Are you positioning yourself for His blessings?
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
(1 Chronicles 29:11-12, NIV)
God is the owner of EVERYTHING
As trustees of the resources God has provided, He allows us to temporally use our possessions. Our wealth is only temporary. The Lord is the true owner. In Deuteronomy 10:14 this is made quite clear: “To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.” Not just some things of this earth, but all things. Now if He holds these things and God is the true owner, should we handle things the way we feel they should be handled or the way God would want us to handle them? Of course, we should handle them the way God wants us to handle them. These instructions can be found in His Word.
If we are to follow Christ, we must transfer the ownership of our possessions to God. This entails a mind shift. The world tells us possession is nine tenths of the law and that we alone possess everything. A shift from a cultural view to a Godly view is difficult in an ungodly world. The shift is easy only when your change your perspective. Taking steps to align your thinking with God’s thinking does not happen overnight. The Holy Spirit must have time to work within your heart. I often say there are three conversions:
1) Your mind
2) Your heart
3) Your wallet
It takes time. However once it happens, your financial decisions tend to be viewed much differently than the world’s ways and thus become spiritual in every context.
Here are a few suggestions to begin this change of perspective:
1) Read over the verses I highlighted above and read them two times a day for the next month.
2) Pray, meditate, and memorize these verses.
3) Think of these verses every time you spend or make an investment/saving decision.
4) Constantly refer to your possessions (money, investments, personal items) as the Lord’s items. Say it out loud often. By passing ownership verbally and constantly, you will begin to develop a habit of transferring ownership.
We are ONLY “managers” of what God has given us
God chooses to distribute wealth where he sees fit. God chooses to bless one person more than others. In Matthew 25:15 we see this illustration: “To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey”. Why would God discriminate? He gave according to each person based on their abilities. The Lord not only distributes wealth and material possessions but also can take them away as Job learned. No material possessions can be taken to the next world and even Job understood this when he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” Even in Job’s darkest hour, he still understood this key principle.
Our purpose in life is to glorify God
The Lord will choose many ways to distribute wealth: inheritance, marriage to a wealthy individual, successful businesses, stock options, and successful stock market investments to name a few. God has entrusted certain levels of wealth to each of us according to our abilities. Handling these assets in a biblical manner is an intended purpose that God has for your life. Above all, our purpose in life is to glorify God and this includes our finances. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much” Luke 16:10. What are you doing today to show responsibility with what He entrusts to you? How are you positioning yourself for the blessings He has prepared for you?
Whether you have made money mistakes in the past or present, each day is a clean slate. Learn from your past mistakes and move on. Commit to learning more about His principles and how He instructs us to handle money. Commit to educating yourself about financial matters (saving, investing, gifting strategies, insurance, tax planning, etc.). Seek a qualified financial professional who shares your faith and values. Refer to www.kingdomadvisors.org or www.nacfc.com to find a competent Christian advisor in your area. Most of all, commit to doing something! God wants you to take the first step so He can guide and direct your path.
This article was written by Jay Peroni, CFP. Jay is the founder and editor of FaithBasedInvestor.com, a Christian stock investing newsletter. He is an author, speaker, and financial advisor. He’s been featured on Crosswalk.com, TheStreet.com, at ChristianPF.com. Jay started FaithBasedInvestor.com to help investors find investments they can be ?”proud to own”. For a FREE report on how to screen your investments and build a winning portfolio, go to FaithBasedInvestor.com.
Related posts:
Tagged as: 1 Chronicles 29:11-12, Asset Management, Bible Study, Stewardship