Tuesday, September 28, 2004

What 'on earth' is God's financial design for us


The more that I reflect on God's design for our finances, I really believe that we are missing the mark. God promises to give us all that we need. What does that look like. Is it that new van, that new house, that new wardrobe, the new furniture, the sporting events we attend? or are these things a false hope that blind us from the true heart of God. I am really starting to believe that the worlds system has trapped us into a place where we are bound by financial debt. It is my goal to find out what the biblical intent is for God's people in the area of finances. I know that God says in Romans 13:8 'Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law'. By no means do I state that I have the answers, however I do feel that we are under the world system and need to break free from that. We serve a God that has all of the resources in the world (literally). I keep thinking about the parable of the talents. The man entusts three men with his money, then goes away leaving the money at their disposal. I'll bet the first man really wanted a new camel, and thought 'hey I deserve this camel, I have had my old camel for years and hey I now have 4 more talents, that I didn't have before'...but intead he invested it and got a 100 % return on his investment. The third man hid the money and got nothing back with the money that was given him. How much are we like that. God gives us money and we go spend it on 'good things' yet all the while we don't get a return on our investment (except house buying) The master blessed those that were faithful with his finances and he entrusted more to them. However the one that squandered his money and didn't put it to work, lost his money and his masters blessing. This is where I question our spending, are we missing out on God's true blessing in finances because we are being too quick to bury it? What could happen if we truly got ourselves out of debt and learned to live within our means? I beleive that then God could truly have dominion over our finances and we would recieve the masters blessing. I know I want to hear "Well done good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; (the test) now (the blessing) I will put you in charge of many things. Come and enter into your master's happiness"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I thought I might add the following excerpt which, at this moment, I am contempating including in a POSSIBLE master's thesis:

“Continuous growth is the the philosophy of a cancer cell”. I read this on a bumper sticker and a light went on in my head. For years I have been trying to figure out how to design a Biblically based economic system, or maybe more to the point what is God's design for us regarding economics.

Even a cursory reading of some biblical passages regarding economics indicates that we are currently light years from God's intent. A one year honeymoon? (Deuteronomy 24:5) Taking every seven years off? (Leviticus 25:4) Who can afford these things things? Certainly not anyone I know, but what if our entire thinking is wrong? What if capitalism is evil and I am trying to understand righteousness from the perspective of evil? (1 Corinthians 1:18)

(There is more but it is intellectual property not available for public viewing)

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