Render Caesar what's Caesar's...

Tax time baby. And the fact that I'm thinking about it means I'm way ahead-- and proud of it. I think it was Phoebe Buffet (from Friends, of course) that said: "Who is this FICA person and why are they taking all my money?" Let's be honest, none of us are really huge fans of somebody else (even if that someone is the federal government) taking what we've earned. But here's the thing, Jesus said to render Caesar what's Caesar's. Peter wrote, "Submit yourselves, for the Lord's sake, to every authority instituted among men." I might add, "even the federal government." Now I know that it's easy to excuse ourselves and say, "It's not really a person, it's an institution. Plus, they take too much anyway. Plus, they can't manage it, look at the deficit. Plus, blah, blah, blah..." Regardless, it's time that way allow God's word to permeate every part of our life, not just the easy stuff. We'll talk about downloading music and illegally burning DVD's next week.

Last Night's Message

Personally, I thought Steve did a great job last night-- one of the best messages I've ever heard him preach. But that's not the point of this blog, so let's move on...

The point is I wanna talk about the series. There's a grip of folks that have decided to memorize James (that's right, the whole darn thing) but what good is head knowledge if we don't understand it in our heart, right? So I want to discuss the series as we move through it. So, this week's question (that I would LOVE responses to) is this:

Last night, Steve gave us some great practical suggestions on how to prevent ourselves from boasting in or relying on (to any extent) earthly wealth and success. He suggested, among other things, that we live below our means, remind ourselves that everything we have comes from God, and not insist on getting our way all the time. What about you? What are the things that keep you from leaning on or trusting in earthly wealth and success? Looking for very practical suggestions here...