By Joe Plemon on February 5, 2010
in Biblical Thoughts On Finance

Do you acknowledge that everything belongs to God?
“The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell.”
Psalms 24:1 You can’t serve God above money until you realize that He already owns it all. He even owns us. We own nothing. He allows us to manage His assets, but never to claim them as our own.

Are you generous?
God is a giver…He gave his only son for us. John 3:16. Our responsibility to Him as we manage His assets is to use them in a manner that he would. Tight fistedness is a symptom of loving the money more than we love God.

Are you cheerful about giving?
2Co 9:7 “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver”. Giving cheerfully is a great sign of acknowledging God’s ownership.

Do you hoard your wealth?
Have you established a maximum (not minimum) limit on how much you will save before giving the rest of your wealth away? If not, you are in danger of being like the rich man Jesus called a fool (Luke 12:16-21). Consider the example of millionaire heavy equipment manufacturer R. G. LeTourneau who for years lived on 10% of his income and gave away 90%. “The question” LeTourneau said, “is not how much of my money I give to God, but rather how much of God’s money I keep for myself.”

Do you accumulate stuff?
Look around. Is your garage or basement is filled with stuff that you no longer use? Do you pay for a storage shed to house your stuff? Do you keep clothing that you haven’t worn in over two years? Is it possible that you are hoarding “stuff” in a similar way that the rich man hoards his wealth? Does the thought if getting it out of your life cause you to hyperventilate? Hmmm. You just might have a misplaced loyalty.

Do you worry about money issues?
Worry is a symptom of misplaced trust. Jesus said to the worry warts, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Mat 6:33)

How did you do?

by John Piper

We need to ponder the superiority of God as our great reward over all that the world has to offer.
If we don’t, we will love the world like everyone else and live like every one else.
So take the things that drive the world and ponder how much better and more abiding God is: take money or sex or power or popularity. 

Think about these things.

First think about them in relation to death. Death will take away every one of them: money, sex, power, and popularity. If that is what you live for, you won’t get much, and what you get, you lose. But God’s treasure is “abiding.” It lasts. It goes beyond death.

It’s better than money because God owns all the money and he is our Father. “All things are yours, and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:22-23).

It’s better than sex. Jesus never had sexual relations, and he was the most full and complete human that ever will exist. Sex is a shadow, an image, of a greater reality—of a relationship and pleasure that will make sex seem like a yawn.

The reward of God is better than power. There is no greater human power than to be a child of the Almighty God. “Do you not know that we shall judge angels” (1 Corinthians 6:3)?

It’s better than popularity. Fame is a pipe dream if you are only known by human nobodies. But if the greatest beings know you, that is a popularity of another kind. The greatest popularity is to be known by God (1 Corinthians 8:3; Galatians 4:9). And when it comes to angels: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14)?

And so it goes on and on. Everything the world has to offer, God is better and more abiding. There is no comparison. God wins—every time.

The question is: will we have him? Will we wake up from the trance of this stupefying world and see and believe and rejoice and love? And suffer?