AccountabilitySample

WHOSE TREASURE IS IT ANYWAY? There is a funny saying which goes as follows- “money is the root cause of all evil but man needs roots.” Money is part of our lives whether we follow Christ or not. But there is marked difference in the way a Christian and a non-Christian consider wealth. To people of the world, money means everything to live and die for. But for us who trust the Lord as our savior, it’s a transient thing. Like in Prov 23:5, it’s a thing that can disappear! So we as Christians need to use money to serve God and not the other way around. We need to “hang loose” as they say, when it comes to money! For the people of Israel, God’s sovereignty over their wealth was acknowledged by tithing. As believers, we are encouraged to tithe even in New Testament times, even more than in Old Testament times. Many of us tithing Christians feel that giving God the one-tenth lets us free to spend the rest of the nine-tenths on what we wish! But we fail to realize that God is the provider of all our wealth and is the Lord of all of it. If we want God to bless what he has blessed us with, we need to be accountable on the whole of our treasure. In today’s world, the advent of the credit card has given us the flexibility to buy what we like, when we like. But let us not forget that if we want God to bless the money and the possessions, we need to check out if Jesus would approve of how we use our treasure! When we realize that God gives us wealth to help build his Kingdom in this world, our whole attitude to wealth will be different. Prov 10:22 says, “The Blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.” An important truth I have learnt over the years is that God gives us wealth when he knows we have the Christian maturity to handle it as faithful stewards. When God gives us wealth, it is to use us as channels of blessing to those around us, so that His Kingdom would spread in this world. Thought for the day: Use money and love people, not the other way around. Pray: Lord Jesus, give me a proper perspective of money. Help me realize and use it as a servant and never be its slave. Let me always look to you as the source of all blessing, and not at money and wealth. Amen.