The Kingdom & Money Part 1: Money Matters
Money Matters
Money is a big deal! It’s certainly a big deal to all of us who are still working. We give roughly one-fourth of our lives to our jobs because we all know it takes money to survive at any level.
From a Kingdom perspective, money is also important. Did you know that there are over 2,000 references to money in the Bible? This, in comparison to about 500 references each for prayer and faith, is a startling statistic. It’s interesting that money is almost always talked about as the least important of these three.
God and Money
God always wants to bless His family as they walk in His covenant. Yet somehow, much of Christianity has managed to make money a banned, ignored, or lightly treated topic. However, since money is so central to our lives, God could not possibly leave it out of the equation.
Money is a Tool
Money is neither good nor bad. It is simply a means of exchange that allows us to function here on Planet Earth. It also allows us to help the Kingdom spread more rapidly by providing goods and services that are necessary to open doors, spread the Gospel, etc. Of course, money can be used for good or bad purposes as well. Hopefully, we can learn to use our money wisely for the maximum growth of the Kingdom.
Overcoming Money Obstacles
From my vantage point, I see people in the Kingdom struggle with money for five reasons. Each of these is a bit different, and I will expand on them in future writings.
Some are not comfortable with this topic.
Some are not personally generous.
Some are not financially oriented.
Some are not creative with finances.
Some are not developing the “givers” around them.
God’s Attitude vs. Our Attitude
The only way to resolve our tension between our view of money and the Kingdom's view is to closely look at the attitudes of both God and ourselves. It doesn’t take long to see that God has a healthy, vibrant attitude toward finances. One of the best pieces of advice that I can give others is to learn what God thinks about a subject and then become like Him. Whatever He believes is always better than what we believe, if there is a difference.
Help is on the Way
The next five articles will deal with the above topics. I’ll give some practical ways to overcome each of them.
Happy Leman
The Vineyard Church // Urbana, IL