For God, Gold and Glory

I sat at the table working with the students assigned me, but I couldn't help overhear what the teacher at the other center was discussing with her students. They were looking at their weekly 4 page newspaper. In it they must have had an article about Columbus and a poll about whether students thought we should celebrate Columbus Day or not. I know this has been a hot topic of discussion in the past and I thought about it for a while. 

The primary reason against celebrating Columbus Day, other than the fact he didn't land in America, hinges on the reality that he enslaved and maimed the  natives (Taino's) of Hispaniola and brought disease that eventually killed them all.. Because of this, some believe he was a villain, not a hero. To the contrary, I remember reading a book about him which revealed excerpts from his diary that appeared to be sincere in his desire to bring Christ to those who did not know him. However, it's rather difficult to judge his original intentions, as he and his men did leave evidence of a destructive path.

What struck me later was how much we stand in a similar place as Columbus. What are our real intentions? How will others read our life if they don't know us? How about those who do know us, can they accurately ascertain the intentions of our heart? While Columbus is dead and gone, along with his reputation, we are still here and have a name to maintain as Christians. Are we going around maiming others, destroying rather than building up, gathering the gold and glory for ourselves? 

I just finished a session from a Christian motivational speaker on monetizing your message. That didn't sit well with me. Not that I don't want to make money from what I do. The Bible tells us that a worker is worthy of his wages, but do I want to monetize what God shows me? I think not.

I want to offer to the world the free message of His reconciliation between God and man. The love and forgiveness He offers freely. Does that mean that I don't charge for my books? Of course not, but where is my heart? What do I want the most? To get the glory, make the money, be a well known author? On the surface no, since none of those things has happened, but I need to dig a little deeper. Let God expose my area of sin.

Here's where  God honed in on me as though I was standing being judged before people, just like Columbus now stands trial. I started thinking about my own intentions. How pure are they? How much do I want for my own glory and gold? I want to do things for God's glory, but somehow it sometimes gets muddled in this upside down culture where what is good is called evil and what is evil is called good. All I can do is confess it to God and let Him transform my heart of stone to a heart of gold, purified in the refining fires to reflect Him, sot that He may be glorified!  It's something to think about this Columbus Day weekend.