‘“But if there are any poor Israelites in your towns when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward them. Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. ‘ Deuteronomy 15:7-8(NLT)
‘“O my people, listen as I speak. Here are my charges against you, O Israel: I am God, your God! I have no complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly offer. But I do not need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens. For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine.’ Psalms 50:7-11(NLT)
‘Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor.’ Proverbs 22:9(NLT)
‘God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. ‘ 1 Peter 4:10(NLT)
Devotional Content:
In today’s video, Dr. Kim asks Mike and Lisa this question: “How is our money connected to our spirituality?”
Maybe you never put the words “money” and “spirituality” together. We tend to think of money as “of the world” but we relate spirituality to God and our relationship with Him. What happens when we put them together? I think we are taking the first step towards viewing money as God wants us to view it.
If everything is God’s, so is money. So is our money. That’s where things get tough. We want to keep our money out of our relationship with God. After all, we earned it and we should be able to do what we want with it. Right? That seems to be the prevailing thought pattern concerning money. The problem with that is two-fold. First, it does not go along with what the Bible says about money. Second, most of us do a pretty poor job with money.
What if we looked at money through God’s eyes? What if we said it is all His? He is the owner and we are the managers. That means that we let God influence how we manage the money. Mike and Lisa spoke of using money as a tool to grow God’s Kingdom, and making money decisions with that focus. Does that mean we cannot live in a nice house or have a nice car? No. What it does mean is that the house or the car can never be more important in our lives than God. When they are, the whole “God is the owner thing” gets turned upside down. This is what I do know from experience. We have done money both ways. Doing it our way has never worked for us. Doing it God’s way works all the time.
Today’s Challenge:
Discuss together what it would mean for each of you and your marriage to take up the “God is the owner and you are the managers” plan for your money
Going Deeper: Pray for God’s wisdom with money. Ask Him how you can best serve Him and others as the managers of His money.
from Mammon And God: Money And Spirituality by Dr. Kim Kimberling