Devotional Time with God

One of my weakness in my finances in keeping good records.  I don’t budget.  I don’t forecast. I don’t write down where my money went.  The bible clearly states I have to keep a record:

Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.

Proverbs 27:23-24

Right now I’ve been diligent on keeping out of debt, and consciously trying to curb spending.  But if I don’t know what I’ve been spending, I’ll tend to spend more because I have the impression that I need more.

The accounting of my spending is important.  I need to obey God to avoid financial disaster.

Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and favor with men.

Luke 2:52

Jesus led with the example. As a man, He’s telling me, to grow mentally and intellectually. I must have learning goals. I must know what I need to do to increase my knowledge. Not just for myself, but for the good of the Lord.

Then physically I need to grow in physical health.  As the old saying goes, Men sana in corpore sano: In a healthy body there can be a healthy mind. I must take care of my body. Lose weight, lower blood pressure, avoid diabetes, avoid having a stroke. I must get in shape.

Also, I need to take care of my finances. This goes on without saying, as we need money to survive in this world. However, money doesn’t have to be the master of my life.  The bible said in Matthew 6:24, I can’t serve two masters.  Also in 1 Chronicles 29:9, I give my offering willingly to the Lord, when the leaders asked for the rebuilding of the house of the Lord.  Money is a tool to be used.  But first I need to create wealth – not take wealth.

Last, but not least, I must have a healthy relationship with others. Building a strong character means getting along with people. Being a leader means having a follower and be liked & loved. I must be kind to others and help whoever I can.

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Living in Southern California, it’s easy to get caught up in a self-worth race.  Looking around, people have bigger houses, bigger yards, bigger cars – and undoubtedly, bigger bank accounts.  Looking rich is looking good.  Even a dish washer in a restaurant drives a Lexus!

This obsession to have more is unhealthy.  All of this “stuff” that I have is merely on loan.  My God, the master of the universe, is the owner (Luke 16:12).  I don’t take my possessions to heaven.

I need to be different from this world.  I need to be transformed (Romans 12:2).  My thinking about money is to be directed towards bringing people to God.  It’s the way to store up my “treasures” in heaven (Matthew 6:20-21).

I need to be investing for eternity.

All of my life, I see my parents try hard to accumulate wealth.  They became wealthy, but had no time for family.  We were taken care of financially, but we were emotionally empty.  Now that I have my own family, I vowed not to fall into that trap.  I may be financially OK, but at least I can come home every night and weekends with my wife and kid.  We can still go vacation together and feel very close to each other.

The bible tells me that my “life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12:15). This world is fleeting.  It will come to pass and I’ll be with God after all of my days here.  Accumulation of possessions will be meaningless in heaven.

I need to accumulate love.  Love for my family, others, and that of the Father in heaven.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If you love the world, love for the Father  is not in you.   For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful people, the lust of their eyes and their boasting about what they have and do—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 2:15-17

I often asked God, “What is my purpose in life?”  Many times in this devotional, the common thing God has told me to do is: “Help others!”  Those words have been repeated so many times in the Bible, and in the testimonies of others.

My reminder today is to strive to help others more.

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Acts 20:35

God’s treasure is stored up in heaven.  This means my worldly needs and riches are irrelevant.  God blessed me here, on this earth, to help others.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21

I must focus on heaven.  Less focus on accumulating things on this earth.  More focus on helping others.

Thank you, Lord, for everything you’ve given me.  You’ve given me comfort and joy.  Most of all, you’ve blessed me with the every day needs for me and my family.  Now that I have it, I want to share it with others.  Please grant your wisdom that we may know the difference between compassion and fraud.  Move us in the direction of heaven.  I don’t want to lose sight of you, Jesus.  Amen.

fila/rgurov (philarguros)

• loving money, avarice

One thing this world teached me is that money is everything.  I’ll never have too much of it.   I must never have to little of it!  Money means security.  Money means comfort.  Money means status.

Money defines all aspects of my life.  It’s what I think about every day when I go to work.  How do I make more money?  What can I do to make my company more money?  Will my colleagues make enough money to make ends meet?

Money is in everyone’s mind these days too.  Will the economy improve so everyone has enough money to make ends meet?  Can the government cut spending so they’ll spend less of the people’s money?  When will Obama print more money to help us get out of debt?

It boggles my mind how money-centric I can be.

God certainly didn’t make me to think about money all the time.  He wants me to praise Him and be grateful that I’ve been given a life to live.  He wants me to help others, and not focus on hoarding all the money I can get.  I must not be crazy to choose money over eternity.

For people will be… lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth…

2 Timothy 3:2

It’s better to enjoy what we have than to always want something else, because that makes no more sense than chasing the wind.

Ecclesiastes 6:9

Enjoying what I have is something I’ve known to do for a while. I am happy to admit that I don’t have a grand ambition to own bigger, better, or shinier things. I have learned to be happy with what I have, as long as it’s not broken or unusable. It’s not say that I’ve not yearn more than my earning. I had thoughts about earning more money to buy more stuff. I even have been depressed and irritable when I don’t get what other people have. The bible warns me about wanting more money because I’m unsatisfied, in Ecclesiastes 5:10,

If you love money and wealth, you will never be satisfied with what you have. This doesn’t make sense either.

I must choose to love people. I must slow down on my wants and worldly desires. It is my choice.

In conclusion, this is the order that God blesses:

1. Dedicate money to God
2. Tithe it
3. Save it
4. Repay it
5. Enjoy it

If you plan and work hard, you will have plenty; if you get in a hurry, you will end up poor.

Proverbs 21:5

Earning my money slowly is a discipline. It teaches me good things come to those who wait. God always try to instill patience in me and in money matters, it’s no different. I have a bad habit of seeing something, and when I like it I make an effort to buy it. With things like Amazon 1-click purchase, that’s a dangerous thing. Impulse buying is really acting too quickly with my spending and it will get out of control – fast. The bible warns me about this in Proverbs 10:16

The earnings of the godly enhance their lives, but evil people squander their money on sin.

and in Proverbs 21:20

The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get.

I am an educated person, but for some reason I tend to spend more. My wisdom must include budgeting, planning my spending, and not squander everything that I have on things that are “On Sale”.

In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.

Proverbs 21:20

Saving money is God’s IQ test for me. Am I smart and wise enough to save money for rainy days? The idea of getting out of debt is first to give to God, then I have to give to myself. The rule is: 80-10-10, or 10% to God, 10% to savings, 80% to paying the bills.

I also have to watch out that I don’t fall into “Get Rich Quick” schemes. Money quickly gained is quickly lost. The love of money is the root of all evil. If I love money, I will use people. If I love people, I will use money.

I’ve been bitten by the envy monster several times in my life. Not only in the workplace for position of power, but also in material things. The “Gotta Have it!” attitude is raging in the media these days, and it’s more apparent here in United States. Americans are more in debt than the Europeans and Asians. It’s no wonder that we’re in debt because we seldom ask ourselves, “Do I really have to have this?” When I hold the envy monster, I will not go crazy on spending my savings.

I must learn the lesson from ants as they constantly store food. When the going get tough in the future, I will be ready when I have savings.

Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

Proverbs 3:9-10

This is God’s promise: He will overflow me with blessing if I give my first offering to Him. This is the concept of Tithe. It’s one of the most difficult concept in the bible because it requires a giant leap of faith to give 10% of my gross income to the Church. It’s a subject of controversy because people have concerns about giving that much money to a church that might abuse it. Of course, not all church will misuse it. I know for certain that Saddleback Church will not because Pastor Rick just offered the congregation a challenge: tithe for the next 3 months – if I’m not blessed, closer to God, and my life enriched, Rick will refund the money out of his own pocket! He strongly believe tithing works, and I do too. It happened in my life and I learned God’s blessing thru tithing.

Another important note is that tithing is for God. That means it’s an act of worship, in a house of worship. Tithing is for the church, not a third party charity or organization.

Tithing is a test of my trust in God. I trust my future in God with my faith in Him.