Today’s Scripture Reading (April 8,
2015): Genesis 3
I recently
watched a documentary on Pastor Steven Furtick. The documentary, which was
produced just over a year ago, concentrated on how much Furtick is paid, and on
a house that he was building at the time of the investigation. According to the
report, Furtick was building a 16,000 square foot house worth reportedly 1.7
million dollars. But what complicated the situation was the lack of
transparency by Elevation over what it is paying Steven, and also with regard
to what his tax free parsonage allowance might be. While Steven Furtick’s
housing allowance is a mystery, we do know that Ed Young, another mega-church
pastor, is receiving a housing allowance, at least according to the report, of
$250,000. The housing allowance received by pastors has been under attack for a
while. And a large housing allowance is part of the problem. And I have to
admit that it is easy to look at Pastors like Steven Furtick and Ed Young and
point at them and say, “Get your act together, don’t you realize that you are putting
all of us pastors, and Christians, in a horrible light. Please grow up and do what
God is calling you to do.” It would be easy – I am not sure that it would be
right.
As I watched
the documentary and I felt a critical spirit rise inside of me, but I also felt
God start to check me. In full disclosure, I love to listen to Steven Furtick
preach. I have listen to Ed Young a few times, but he doesn’t quite hit me like
Steven or another one of Steven mentors, Perry Noble, does. But it would also be
easy for me to sit in judgment. I receive a tax free housing allowance as well,
but I am not quite at the $250,000 level. This year I will miss that mark by
about $240,000 – in other words my housing allowance is in the $10,000 range. I
believe in accountability, but that accountability has to start with me.
As God
started to check my heart, it was these words that I heard God ask of me –
where are you? The context of the question in Genesis 3 is that Adam is hiding
because he and Eve have done something really stupid and eaten the forbidden
fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And in a moment, Adam is
going to point his finger solidly at Eve and tell God that the fault for this
situation belongs to that “woman you put here with me” (which kind of reminds
me of an excuse of a certain ex-president of the United States). But that wasn’t
the question that God asked Adam. The question was “where are you?” I don’t
care where Eve is Adam, and I don’t care what she has done, the question is
where are you and what have you done.
And it is
that question of God that I need to answer. I need to place safeguards on my
life that are appropriate to me. Too often I want to be exactly like Adam and
talk about someone else so that the blame is shifted – but this can never be
about them, it is about me.
So I need to
hear the advice that I have given to others. Here is the unfortunate reality,
we are broken clay vessels. And every single one of us has something that we
hope never gets out. Someday we will answer for those situations. Did we guard
our heart the way that it needs to be guarded? Did we set boundaries and keep
to them? Did we honor God with our lives? But God will not ask us about the
habits of someone else – only ourselves. The only words that God will ask me is
“Where are you?” And for that I need to make sure that I have an answer.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis
4
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