Posted on 08/22/2016 11:39:23 AM PDT by metmom
“‘Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth’” (Matthew 6:19).
You cannot pursue both God and riches.
Ours is a society consumed with material things. Status, success, and importance are all too often measured by a person’s financial worth. Those with wealth flaunt it; those without wealth fake it. People often rack up huge debts in their desperate and futile pursuit of happiness through accumulating material things.
Sadly, that same materialistic mind-set permeates the church. Instead of offering an alternative, that of being distinct from the world, the church joins the world in its pursuit of riches. Most tragically of all, the saving message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is lost in the process.
It is not wrong to have possessions. Job, Abraham, and Solomon were among the wealthiest men of their day. But it is wrong to covet, to make the pursuit of material things the main goal of your life, to serve mammon instead of God. “Do not love the world,” wrote the apostle John, “nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). James addressed these scathing words to those whose focus is on material things: “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). Behind much of the pursuit of riches in the church is a lack of trust in God’s provision. Instead of finding security in His promise to supply all our needs (Phil. 4:19), we seek it in a house, a bank account, or a stock portfolio. God did not give us our money and possessions so we wouldn’t have to trust Him. He gave them to us to enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17) and to test the legitimacy of our spirituality (Luke 16:11).
Whether you are rich or poor, your attitude toward your possessions and how you handle them is a test of your spirituality. How are you doing?
Suggestions for Prayer
Pray with Agur, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, lest I be full and deny Thee and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or lest I be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God” (Prov. 30:8-9).
For Further Study
What do the following verses teach about our attitude toward wealth: Psalms 49:5-9; 52:7; 62:10?
Studying God’s Word ping
Also the example of St. Paul, who knew how to be in want and how to have plenty, dealing with both situations to the glory of Christ.
What you have matters a whole lot less with what you are doing with what you have. Maybe one day the Lord will want you to donate it, before you are gone; or the Lord may want you to keep it till the day you die.
Churches are also very guilty of this, when they worry more about Church property/buildings than ministry. Church property does not even exist in the Bible - but today churches live and die for it . . .
Just an observation.
So does this mean my wife and I can’t plan for our retirement?
Listen to Dave Ramsey - I believe he has the best advice. And yes, having retirement as to not be a burden to others is part of the plan.
“Whether you are rich or poor, your attitude toward your possessions and how you handle them is a test of your spirituality. How are you doing?”
We all fail: next question?
Life in this body is hard.
You know, one thing that irritates me about people who ask questions like that is that they do it in a way that comes across as judgmental. As if they have it all together and have arrived and they are looking down on you, judging you.
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