Monday, November 19, 2007

MONEY AND MOTIVES

It was Martin Luther who said, "There are three conversions a person
needs to experience: The conversion of the head. The conversion of the
heart. The conversion of the pocketbook."

It is worth noting that money is such an important topic in the Bible
that it is the main subject of nearly half of the parables Jesus told.
In addition, one in every seven verses in the New Testament deals with
this topic. The Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, fewer than 500 verses
on faith, and more than 2,000 verses on money. In fact, 15 percent of
everything Jesus ever taught was on the topic of money and
possessions-more than His teachings on heaven and hell combined.
Why such an emphasis on money and possessions? There is a fundamental
connection between our spiritual lives and how we think about and handle
money. When the tax collector, Zaccheus, was converted, he wanted to
right his wrongs. He declared to Jesus that he would give half his
possessions to the poor and would pay back four times the amount he had
overcharged anyone on their taxes. Zacchaeus' encounter with Christ
affected every aspect of his life, including his pocketbook.
We might recoil from any teaching on money, because such teaching is
sometimes abused and used for personal gain. But we need to get a proper
biblical perspective on this important subject. Let's consider the words
of Jesus in Matthew 6:
"Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be
seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before
you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they
may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their
reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand
know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in
secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you
openly." (Matthew 6:1-4 NKJV).
In other words, the heart of the matter is a matter of the heart. Over
and over again, our Lord comes back to motive, and He addresses it here
when He speaks of giving. Every believer should be giving a portion of
his or her finances to the Lord on a regular basis, but it should not be
done in an ostentatious way or in a manner that would draw unnecessary
attention. When people want to be noticed because of their giving, they
want others to think they are more spiritual than they really are. This
is hypocrisy.
When we give, when we pray, when we worship, or whatever we do, God is
looking at our hearts. Motive is everything. When you give, realize that
God is aware of it. It comes down to this: If we remember, God will
forget. If we forget, God will remember. Leave the bookkeeping to God.
In the same chapter, Jesus addressed the subject of possessions: "Do not
lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy
and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven . . . "(Matthew 6:19-20 NKJV).
The above phrase literally could be translated, "to lay up something
horizontally, as in storing it permanently." This verse isn't saying
that it is wrong to save or invest your money. What it is saying is that
it is wrong to accumulate possessions for the sake of accumulating them,
and more specifically, for the purpose of impressing others.
Jesus was not teaching against being blessed with material things. Of
the many instructions He gave, only once did He tell an individual to
sell his possessions and give them to the poor. This person was the
rich, young ruler, and Jesus recognized that he was possessed by his
possessions.
The point is, we are to keep things in perspective, recognizing that
everything we have comes from God and that He provides it for us with a
purpose in mind. Don't put your hope in material things. They will all
be gone some day. If your primary ambition is material things and then
you try to make your primary ambition the things of God, it won't work.
You can't do both. You need to make a decision. Invest in spiritual
things. Store up treasures in heaven.

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