Living a 5,000 Dollar Life

Tim Dilena

One day while we’re living in Detroit, we get this knock on the door. Turns out, it’s movie producers for S.W.A.T. II, and they say to us, “We’d like to put your house in the scene. The actors who are pretending to be the ‘owners’ of your house will be standing on the sidewalk. Nobody’s going to go inside your house or anything. But we’d like to pay you for it.”

I say, “This is awesome! Sure!”

So they bring all of the paperwork and give me 50 dollars. Now I’ve got a check for 50 big ones that says S.W.A.T. II Firestorm on it. They tell me, “You’re welcome to come out and watch.”

So sure enough, I’m out there with some of the guys, and I ask them, “You asked me if it was okay to have my house in this film the morning of the shoot. What would’ve happened if I’d said no?”

He says, “Well, then we would’ve negotiated. Sometimes we’ll pay upward of 4,000 or 5,000 to film someone’s house.”

I’m walking around with a $50 check that could’ve been 5,000. The issue wasn’t really a money thing, but I kept thinking about how many times we sell ourselves short and live a 50-dollar existence when God has so much more for us. We just stop with “Hey, I got the job. I’m going to pay my bills.” Do you work a job, or do you get paid for your passion?

Those who wake up excited have found their gift and are walking in it. They refused to accept the $50 check. They’re living out the verse, “Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’” (Matthew 25:19-21, ESV).

If we want to be that kind of person, there are a few things we need to do.

  • • Be the best, most trustworthy person at your work. Go above and beyond!

  • • Learn spiritual disciplines while in the workplace.

  • • Pay attention to the areas over which God breaks your heart.

  • • Always leave a place well and with integrity.

After pastoring an inner-city congregation in Detroit for thirty years, Pastor Tim served at Brooklyn Tabernacle in NYC for five years and pastored in Lafayette, Louisiana, for five years. He became Senior Pastor of Times Square Church in May of 2020.