Everyone struggles with something. Maybe it’s alcohol, a food addiction, cursing, or, like me, you struggle with a very real battle that rages inside of you – the desire for material things; for more stuff.
This is definitely my weak spot. Several years ago, I was drowning in credit card debt and was in bondage to a small, rectangular piece of plastic. Thankfully, through God’s mercy and grace, He lifted me out of the pit of debt and freed me from my bondage to credit cards.
Thankfully, I am no longer consumed with the desire to have more stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I still have days where I really want new clothes, but they don’t come as often as they used to. Just this weekend I went to the mall and walked away empty handed. I looked at the price tags and felt utterly disgusted at what clothes cost.
I am amazed at how God continually works to make my desires match up with His. He has used this adoption, as yet another way, to further refine this area of my life.
The other day I was listening to KLOVE and one of the radio hosts said something really profound. Ponder this….
Every dollar we have and every minute that we are given can be used for one of two things. We can use our time and resources to plant seeds into the world or to plant seeds into God’s eternal kingdom. Where are you planting seeds?
For so many years, I was planting all my seeds into the world. I fell into the trap of believing what the world said…. That I needed the name-brand dress or the trendy pair of shoes to be happy and fulfilled. I was buying material things, hoping they would fill a void in my heart that only God could fill.
I look back now and would give anything to have back the $12,000 I sowed into the world. That $12,000 would have come in handy for our adoption. I could have used it to make an eternal difference in the life of a child.
I want to plant seeds for God's kingdom. I want to have a heart for the things of God, not for the things of this world.
The Bible says "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy. For where your treasure is, your heart will also be. No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." (Matthew 6:19,21 and 24)
I want to be content with what I have. I have so much compared to the rest of the world. I don't want to be in constant need of more. I just want God! He is more than enough....
"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that." (1st Timothy 6:6-8)
Yesterday at church, we had a great message about money and how nothing is more telling of our hearts towards God than how we spend our money.
Todd gave us 5 ways to help combat the dark side of money after we have asked Jesus to change our hearts about money.
1. Be realistic about our global wealth – realize that we are filthy rich compared to most places around the world. The average worldly salary is $2 a day.
2. Create an atmosphere were confession can happen – if you’re married this should be with the person you share a bank account with.
3. Discover ways to get in touch with the poor.
4. Renounce words like “mine” and “my” – everything we have belongs to God. God makes it available to us, but it isn’t ours.
5. GIVE…GIVE AWAY! When we give it destroys the foothold of greed. We should give generously. It needs to hurt. But if we give, expecting something in return, it’s still greed.
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