Our tendency may be to see the poor as “different” or the poor themselves to be to blame for their poverty. How...
No word portrays the condition of the homes of this neighborhood better than broken.
Several years ago, we interviewed Lauren Winner for the High Calling when she was at Laity Lodge. She challenged our thinking about...
I needed to see my work with a craftsman's eye if I was to turn the corner into the second half of my life.
In 1982, when I was a sophomore at Baylor University, Tony Campolo spoke at a state-wide gathering of Christian college students. By the end of his sermon, provincial scales had fallen from my...
Yesterday I began reflecting on Psalm 41:1. Today I want to continue this reflection, because something in the language of this verse strikes me as worthy of further consideration.
Yesterday we focused on Romans 8:23, where it says that we join creation in groaning. Though life can be filled with many blessings, there are times when we suffer and when we cry...
Jesus consistently helps those who have no helper. In many ways, the anointing of this woman was the “blessing of the wretched”...
The first consideration is the needs of the world. The single strongest indicator of what God wants you to do is probably your awareness of what needs to get done to make the...
After the people ran out of money, Joseph allowed them to barter their livestock for food. This plan lasted for one year...
God’s intent to provide opportunities for the poor is seen in the regulations benefiting aliens, widows, and...
Although ancient methods of harvesting were not as efficient as today, yet Leviticus 19:9-10 instructs Israelites to make them even less so. First, they were to leave the margins of their grain fields...
Leviticus 25 ordains a sabbath year, one in every seven (Lev. 25:1-7), and a jubilee year, one in every fifty (Lev. 25:8-17)...
Truthtelling builds trust and civil cooperation among human beings. Trust is critical for a prosperous society, and being a person of one’s...
Intermediaries are institutions that “remanufacture” lenders’ resources into a form that is useful to borrowers. A simple example is when a bank intermediates between several depositors and one business loan borrower. Intermediaries include...
If finance is a means of care and love, doing finance through intermediaries raises a question. Can we love someone we do...
Financial instruments are promises between two or more parties with differing resource needs which are tailored to allow both parties to be prudent risk takers when the future is unknown. As argued above...
Ideally, market-rate finance is a blessing to both borrowers and lenders. This is similar to all kinds of commerce. Producing and selling...
How does our finance theology inform whether to make a loan to a particular customer and at what interest rate? Several of the foundations of biblical finance come to the fore here. First...
The action of the Book of Ruth centers around gleaning, which was one of the most important...
Boaz was inspired to go significantly beyond what the law required in providing for the poor and...
The rebellion of the first humans (Genesis 3) had a catastrophic effect on all of creation—not just their relationship with God, but also their capacity to draw provision and create wealth from the...
About 1.4 billion of the world’s population live in extreme poverty, meaning they lack the basic necessities of life. A further 1....
Some churches preach what may be called a “health and wealth gospel,” claiming that God always rewards his people with prosperity in...
After one of the prophets in Elisha’s circle died, his family fell into debt. The fate of...
The proverbs do not stop with commending generosity but go further to claim that caring for the poor is a matter of...
If the exiled Jews in Babylon missed the positive example in chapter 18, Ezekiel 22 gives them an explicit picture of where...
At Dayspring Technologies Turning to God for Daily Bread Applies to Cash Reserves (Click to Watch) .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%...
Jesus’ final teaching in this section examines how we treat those in need. In this account, when Jesus returns in his glory...
Throughout Luke, Jesus teaches that living in God’s kingdom means looking to God, rather than human effort, as the ultimate source of...
Jesus’ first problem with wealth is that it tends to displace God in the lives of wealthy people. “For where your treasure...
The well-being of the rich is not Jesus’ only concern with regard to wealth. He also cares about the well-being of the...
Stephen Colbert on Faith and Humor Stephen Colbert discusses how his faith intersects with his humor and why humor is an appropriate...
James takes up the topic of work in detail in the second part of chapter 2. When discussing work, he invariably uses the plural “works” (Greek erga) rather than the singular “work” (Greek...
James moves to a new application in giving a warning specifically about business forecasting.[1] Somewhat unusually, he focuses first on the principle...