What About Money?

Making money is not bad.  Making lots and lots of money is not bad either.  God doesn't need you to be rich or poor.   But God does have some things to say about money.   Consider 1 Timothy 6:10:

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.


This is pretty consistent with other things we read in the bible, including something we read in Proverbs 3:9-10

 Honor the Lord with your wealth
    and with the best part of everything you produce.
10 Then he will fill your barns with grain,
    and your vats will overflow with good wine.

It is important to notice that it's ok to have wealth.   What matters is how you use wealth.  It is not an easy thing to be wealthy and to also follow God.   Jesus himself said it was hard to do.  Remember Matthew 19:23-24?

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.    I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”

You can gain wealth.   Money itself is not the problem.   But it is the love of money that can ruin you as a servant of God.  I tend to think that God knows me and that I'm not that good with money.  So he limits me.  I'm thankful.  I think having lots of money would make it so much harder to depend on God.  It's far to easy to depend on money instead of God when you have more than you know what to do with.

If you ever get a chance to meet someone who loves God and who also possesses great wealth, it is incredible to see.  God has blessed that person with great wisdom to be able to manage those resources well.   A person who finds ways to honor God with money is a wise person, a joyful person, and a person whom God will bless in his own way.

Remember also that giving money is not a means to twist God's arm into blessing you.   Giving money is not a way to manipulate God into giving you more money so that you will have lots for yourself.   A person who is wise with money is a person who knows that none of the money is theirs anyway.  It all belongs to God.  If you are wise with money, it just means that God can count on you to use it for his purposes here on earth.   And he will.

So, how are you using money to honor God?