150 years ago, there was a 13 year old boy (we’ll call him “Andy”) who was as poor as could be, but his parents scraped together enough money to move their family of three to a new land with new adventures known as the United States. This was quite a change for young Andy, but he became acclimated to his new home and began to learn and grow mentally as much as he grew physically. He soon was hired to work on telegraphs, but he was fairly aware that there was more he could do.
Young man Andy didn’t brag about it - he was a hard worker. He spoke when he needed to, but he put actions to his words. After some time, still working with telegraphs, he had saved enough money to have some investments in a few growing industries back in the day… over the course of a few years, through God’s grace and Andy’s hard work, he was able to get to the point where he was financially stable. He was actually fairly well off. He grew businesses, and history has named him a “captain of the industrial revolution.”
We know him today as Andrew Carnegie. In his life, he was able to amass a personal net worth of approximately $310 billion (in the late 1800’s). Our modern world has not seen another individual with that kind of wealth.
“Andy” spent the last 15 years of his life giving away 90% of his wealth to charities, universities, foundations, and even churches (although we have no true record that he believed or accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior). Andy had reached the pinnacle of what this world would term as success - built through a series of transactions that involved his personal dealings with people… daily.
When people started looking to “Andy” as a cultural, economical, and at times, even a political leader of the nation (even though he didn’t hold public office), he made a VERY interesting statement that summarizes his interactions with people throughout his life.
He said, as I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say, and more attention to what they do. As mentioned above, Mr Carnegie’s life is well documented, and we see very little in his life about “church” - he had actually grown quite disenfranchised with religion for a lengthy time. He had found society, and the church, to be somewhat hypocritical - meaning words and actions didn’t agree.
Mr. Carnegie’s observations 150 years ago were just as applicable then as they are today, and his thoughts on that weren’t new at all… as a race, humanity has a knack for saying one thing, but doing another…
The Bible talks about that very thing in the book of James (2:14-17). We also see that Jesus addressed it as well (Matthew 7:21). We see it played out daily in our news and reports. At the time of this writing, the 2016 presidential election is in full-swing and we hear very little of political platforms and issues, and we hear much about personal issues and past sins… I’ve seen friends divided more over this election than anytime I can remember. We see people’s words in NO WAY matching their actions.
So, what are we to do? Examine ourselves. Look at our words and our actions. Are we claiming Jesus on social media but then treating others poorly? Are we showing up at church on Sunday but not allowing Jesus’ truth to permeate our lives and our actions throughout the week?
Christianity is NOT rocket science. Your faith was never intended to be complicated (there’s a reason Jesus spoke of having child-like faith). Your faith in Christ was intended to be LIVED OUT DAILY… not perfectly, but purposefully. Intentionally. Lovingly.
So, examine yourself… ask someone to give you some feedback. Be willing to ask a friend if your words match your actions, and if they point to Jesus. Be ready for the answer…
May your faith not be dead… but may it be alive, and may your words and your actions bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ.
Young man Andy didn’t brag about it - he was a hard worker. He spoke when he needed to, but he put actions to his words. After some time, still working with telegraphs, he had saved enough money to have some investments in a few growing industries back in the day… over the course of a few years, through God’s grace and Andy’s hard work, he was able to get to the point where he was financially stable. He was actually fairly well off. He grew businesses, and history has named him a “captain of the industrial revolution.”
We know him today as Andrew Carnegie. In his life, he was able to amass a personal net worth of approximately $310 billion (in the late 1800’s). Our modern world has not seen another individual with that kind of wealth.
“Andy” spent the last 15 years of his life giving away 90% of his wealth to charities, universities, foundations, and even churches (although we have no true record that he believed or accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior). Andy had reached the pinnacle of what this world would term as success - built through a series of transactions that involved his personal dealings with people… daily.
When people started looking to “Andy” as a cultural, economical, and at times, even a political leader of the nation (even though he didn’t hold public office), he made a VERY interesting statement that summarizes his interactions with people throughout his life.
He said, as I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say, and more attention to what they do. As mentioned above, Mr Carnegie’s life is well documented, and we see very little in his life about “church” - he had actually grown quite disenfranchised with religion for a lengthy time. He had found society, and the church, to be somewhat hypocritical - meaning words and actions didn’t agree.
Mr. Carnegie’s observations 150 years ago were just as applicable then as they are today, and his thoughts on that weren’t new at all… as a race, humanity has a knack for saying one thing, but doing another…
The Bible talks about that very thing in the book of James (2:14-17). We also see that Jesus addressed it as well (Matthew 7:21). We see it played out daily in our news and reports. At the time of this writing, the 2016 presidential election is in full-swing and we hear very little of political platforms and issues, and we hear much about personal issues and past sins… I’ve seen friends divided more over this election than anytime I can remember. We see people’s words in NO WAY matching their actions.
So, what are we to do? Examine ourselves. Look at our words and our actions. Are we claiming Jesus on social media but then treating others poorly? Are we showing up at church on Sunday but not allowing Jesus’ truth to permeate our lives and our actions throughout the week?
Christianity is NOT rocket science. Your faith was never intended to be complicated (there’s a reason Jesus spoke of having child-like faith). Your faith in Christ was intended to be LIVED OUT DAILY… not perfectly, but purposefully. Intentionally. Lovingly.
So, examine yourself… ask someone to give you some feedback. Be willing to ask a friend if your words match your actions, and if they point to Jesus. Be ready for the answer…
May your faith not be dead… but may it be alive, and may your words and your actions bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ.
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