabbath, a day of rest. 

Whilst I managed to maintain a day of rest throughout the majority of my degree, I’ve recently found that I’m slipping back into not taking a day of rest. And, consequently, have been re-challenge on the importance of this. God has used several ways in order to get me to stop and listen, to wait and rest in his presence. But the way he has spoken most regularly, and with the deepest conviction, was through his word in the Bible. I’m currently doing the Soul Survivor Bible in a Year, and have just finished Exodus, and over and over again God stresses the importance of resting. Now I’m no longer studying, I can’t use the blanket rule of no chemistry on a Sunday, because work now takes lots of other forms. But, I’ve realised the habits I used to have for a Sunday, being able to have a prolonged time with God, study the bible more in-depth, and also just to physically rest, I’m now missing. And they’re habits I want to get back into.

So, I challenge you: this week re-organise your diary, arrange to schedule your work into 6 days not 7, and take up a day of rest. You can work out what you count as ‘work’ and what is ‘rest’ and make sure you take a day off. 

(This blog was originally posted on www.belfreystudents.org)

Final Year Fears

It's coming to the end of my final 'student' summer. Next summer I should be starting (or at least looking) for a job. Gone will by the days of reading papers, and jumping through academic hoops. By this time next year, I'll have graduate, and I'm terrified.

In less than 12 months I'll have ended my journey on the road of education. I've learnt to read and count, I've learnt facts and figures, I've learnt how to revise and pass exams, I've learnt social skills (well....I've tried to!) I've learnt about who I am as a person and what I enjoy to do, I've developed skills and discovered my strengths and weaknesses. But despite all this, I have no idea WHAT I'm going to do next.

So here I am, I've managed to delay the decision making year till now, I've seen my friends decided what they are going to do next, whether they've got jobs or continued in education. And I'm none the wiser.

But despite being terrified, I know God's in control. I know he's got a plan for my life, a plan that is perfect. Because God knows what makes me tick, he knows me better than I even know myself. I know that he will reveal his plan for me, he'll make a path for me to walk along, and while it may not be an easy path, I know it'll be the best one for me. I just need to listen to him and work it out.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding:

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight."

Proverbs 3:5-6

Reflections

I've not blogged for a while, because I've not felt like it. And yet, there are so many things I feel I should blog about. I'm currently sat at home, and I'm meant to be working, listening to the Rugby. My sister travels out to South Africa next weekend, so I'm home to see her for the last time in three and a half months. 

Which is making me think about my own trip to Uganda in the summer, all I learnt, and all the things I wanted to change about myself, which I haven't. But, I wonder how have I changed, because I know I am different to the person I was seven months ago when I arrived in Uganda, I know I am different to the person I was before I left home and came to York. And now, as I've reached the halfway point of my third year I wonder what God has in store for me in the future. 

Next year will be different, I'll be a masters student, so I'll have a different student experience than I've been enjoying for the last three years. I'll be living with new people, and a lot of my friends will no longer be in York. I don't know what I'll be doing my research in, where I will be living, but I know that God knows. And that gives me hope. 

I still don't feel close to God, but I still know he's part of my life, I know that he's in control, and he knows what I'm currently feeling. Since my blog 'Deserts and Doubts' I've discovered a new song, whilst I cried the first time I listed to it, it now gives me strength to face each day and helps me to remember whatever is happening God is in control. 

"This is my prayer in the desert

When all that's within me feels dry

This is my prayer in my hunger and need

My God is a God who provides."