Do You Look at Your Checkbook More Than Your Heart?

I often listen to my car radio while traveling. It amazes me how many stations march to the beat of the material world. Every few seconds a commercial screams at you to buy a new product, or the business report tells you how to make more money. You're encouraged to read a certain business-oriented newspaper every morning--a secular quiet time for success in today's material jungle.
 
Especially during the Christmas season everyone shouts BUY--BUY--BUY! Ho-Ho-Ho and go spend the bucks. There's little mention of Jesus as the reason for the season  just constant admonition to keep spending, spending, spending to keep the economy rolling. It's as if we live for the economy and need to keep it at the top of our Christmas list.
 
Then there is the stock report. How are you doing today? Did you make a lot of money or lose your shirt? The beat goes on and on.
 
Money. Money. Things. Things.
 
Tony Campolo, a popular speaker and college professor, rightly says that the Western world now lives for getting more and more things that we need less and less of. Our world worships empty materialism. It continues to get worse.
 
Sadly, this worship of money and things has invaded the Church nearly as deeply as the world. If we are to transform the world with the power of Jesus Christ, we need to dust ourselves off from the idolatry of mammon.

Stewardship is at the heart of the Christian faith. Everything we have comes from God, even our lives: "Certainly we live, move, and exist because of him" (Acts 17:28). All that we are and all that we have comes from God. We are simply stewards who are passing through this world on our way to another destination.

While we live on earth, we need food, clothing, and shelter. Beyond that, our true needs are very small. Yet the enemy has convinced us that living for our own comforts and desires is the sweetest life of all. We've become thoroughly convinced that wealth is the fountain of happiness.

We've also come to believe that the things we possess are really ours. We worked for them. We produced them. They're ours to use any way we like. This is incredible spiritual blindness. Remember, "in him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

Every breath we draw is a gift from God. Every muscle we exert comes from his energy and design. We don't do anything without his aid. Everything we "help" produce in this world is rightly his because he owned it in the first place. By his power alone it is re-shaped and created for human good.

A person with a passion for God will constantly reminds himself that everything he has is really God's. It's just on loan to him to use for God's purposes.

Good stewards:

• Will ask God what job they should take. He's the Boss, and gives out the assignments.
• Will seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness...." (Matthew 6:33 NIV). Money and material things are a means to an end, not an end in themselves.
• Will pray over their checkbooks. Every penny belongs to God, not just ten percent.
• Will be content with the basics of life. Their time and efforts must be directed toward advancing the Kingdom, not building a material one.
• Will have a sense of daily accountability with all their possessions. They will as easily give them away as accumulate them.
• Will love to give more than to get. Jesus said,  "It is more blessed to give than receive" Acts 20:35b).

Daily we need to remind ourselves that we are stewards of the God who owns it all. Is the job I have truly God's choice for me? Am I consciously using my life to seek first his kingdom? Are all my possessions his? Would I give them to others or leave them at his command? Do I give all he asks of me for the advancement of his work on earth?

Jim Eliot gave up a comfortable American life and promising career to share Christ with the savage Auca Indian tribe of Ecuador. With three fearless companions, he landed a small plane on the Auca tribal lands in 1946. After a brief exchange with leaders of the tribe, the suspicious Indians turned suddenly on their brave benefactors and speared them to death.  All four were martyred for their faith, just yards from the open door of their airplane.

Their tragic death inspired others, including their widows, to continue sharing God's love with the  Auca tribe.  Years later, the entire tribe was evangelized through the perseverance of these faithful missionaries.  Jim Eliot boldly stated before he died, "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." He gave up all the world offered to gain the smile of God in eternity. He was no fool--but a conquering hero.

If you don't feel like a steward with all you have--including your very life--today is the day to rearrange your priorities.

God wants us to use the money and resources he gives us to do his will. He entrusted phenomenal wealth to us as a nation. These riches should be spent to advance his kingdom--to evangelize the world, build up his Church, and care for the poor and needy. Instead, we lust for materialism and use money for personal pleasure. This is a subtle form of thievery--not good stewardship.
 
No wonder economic foundations are crumbling. Now is the moment for believers to rise up in freedom and use their money to glorify God. Here's some encouragement from the Scriptures:

"A good name is more desirable than great wealth. Respect is better than silver or gold.... A rich person rules poor people, and a borrower is a slave to the lender....Whoever is generous will be blessed because he has shared his food with the poor" (Proverbs 22:1,7,9).

"People should think of us as servants of Christ and managers who are entrusted with God's mysteries. Managers are required to be trustworthy. It means very little to me that you or any human court should cross-examine me. I have a clear conscience, but that doesn't mean I have God's approval. It is the Lord who cross-examines me" (1 Corinthians 4:1-4).

"...Good job! You're a good and faithful servant! You proved that you could be trusted with a small amount. I will put you in charge of a large amount. Come and share your master's happiness" (Matthew 25:21).  
  
Those who are stewards now become rulers in the next life. You may not have much--but what you have must be completely his.

Pray about it today. Commit yourself to be his servant and good steward. Let the world chase its materialistic idols, but let us pursue our loving King and his eternal kingdom. It's the best investment you can make. It's the only one you'll have for eternity.