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Day 270, or September the 27th. Do you earn what

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you are paid? Our thoughts today come from Zechariah

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chapter 11, verse 12. I told them, if you think

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it best, give me my pay, but if not, keep it.

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So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And

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now the big picture surrounding this verse. Zechariah

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continues to tell us more about the coming Messiah,

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and as part of his teaching, today's verse mentions

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the infamous thirty pieces of silver, which were

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to be paid to Judas Iscariot when he betrayed

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Jesus many centuries later. Ironically, this

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was the price of a slave back in the days of

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Moses, Exodus chapter 21, verse 32. And now today's

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action step. Zechariah tells us, as part of his

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teaching on the coming Messiah, that some shepherds

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may not be worth paying. Pay me what I'm worth,

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he declares. Can you imagine where we would be

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if that idea was adopted in the church today?

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As an itinerant preacher and teacher for many

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years, I regularly met leaders who saw it as

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their job just to be faithful rather than seeking

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to be successful for the Lord. Of course we are

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to be faithful, but we are to bear fruit too.

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I know of a ministry that had posters put up

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in its sales office to encourage better book

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sales. It said, Blessing begins with a sale.

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Too harsh, perhaps, but books on the shelf won't

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bless anyone. I believe too many followers of

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Jesus Christ see struggling and failure as confirmation

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that they are being faithful. I wouldn't want

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all church leaders to be paid by results, but

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it would be great if we all worked as if this

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was the case. Don't just put things in the budget,

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but do something to finance them. Earn it, raise

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it or pray it in, but don't pretend that simply

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adding it to the budget is the answer. Thankfully,

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God doesn't give us what we deserve either financially

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or spiritually. It's called grace. But don't

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abuse this privilege. Be sure you don't blush

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at the thought of being paid what you are worth

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today, whether you have a secular position or

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have the privilege of being paid for ministry.