Month: June 2019

Stewardship series – The importance of developing a household budget

Reflecting on what Jeff Manion wrote on pages 104-06 in his book Satisfied about writing a journal for life, it gets my attention what he says: I write.. because I am prone to forget that I am deeply loved by the Father. I reminded myself that I am his. He adopted me, paid for me, and I am his. I am his cherished son. His treasured kid (see p. 105). In the same way we write our prayers and notes in a journal, calculating a budget in a sheet resembles journal writing. In fact, I would define a budget as …

Vocation series – The notion of work according to Jacques Ellul

Is it possible for Christians to experience a sense of vocation in the contemporary world of work? This is the question French philosopher and Reformed theologian Jacques Ellul tries to answer. Departing from what can be considered a majority consensus in the Reformed tradition, Ellul rejects, in his view of vocation, the idea that in the Scriptures we can understand the terms vocation and work as having the same meaning. Rather, he argues that both terms must be understood differently, and for this reason, Christians cannot experience their sense of vocation in the same way people in mainstream society understand …

Stewardship series – Giving as a spiritual practice

Recently, I took a summer course on the intersection of finance and stewardship. I did all the readings and decided to share some things I learned there. The first book assigned was Jeff Manion’s Satisfied: Discovering Contentment in a World of Consumption. In a nutshell, the lesson I learned can be summarized in a few words… Christians ought to emphasize the necessity for all to give – not just the affluent since giving itself constitutes a spiritual practice that can shape our spirit. In light of Jeff Manion’s book, especially Chapter 13 titled “The Power of Sharing,” I believe the …