When I was at Bible College, one of my lecturers told our class that whenever he met up with men from his church, he would always ask about three areas of life: grog, girls, and greed. From his experience, most men struggled to honour God in at least one of these.

From my own experience, the one people are most uncomfortable talking about is greed. Many will readily share their struggles with alcohol or lust, but few will open up about how they are seeking to honour God with their money and possessions. A retired pastor once told me that in decades of ministry, he had heard confessions of almost every sin under the sun (even murder!) but never once had someone come to him seeking help with greed.

We’ve just returned from a holiday in Sydney, where we caught up with some dear friends from the church we left when we moved to Wellington to plant City on a Hill. It was wonderful to be reminded of the things we had asked them to pray for all those years ago. And even more encouraging was to see their joy as we shared what God has done in answer to those very prayers.

God has been very good to us as a family and as a church whānau.

But it got me thinking about the subtle difference between God’s goodness and his faithfulness.