Hotel Rooms, Contentment, Stewardship

Many years ago I went to a Men's Conference in Georgia. While there, I had the privilege to stay in a very nice hotel room. The hotel we had booked was overbooked and we were bumped up to an Executive Suite, the kind reserved for traveling businessmen. It had a massive bed, a desk, a couch, a plasma TV, the works.

As I entered the room, it occurred to me that this was all laid out for me. I could sit on the couch, sleep on the bed, watch the TV, use the shower, everything was at my disposal. I also at the same time realized that I owned none of it. Not. One. Thing. It all belonged to the hotel, and when my stay was done, I had to give it all back. Not only this, but I'd have to give an account for all I'd used. If the TV was broken, for example, I'd be held responsible for that.

A verse from the Bible suddenly came back to me,

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Philippians 4:12

While they didn't have hotel rooms in Paul's day per se, I think I finally uncovered that night what the secret was. The secret to being content with a lot of things or not many things at all. The secret also to being a good steward. Here it is: Nothing belongs to me. I own nothing.

The secret, for me, was to treat everything like the hotel room. God lets me stay in a nice house full of nice things. I get to sit on the couch, watch the TV, use the computer, and sleep in the bed. But I don't own any of it. It all goes back to Him sooner or later, and I'll have to give an account for what I did with His stuff.

It goes beyond mere possessions though. My wife is His creation. I get to spend this time with her, and to live with her as her spouse, but she does not belong to me. Sooner or later I must give her back to Him, and I'll be held accountable for how I treated her. The same goes with my kids. And the toughest of all?

The same goes for myself, too. I don't own this body, it's His creation. I was even bought with a price. I don't have rights over my own body, so I need to treat it with great respect and take care of it. Not for myself, but for its owner, that is God.

Something to think about.

J.D.

 

What difference can one man make?

J.D. is my great great grandfather. He was the father of my great grandmother, the mother of my grandfather, the father of my own father.

If you ask around the family what J.D. (as he was known) did the response would be, "It depends. He tried everything, he did not succeed at anything." He tried his hand at business, at labor, at farming, and probably a bunch of other occupations if what I've heard is to be believed. He never really made it at any of those things, "but" they'll say, "he made enough to feed his family." His family by the way consisted of four girls and four boys. All the girls were born first, then all the boys.

Something else about J.D. that has to be true was that he was fun. All of his kids were crack-ups, some of the most playful and fun people I've ever met (even in their 80s and 90s). That family was close. They loved each other with an unyielding loving-kindness. If you asked them what they lacked living under J.D.'s roller-coaster career of nothing they'd answer, "nothing."

J.D. wasn't a missionary and he never pastored a church. He was, however, deeply in love with Jesus Christ.

When he and the boys went out to plow or plant, J.D. would do a row, then sit them down and read to them from the Word. The Word was read often in that household and was the reference for life itself.

When the youngest son, Joseph, was born, the older daughters resented him. They had taken care of three boys already and knew one more baby boy meant only more work for them. J.D. took them aside and told them, "This boy is a gift from God, and you won't resent him so. Just for this, I'm going to name him Joseph after the son of Jacob whom all his brothers also hated. His name will always remind you of this day." What is amazing is that no one ever told "Uncle Joe" this about his namesake until his 90th birthday.

So J.D. was never successful at a worldly career, and he was never big in the church either. He didn't take his family to Russia as missionaries and he didn't pastor or anything like that. All he did was raise a godly family.

All four of his sons became preachers of the Gospel and preached all their lives (many of which got pretty close to 100). God only knows how many He saved under their preaching.

Many of the daughters (at least my great grandmother, if not all of them) went on to become godly wives and raise godly children, and I too am a product of this faithfulness.

Men, what if your mission was simply to love your wife and raise a godly family? What if you were destined by God to never be a big hit in the world, or even the church? What if the handful of folks at home were your only ministry?

They are your ministry, no matter if you are big in the world, or even big in the church. Whatever you do, they are the most important ministry in your life, even if its the only one you have. Being a good husband and father, a godly husband and father, is the most important thing you will ever do.