Author: Christopher Higgins

I have been married to Lori for over 35 years. I am dad to three grown children, Daniel, Andrew, and Becca. For over 20 years I was the Senior Pastor of First Church of Christ in Owosso, MI. Prior to that I ministered in the Northwest Indiana. I love to help people take their next steps in their faith and to help clear up the mystery that too often surrounds being a follower of Christ in their minds-"It's a relationship, not a religion."

The 5 Stages Most People Go Through When Giving

Financial Friday 11/22/19

Hi Everyone, welcome to another Financial Friday. I’m so glad that so many more of you signed up to get emails when I post new stuff. It’s good to know that someone other than my parents want to get reminders! Before I forget, I will not be posting anything next Friday as we’ll be out of town for Thansgiving.

So last week I preached a message on tithing at our church. And in it I went through a typical progression that most people go through in their journey of giving back to God sacrificially in their offerings. Since so many have asked me more about that (okay, so maybe just 3 people) I wanted to get it down in writing. There are some folks who jump right in with a biblical tithe (10%) of their income as soon as they become followers of Jesus. And that’s great and how it should be. A tithe is biblical and should be the standard for Christians. BTW I have written up a little booklet that goes into great detail about the place of tithing in the life of a Christian. It answers nearly all questions and can be picked up at church. But tithing is usually a process and there are 5 distinct stages which I have found in 25 years of ministry that most folks go through in becoming mature disciples of Jesus and generous kingdom givers. If you set out to experience the joy and blessing of significant giving, you’ll likely experience these 5 stages. And as you progress through these stages your motivation will progressively shift from self motivation to kingdom motivation.

1. TIP GIVING-In this stage you become convicted that as a Christian that you need to give. Maybe you hear a sermon or read something but you begin giving something. Now, anything we give to God and His church is a good thing. In this stage, you have taken the second most important step–you are giving something. So I don’t want to minimize anything a person gives. But I call it tip giving because it’s largely transactional. It’s giving something because you get something. And it’s usually an amount that doesn’t really stretch your faith–you really don’t notice it. Your motivation at this level is usually focused on the self. Giving at this level is not real consistent. It’s sporadic based on how you’re feeling or what’s happening in your financial life.

2. TRUST GIVING-In this second stage you are becoming more and more convicted that your giving should be consistent and not so much tied to how you feel or what else is happening in your financial world. And if you are experiencing financial struggles you’re intrigued by the concept of putting God in charge of your money. And you are becoming to become more and more interested in kingdom purposes, though you’re still mostly motivated by self. This level is more consistent and really does force you to step out on faith and trust in God to provide as you seek to put Him first. And you will likely begin to see God provide in many different ways and in many different forms. You will feel confirmation that you’re on the right track. And God gives you signs as your trust in Him grows. This is often an exciting time in the journey and, hopefully, leads you to the next stage.

3. TITHE GIVING-I called the first stage (“tip giving”) the second most important step in your journey because you just begin. The first step is often the hardest. But in this level of Tithe Giving, you will take the most significant step to move to a biblical tithe–10% of your income. This is regular and consistent giving. But it’s hard to take this step as it represents a huge step of faith. You feel the impact of this as you rearrange your budget and life to give a tithe. Likely, you will feel that you can’t afford it. And you’ll think “We can’t do that right now, but as soon as (fill in the blank) we’ll be able to tithe.” But you want to see the church grow and you’re moving from self motivation to kingdom motivation and so you just do it. You decide to take up God on his offer to test Him in this matter of tithing. And you continue to see God do amazing things in your life as you put Him first in your finances. And this will be motivation to make other changes in your finances. You also, likely, will begin to feel that you want to give more and more.

4. TESTED GIVING-Of these five stages, this one is the most difficult and many people don’t pass the test. But as you have “tested” God in His promises to provide and bless you, now God wants you to mature and grow deeper in faith. He wants your motivation to be totally off of self and what you might get from tithing and onto building His kingdom. He wants to forge you into a fully committed disciple. And so there will likely be some tests. You may have some hardships. You may not continue to see the obvious ways that God has provided and blessed you as He did in the first 3 stages. What will you do when, as Job stated, “the Lord has given, and now the Lord has taken away.” Will you still say as did Job “Blessed be the name of the Lord”? This season may last a while and can be difficult. God will still provide all your needs. But there will be times you will not be so sure about that. Yet, if you persist out sheer desire to be faithful you’ll get to the last stage to which we should all aspire.

5. TOTAL HEART GIVING-Jesus said “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” An old Nigerian proverb says “It’s the heart that gives, the fingers just let go.” At this stage your heart is 100% with Jesus. He is your treasure and your chief desire is to be faithful and give as much as possible. You’re not in the least motivated in your giving by what God will do for you or promise you or bless you with. Most people in this category (to which I only aspire right now-we’re not there yet) are blessed as they seek to simply be a trusted conduit through which God builds His kingdom through the church. And as they look back over their life as a believer they are just amazed at what God has done in them and through them. And even though they have long since ceased to be motivated by it, they are just grateful and awestruck by what God has done for them as well. The person who has reached this stage will readily attest to the fact that we truly cannot outgive God.

There is so much more to be said about the concept of tithing. That’s why I wrote that little booklet. And, as I said, jumping right in with a tithe should be what we all do. I have known many who have told me they did just that and they would not change a thing. Yet, these are the stages that most of us go through. We are works in progress. But I would challenge you, wherever you are in this progression, to take the next step. You absolutely will not regret it.

Five Reasons Satan Doesn’t Want You to Read These Posts & Five Reasons That You Should

Financial Friday 11/15/19

Welcome to Financial Friday! At First Church of Christ where I am the pastor we are in the middle of sermon series on biblical money management. You can check it out here. But there is so much more that needs to be said than I can fit into three sermons. So every Friday (or nearly every Friday:) I’m going to be posting thoughts, resources, and biblical instruction on how to deal with the elephant in the room of our finances. I encourage you to add your email to the list so you’ll be alerted when I have posted something new. This is my personal blog, so I also like to write about other stuff pertaining to faith and trying to live as faithful disciples of Jesus.

But let me just get this straight from the start: I am in no way, shape, or manner any kind of expert or guru on this subject. That thought is laughable. In fact, I’m just going to be straight with you that much of what I know about this subject has come from my mistakes. I have, however, made much progress by God’s grace and patience over the years. Most of us have a lot of room to grow and mature in this area. But it’s so important that we do. So I don’t write this to imply I have “arrived” in this matter of financial management. I have, however, learned a lot over the years as Lori and I have struggled to overcome several years of making bad money decisions. The effects of mistakes in the area of money management are not usually quickly or easily overcome. So, I do have a lot to say in this area based on some things we have done right as well as a lot of things we have done wrong. Okay? Am I clear. We’re all learners here. There are many, many resources by folks you can access as well. I’ll be sharing some of these with you. But the first one I would point to is Dave Ramsey. He has daily emails you can sign up for as well as whole lot of free resources and wisdom. But sometimes listening to him makes me feel like there is no hope for me! Have you ever felt like that? So that’s why I invite you to join me in the journey to blessing, peace, confidence, preparedness, godliness, and kingdom building. We’re fellow travellers!

So with all that understood I want to share with you in this first Financial Friday post what I think is the most important thing you need to know–Satan is real and he does not want you to read these posts. And here are five reasons for that as well as five reasons you absolutely must read them.

1. Satan hates your guts and wants more than anything to keep you from pleasing God and experiencing freedom from bondage. The apostle Peter reminds us that Satan is a lion just prowling around seeking to devour those who love God. He wants nothing for you other than your total defeat and destruction. This is why it’s so hard to make any positive change, especially with our finances.

2. Satan wants to destroy your marriage. If you are married that is the enemy’s goal. Nearly every conflict and argument leading to marital strife can be traced back ultimately to two things: money and sex. When I do premarital counseling for couples getting married I talk about this a lot. Unfortunately I get the sense that they don’t really listen because of course they will be different….than nearly every other married couple. Not. The reason Satan wants to destroy your marriage is because marriage according to Paul in Ephesians is meant to be a living, breathing symbol of the relationship between Christ and the church. There’s only One person Satan hates more than you and that’s Jesus.

3. Satan will do anything to hinder, halter, and interfere with the growth of the church, the Kingdom of God. And so he wants you to be always mired in debt with no savings for emergencies, no plan for retirement, and no idea what the Bible really teaches about giving. And this is quite simply so that we will not give to the church making it stronger, more effective, more life changing, and more glorifying to God. But, of course, Jesus wants the church be built and He is building it through us! And to do that resources are needed. That’s why Jesus talked a lot about our attitude and our handling of material resources! He wants His church to grow and He wants you to experience the joy of being an integral part of that!

4. Satan does not want us to grow in our faith and become more mature, faithful, and devoted followers of Jesus. According to Jesus “where our treasure is, there will be our hearts also.” Jesus wants our hearts. He wants all of us. He wants to be Lord over every part of our lives. So giving and being faithful with our finances is a matter of discipleship. Jesus tells us in Matthew 28 that our mission is to “go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing and teaching them to obey” all that He taught. And, again, Jesus taught a whole lot about money. Satan does not want us to be obedient in this because he hates Jesus and he hates your guts (see #1).

5. A fifth reason Satan does not want you to read these posts or do anything which will bring peace, stability, and faithfulness to your finances is because he loves chaos. Like the Joker in the Batman movies he loves chaos, disorder, and strife. This is the word that describes the financial lives of many of us at one time or another–chaos. And, yet, Jesus wants peace for us. And there is nothing like getting on a path and a plan which will lead us away from chaos and toward toward financial peace.

So these are just 5 (there are many more) reasons that Satan does not want you to read these posts. For the 5 reasons that you should make sure to read these posts please refer to the 5 reasons that Satan does not want you to read them.

Contending for the FAITH

In a little noticed, obscure corner of the New Testament is a tiny little letter we call the book of Jude.  It’s tucked, appropriately, right before Revelation.  A mere 25 verses long, Jude packs an important and timely message.  Penned by Jesus’ half-brother, it speaks to us as 21st century Christians in a way unlike any other part of the Bible.  It reminds us of two important things in a time when, quite honestly, it seems that the world has lost its mind with many Christians going along for the ride. 

These two reminders come in verse 3: “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.”   The picture we get is of a pastor, the shepherd of a flock, who wants to write a positive, affirming letter celebrating their common salvation.   But he is “compelled” out of concern and fear for the safety of these early Christians to write a much different letter—an ominous letter of warning pleading with them “to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints (or God’s Holy people).”  Evidently, they were in danger of falling prey to presumed Christian teachers who were “perverting the grace of God into a license for immorality.”  Not only that but they were denying Jesus Christ as the only Lord of all. 

So Jude must speak truth that probably wasn’t received well in his time and certainly isn’t received well in our culture.  But he reminds them of two things: FIRST, there does exist a “Faith” or a body of set beliefs, Truth, that originates from God Who communicates it to us through the person of Jesus Christ, the Bible, and the apostolic teaching.  This Faith is not simply something we believe.  It also speaks definitively to how we live our lives.  It shapes and informs everything about us as human beings created by God in His image.

But SECONDLY, Jude reminds them that this faith has been “once for all entrusted to us.”   This means that this Faith (what we believe and how that belief informs how we live) has not changed and isn’t open to revision based on popular opinion, shifting cultural sand, or the theological fashion of the day.  This Faith is not just contained in the “red letters” of Jesus’ words but, also, in the revelation of the rest of the Old and New Testaments.   There is a “Faith” that has been reliably passed down and entrusted to us and it does not change.  The issue which seems most on Jude’s mind involves sexual immorality and a desire to follow one’s own ungodly desires.  Yet, there many ways we sin and stray from living out this Faith.  In both things we do and things we don’t do. 

The difficult thing is this: How do we maintain and live out an unchanging Faith in a world and society where change is unavoidable and is happening whether we approve or not?  How do we “contend” for this Faith and still remain relevant as salt and light.  Jude uses this word “contend.”  It comes from the Greek word from which we get our word “agony.”  In other words, contending for this Faith will bring with it difficulty, effort, and even agony.  It is hard now, and will become increasingly difficult in the future, to contend for the Christian Faith.  And as a pastor, like Jude, I can tell you that this is an extremely hard time to be a pastor who must speak unchanging Truth in our culture.  It can be agonizing at times because not only are there people flat out denying the Faith and the Truth of Scripture regarding not only sexuality (as in Jude) but a whole host of other issues.  But there are also Christians for whom this Faith is mired in politics, nationalism, race, socio economic status, patriarchy, and a whole host of other things.   

In a world broken by sin, deceived by Satan, blinded by the gods of our culture, and heading towards the final Judgement we cannot be fuzzy or muddle headed about what the Faith is and what it isn’t.  And we cannot conflate it with other things no matter how dear those things might be to us.  Some aspects of how we go about living out this Faith may need to be changed or adapted as we seek to become all things to all people so that some might be saved.   But the actual Faith, the biblical Faith and all that it clearly teaches, is not up for revision, addition, alteration, or the like.  

But the GOOD NEWS of this is that this FAITH is absolutely worth contending for and even at times agonizing over.  And so Jude concludes his passionate letter with these words:

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

                                     

Leadings & Leanings

I recently changed providers for my website. I used to use the Google Blogger format but have switched to the WordPress format. So far I like it, but it did take a lot of time and trial and error to learn it. As of now, all the content is older stuff that I have moved over from my old site. After I have migrated all my old posts to this new format, I’ll begin putting new content on here-hopefully at the rate of one or maybe two posts a week. I would appreciate it if you would subscribe so that you’ll get email notifications when new material is posted.

I had named my old blog Leanings and Leadings: Books, life, church, music, God, motorcycles…and the intersection therein. This new blog will contain some of the same topics, but I will more so be writing about trying to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and live biblically in our confusing cultural landscape.

In any event, I don’t currently ride a motorcycle. I took a break from it about a year ago. Probably, one of these days I’ll get the riding bug again. But even though I’m not riding currently I do still like the analogy I drew between riding a motorcycle and leadership in a church or anywhere else.

So I wanted to keep the introduction to my old blog which I wrote probably about 11 years ago. It follows below:

I am calling my new blog Leadings & Leanings to reflect my thoughts on leadership, ministry, life, and motorcycling. I have been pastoring for over 20 years and have been riding for only a few years. But since I started riding I have been thinking about the similarities between riding a bike and leading a church.

So much of good leadership involves being a good follower of and listener to God. Too often we would like Him to lead us by the noses in an obvious and forceful manner. We always prefer the pillar of fire and cloud rather than the still, small voice. By nature I don’t like ambiguity and mess. But I have been in this long enough to know that life is messy and church leadership is messy. Sometimes just being a follower of Christ is messy.

Some have called leadership an art. Others have likened it to jazz. I think it’s just messy. It’s borders are not marked by clean, definite lines but by the jagged coastline of real life. And like riding a motorcycle, it’s best leaned into gradually and gracefully rather than forced or sudden. I find that when I lean more on the leading of the Holy Spirit, whether in life or ministry, than my own pushing or steering it’s more graceful and fluid. When navigating twists and turns on my Honda I do very little steering. It’s all about leaning. No sharp, sudden movement. No imposing my will. I just keep my eyes on where I want to go, lean into the curves, and let the bike lead me.

If you don’t ride this may sound strange (it may sound strange even if you do ride!). But it works for me as I enter into the second half of ministry and life. More than ever, I want to follow God’s leading and lean gracefully into the ride He has planned for me. I want to be one with He Who dwells within me. I want that relationship to be like a rider on a bike when man and machine are melded into one–working in harmonious partnership. Trusting, seeing, leaning, learning. Sometimes accelerating, sometimes braking. Always shifting gears aware of the situation.

That’s mostly what you’ll read about in this blog: my attempt to navigate the twisty road of life, ministry, parenthood, marriage, and following Jesus. And trying gracefully to lean on His leading as He takes me around the next bend in the road.

Race, Police, and Clueless White Americans (Like Me).

A couple years ago I had a very startling experience which, for many, is a common occurrence.  I was treated as a potential thief not because I did anything wrong or suspicious.  I was profiled simply because I ride a motorcycle.  Several years ago I was on my bike riding through Marshall, MI and I stopped at a gas station I had been to many times in a car.  I pulled my bike up to the pump, took my helmet off, and began to fill the tank (all 5 gallons of it) when I noticed an older female employee.  She was standing outside the door with a phone in her hand and poised to her ear.  And she just glared directly at me.  I just looked at her to make sure that I was really seeing this.  Normally I would pay at the pump but for some reason I didn’t that day and I was surprised that they turned the pump on.  But as I filled my big 5 gallon tank, she just glared at me, phone at the ready to call the authorities were I to speed away with my 5 gallons of gas.  Because, as we all know, motorcycle riders are all bad and not to be trusted.  It was bizarre.  I don’t mind telling you I was pretty annoyed at this.  I’m a pretty tame motorcycle rider–no chains, no skulls, no crossbones, no gang patches on my leathers—heck, I don’t even wear leathers.  But simply because I was on a bike, it was assumed by this lady that I was not to be trusted.  Though I wanted to say something to her when I paid, I didn’t because whatever I might have said wouldn’t have been good.  I just smiled at her and bid her a nice day which she haltingly returned.            

This came to my mind as I was watching a news report on the most recent death of an African American young man.  Much has been said lately in our society about racial profiling, racist police, and just the ever present and growing racial divide in our society.  I fear that, as a nation, we are taking huge steps backwards on this issue.  So here are my thoughts.  

First, I hope I don’t need to tell Christians that any form or racism is absolutely abhorrent to God.  Abhorrent.  To look down upon, fear, feel superior to, or treat another person differently because of their ethnicity is sinful.  

Secondly, I believe that every one us, myself include, though we might know better and would deny it have this sinful tendency within us.  Every one of us—regardless of who we are and where we come from.  It’s a sin tendency we must fight with all vigilance if we claim Christ as our Lord.             

Thirdly, I have no idea what it’s like to be a police officer of any kind.  But I have personally known many of them over the years and know them to be worthy of respect and honor for the dangers they face every day to protect the public.  And my wife, in her position with the Michigan State Police, knows very well many of our State Troopers and I am convinced that we are blessed to have some of the finest, most courageous men and women in law enforcement anywhere.  Are there and have there been racist police? I’m sure.  But to disparage the 99% of the police who do their jobs honorably to the best of their ability with the best of intentions when forced to make split second decisions is just wrong.  

You or I or the talking heads on TV have no idea what it’s like to say goodbye to our loved ones every morning knowing it could be the last time, or to literally put our lives on the line while not earning jack squat.  Yet it seems the entirety of America’s law enforcement is being painted with the same broad brush.  These men and women need and deserve our respect, our thanks, and our support.  

Lastly, neither I nor other white folks have any idea what it’s like to be African American—especially an African American man.  I had one little, minor instance of being stereotyped because of something other than my heart or character and I fumed about it for days!  But to be subject to what many people of color have to put up with is absolutely foreign to me.  And I would think it would make a person angry and defeated.  What I’m saying is simply that we, as white people, have no idea what it’s like to be African American.  And I have listened to white people give all kinds of justification and rationalization for unkind or outright racist comments.  I’ve probably even uttered some of them myself. But until we’ve had a store security guard trail us because of our color, or until you’ve been pulled over because you’re a black man married to a white woman just to make sure that the woman wasn’t being abducted, or until we have attended multiple funerals of people we love because they have been swallowed up by problems related to systemic prejudice and injustice then we don’t have a clue what it’s like.  So when we hear or read “Black Lives Matter” we don’t need to immediately counter with “All Lives Matter.”  What we, as believers in Jesus, need to say is what I believe He would say: “You’re absolutely right, they sure do.”