It’s January 20th today--just about the time most of us are seeing our new year’s resolutions faltering. Some of them may have had to do with exercising more, eating better, or wasting less time. They end up being good intentions that just don’t make it to reality, for very long.

My Christian journey has often been stuck in that struggle between noble intentions and tangible action. Through the Holy Spirit in us, I think we see so many ways in which the world is broken. It can be seen in a photo of the haunting eyes of a starving child, flies buzzing on his head; it can be from hearing the news of almost two dozen Chicago Public School kids killed in the 2008 school year, average age of 16. Someone needs to do something. Lots of people--doing lots more than nothing.

This is where I see the real value of Crown Financial Bible Study. For people stuck in a serious debt struggle, it can be their first foothold to get some traction. For those just getting by, it can help build their savings reserve, that keeps the next unexpected car repair from causing bankruptcy. But, the big picture is more profound. It can help everyday people maximize their time and money and talents, to chip away at those big problems in God’s name. Is this just another good intention? Not really.

If a Crown student frees up about a buck a day, $32 a month, she can feed, clothe, and educate a child through Compassion International. For that child, this is literally the difference between an education with a future, and starvation and illiteracy. Just over three dollars a day can support an orphan or refugee through Crossing Borders. Any amount can drive the mentoring work of GRIP Outreach For Youth forward, providing father figures in a generation that has been abandoned, transforming the inner city of Chicago, one precious student at a time. Even better, if the lessons of Crown create more free time, the graduate can invest more of her time in things that will last forever—the lives and souls of people who need Jesus in their lives.

My biggest nightmare for Crown Financial Ministry is that graduates feel smarter, maybe save a few bucks more, but never see how God is going to use this new found money or time to heal His world and build His Kingdom—a world where things are as they should be. This is why I teach Crown. It empowers my friends at Harvest to invest their lives and resources into making God’s love more tangible in this broken place. That’s a new year’s resolution worth keeping.

Ed Sung
Crown Financial