God, Me and Money

When it comes to our faith, money can be a controversial topic. It’s often debated in church, and people split into different groups over the ideology of it. Some adhere to a prosperity gospel. Others speak against the idea of a prosperity gospel, leaving a divide and confusion on this subject.

So how do we process money and our faith in God?

This is huge because all of us know that we need money to function in our daily responsibilities. It’s a part of our culture. God created the idea of economy to function as people in the earth. In fact, God gave laws to his people in the Old Testament about how to handle interest, loans and money with each other. This shows us that God is concerned about money and has created a system and a plan that can work for our lives individually and beyond.
We also know from Scripture that not everyone is going to be rich. Jesus said the poor you will have with you always (John 12:8). Therefore, we have a responsibility to receive His blessings and then to give blessings away to others. In this we can show the goodness of God. Money and our faith are to be intertwined, not separated. It’s our faith in God that we build our lives on, and through that God has promised to bless us in ways we can’t even contain (Malachi 3:10-13).

However, there is a big misunderstanding about the money from the Scriptures. Many believe that money is “the root of evil” and it’s wrong to seek wealth. But this is imbalanced just like thinking that all Christians should be poor. Either thought is incomplete.

“For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”
1 Timothy 6:10

Notice, it’s the love of money that is the root of all kinds of evil. Money in itself is not bad. Our job is to love God with all of our hearts, souls, and minds. Through our faith in God, He desires to bless us with resources to receive provision and to help others. We shouldn’t be confused, money in itself is not evil. The scripture says it’s the love of money that’s the root of all kinds of evil.

Our job is to resist greed of all forms. The rich and the poor can both have greed. Our hearts and our hands must be open to God so that His love, grace and blessings flow to us and through us for His purpose to be completed.

There is a reason why Jesus spoke more about money than heaven or hell. Money is deeply attached to our hearts. We work hard for money, we put a lot of effort into our work, our business and our education to have a good career and more. God is not asking for us to give Him everything, He’s asking us to give Him what is His. When we honor God with tithes and offerings, He promises to do with it what we can’t. This is not a rich-quick scheme from the church. This is not a scheme to make a preacher rich. This is not a scheme to get everything we want. This is a plan from God to cause our hearts to be right about money and to receive what He has for us.

Being blessed financially is a sign of God’s grace in our lives. But it is not the badge we wear to ascribe the level of our faith. We should never equate riches with having great faith. There are a lot of poor people that have great faith. However, God does want to bless His people and there is nothing wrong with being rich in faith and being rich in finances. What He requires is that we love Him first and that we seek His kingdom above all else. Doing that empowers us to receive blessings that are beyond our ability.

I encourage you, God has a blessing for you. Follow His plan, open your heart and give to Him freely. He has amazing blessings for you. Overcome the idea of schemes and being rich quick. That’s not in the Bible. But what is in the Bible is God blessing his people when they obey Him. God has something good for you. It may not all happen in one day, but over time as you trust and bless Him, He will provide and do amazing things for you. He will open doors that no man can close, and He will open up avenues of blessing that will humble you.

God can take what we give and do what we can’t with it.

I pray His blessings to you, I pray His goodness to you, as the best is yet to come.

Have a great week,