“All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.” -Peter Bailey (From Movie: It’s a Wonderful Life”)

DIVIN3FA!TH #130

Welcome to DIVIN3FIVE at 5!

Where we talk about how to grow in our DIVIN3:

FA!TH (Motivational Monday)
FAM1LY (Together Tuesday)
FITNESS (Workout Wednesday)
FOCUS (Thoughtful Thursday)
FINANCE$ (Fund Friday)

From the Biblical Perspective.

Today is Monday so we are going to talk about how to grow our DIVIN3FA!TH.

“All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.” -Peter Bailey (From Movie: It’s a Wonderful Life)

Acts 20:35

And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

In the classic Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” Peter Bailey lives a humble and modest life struggling all his life to rub two pennies together because he has chosen to live his life as a servant leader to the community with the “Building & Loans” Company that helps people in need buy houses. After he passes away there is a powerful scene in the movie where George Bailey, his son is in the middle of the Buildings & Loan Company shutting down and while in the chaos of the company about to shut down George looks at a picture of his father on the wall with a quote under it. The quote reads, “All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.”

I deeply connect with George Bailey because early in the movie while his father Peter was alive he asked his son to come work at the Buildings & Loans Company with him but George hated the idea of becoming poor like his father. George had big dreams to build things and see the world and even says to his father, “I couldn’t face being cooped up in a shabby little office the rest of my life…George says, “I want to do something big and important.” His father calmly replies without getting offended and explains to his son helping people get their basic needs like a roof over their head is important.

George had plans to leave for college, build things and see the world but he never got out of the town of Bedford Falls because the only way the board of directors decided if the the buildings and loans would stay up and running is if George stayed around to help run the place.

George ends up following in his father foot steps always barely making it by financially because his focus was always on helping other people in need buy homes.

Peter and George Bailey reminded me of my father, hero, and mentor Reverend Yong Bae Kim because this is how he lives his life. He lives for GOD and the way he lives for GOD is that he lives for people in need. My father and mother before coming to America helped run an orphanage in South Korea. They were a father and mother figure to countless orphan children in Korea who still stay in contact with them even after 40 years. After 42 years of service as a Senior Pastor in America he decided not to take any retirement but rather he donated back to his church because he didn’t want to burden them financially. My Dad, Appa knew what Peter Bailey knew, that, “All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.” My Dad never had a high paying job, invested in the stock market or real estate but he and my mother fully invested their lives into people in need, many of which that can never pay them back. In the end of the movie George Bailey’s Brother Harry Bailey says, “A toast to my big brother George: The richest man in town.” The richest man in town is the not the person who makes the most money, has the most stocks in their portfolio, has the most land or real estate, has the coolest cars, or has the biggest house, the richest man in town is the one who gives of himself for the benefit of his family and the community. When I was young I always thought my Dad was poor because he didn’t have much money or would be in debt at times, but the older I get I realize more and more he’s the richest man I know.

1 Timothy 6:6-8

6 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.

7 After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it.

8 So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.

Let’s live Wonderful lives like Peter & George Bailey & like Reverend Yong Bae Kim, my father, to live a life of service to others. To live a life of giving. The joy of living, is the joy of giving!

“All we can take with us is that which we’ve given away.”

Do you want to be the richest person in town? Give of yourself like Jesus gave up Himself…

2 Corinthians 8:9

You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.

Poor on earth, rich in Heaven…

Continue to SHINE THE DIVIN3 + LIVE GOD’S DREAM!

It’s a Wonderful Life - Dinner Scene