If we are going to manage life God’s way it has to include our money, possessions, and treasures. What are your priorities and habits when it comes to managing your money, possessions, and treasures? Even more important, do your priorities match God’s priorities regarding these?
Priority #1: Worship
- Worship entails honoring God, putting God first and above all else, exercising faith, and living according to God’s commands, wisdom, and ways. “Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce” Proverbs 3:9 (NLT2).
- The Old Testament standard in material terms was the practice of tithing (a tenth) and bringing freewill offerings, not out of what was left over but on the front end of managing what you earned, or your land produced.
Priority #2: Faith
- Everything we do as believers in Christ is to be governed by faith, by trusting in God and the wisdom of His word and ways, and should extend to how we manage our wealth and material resources as well. The tithe (there were actually several tithes) is not just a command but also an exercise of faith. When Susie and I put our tithe in the offering plate we are trusting God that He will sustain us and help us to live on the ninety percent left over. “ ’Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way,’” says the LORD of Hosts. ‘See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure’ ” Malachi 3:10 (HCSB).
- Faith holds on to and practices the conviction that ordering our entire lives according to God’s ways is wisest, best, and blessed. Faith desires God’s blessing and resists the urge to bless ourselves. Faith trusts the promises of God including the material realm, it believes that God blesses and enables givers and rewards generosity. “Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him” Hebrews 11:6 (HCSB).
Priority #3: Investing
- God wants us to be investors. If I ask our financial advisor about investing, he is going to want to know about things like risk levels, earning expectations, long-term or short-term, priorities, and maybe even ethical considerations. Jesus tells us the chief investment priority for His followers is to become heaven-rich, to use earthly wealth to accumulate eternal treasure. The good news about this is that the poorest among get to participate in this investment plan. “Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal” Matthew 6:19-20 (HCSB).
Priority # 4: Generosity
- God wants us to manage our money, possessions, and wealth with the heart of a giver. A giver has joy in giving, being generous lights up his or her heart more than going shopping, a new toy (grownup toys just get more expensive), a fancy vacation, or a gourmet meal. A giver manages to give more and wants more of God’s blessing unleashed in his or her life. We live in a culture that encourages debt and has brainwashed us into thinking that it is a good thing, forgetting that “the borrower is a slave to the lender” slave” Proverbs 22:7 HCSB) ), and that servicing debt diminishes our capacity to be generous. “You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully. And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others” 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 (NLT2)
- The heart and the habit of generosity require contentment. Greed, hedonism, materialism, and our sinful selves are never satisfied but for a moment. The good news is that the heart can be changed by the power and grace of God in Christ, new habits can be formed, and contentment can be learned. “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am, with whatever I have” Philippians 4:11 (HCSB, italics NLT2).
Managing our money, possessions, and wealth God’s way is actually not that hard, but it requires managing our hearts and desires, a different kind of thinking, and adopting some new habits. The best day to start with that is today.
To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans