Now that we are at the end of our study of money, I wanted to isolate out two principles that underpin every discussion of money that we have had.
I believe that with regards to how we give and how we save and how we determine the rightness or wrongness of financial decisions – and even peripheral issues such as insurance, saving, retirement, etc we can understand all these things much more clearly if we understand these two principles.
The first principle is this: Value the Lord the most.
If we value God most of all, then everything else will fall into place. But we can have a clearer understanding of this by looking at some of the scriptures that we’ve already examined.
The problem with the rich fool was that he valued possessions above God (Luke 12:13-21). If you want to dig further into this, you’ll find that his own pleasure and ease was more important that God. This was also the problem with the rich young man (Mark 10:17-22). Fundamentally these had their treasure on earth, and so their hearts were there too (cf Luke 12:34).
The second principle is this: Trust the Lord the most.
It is very easy to trust that our own resources will be enough to help us survive, but the problem with this is that we can become trapped into thinking that we need money to survive – when in actual fact we need the Lord to survive. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps 50:10), he cares for the birds, how much more will he care for us (Luke 12:24).
This is the very point of Luke 12:22-34 - we are not to trust in the things of earth, but in the provider and sustainer of the universe (Col 2:17).
When we realize that our jobs are dependant on him, and our survival is no less dependant on him and that even without money we would survive as long as He provides for us, we are free to think outside the box with regards to what we can do.
I think its sad that many missionary agencies are now not allowing missionaries to go out to the field until they have financial resources behind them (in some cases up to 2 years salary are required). This demonstrates a lack of trust in God to provide and limits the effectiveness of motivated believers.
So – if you weigh up your judgement of money based on these two principles you’ll keep yourself on track. Remember that God is the most valuable thing in the universe, His glory is to be sought at every opportunity, and that by trusting him we give Him glory and demonstrate the sufficiency of the one who gives us life and keeps the atoms of the universe in cohesion.
Another way of thinking about it is in this little saying… “Put God in the center and everything comes together”. Its all about Him.
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