Financial security is an overarching goal for most people. It’s true that we all need money, yet wealth can fool us is if we’re not careful. Money means different things to different people, and some individuals want it for the wrong reasons. Wrong attitudes about money put us in bondage to it; however, knowing the biblical truth about its real purpose brings us freedom in our finances.
The Spirit of God and The Spirit of Man | Dr. Myles Munroe
We’ve all seen people who trust in their money more than in anything else. This makes us easy targets for the devil to play mind games with us in this area. He knows how strong of an influence money can have on us and he won’t hesitate to use it to manipulate us into serving him. An evil spirit called mammon wants to attach itself to your money; its purpose is to get us to trust it more than God. “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:13).
It’s okay to be wealthy, but money is simply a tool to bless others. The world doesn’t see it that way; the prevailing mindset says to pursue it as a means to an end. Wealth is notoriously undependable and it’s a mistake to trust in it. “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:9, 10). “The love of money” refers to having a wrong relationship with it, specifically, hoarding it for ourselves.
God blesses us financially so that we can pass that blessing on to others; this is why believers are to be generous givers. The true test of who we trust comes when we have an opportunity to give. Paul’s instructions about planned giving to the church at Corinth were specific. “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come” (1 Corinthians 16:2). We give not out of our lack, but out of the prosperity God blesses us with.
God wants us to treat others the way we would like others to treat us. That includes extending a helping hand to struggling people. Using our financial wealth to bless others pleases God. “Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor”(Proverbs 22:9, NLT). This positions us to receive the blessings God has made available to the believer.
God is a just God, and He has a way of redirecting and shifting material wealth away from the unjust. Being stingy with our money hurts not only others, but ourselves. “He who by charging excessive interest and who by unjust efforts to get gain increases his material possession gathers it for him [to spend] who is kind and generous to the poor”(Proverbs 28:8, AMPC). Greed goes against His law of love, which states that we are to help others out of compassion for them.
Our God is a God of abundance, not just financially but in every other area in which we rely on Him. He’s well able to take care of everyone who trusts Him. Faith in this opens our eyes to what’s really important.
No comments:
Post a Comment