God's Wealth

Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you. (Oscar Wilde)

I enjoy following your rules as much as others enjoy great riches. (Psalm 119:14)

Some will follow every scheme known to man, or create a new one, in order to obtain some form of 'riches', but they seldom last, nor do they bring the ultimate pleasure one believed possible. We can measure 'wealth' in various ways, but if we seek 'wealth' in forms that take us away from following God with all our hearts, then the 'wealth' we seek is flawed. God's riches oftentimes cannot be measured in terms society really understands.

"There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men." (Billy Graham) While I agree with Graham, I would add that there are riches that can 'possess a man' that are really not wrong for mankind. Those riches are measured in how well the Word of God is known to us, has influenced our choices, and is able to direct our path each day. These are riches unknown to many and cannot be 'bought or sold'. 

Riches are not a bad thing, but there are some that can control us without us even knowing we are headed down that path. Whenever our focus is on how much we want some 'thing' that is outside of our reach, we need to ask ourselves if it is really going to add good things to our lives. The Word of God and the commands contain within may seem like they are a little 'out of our reach' at times, but whenever we ask God to incorporate those truths into our lives, we are always made better.

Great riches are enjoyable - especially when they are the riches that come from knowing God, understanding his plans, seeing how he works in our lives and the lives of others. It is a good thing to pursue God's 'wealth' with all our hearts, souls, and minds. It is the pursuit that will be greatly rewarded in the end. Just sayin!

Rich, but poor?

Jesus said to them, “Be careful and guard against all kinds of greed. Life is not measured by how much one owns.” ...who will get those things you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be for those who store up things for themselves and are not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:15, 20-21)

Do we own it, or does it own us? It is sometimes hard to decide which one actually is the truth, but a sure way to find out is how we react when it is taken from us. Remember Job? He had riches galore, a large family, lots and lots of herds of animals, crops in abundance - in essence, he had it all. He was a good man, known in the community to be faithful to his family, considerate of others, a good friend. Then one day, it was taken from him. He lost the crops, herds began to die, family members were lost, and he found himself sitting on a hill of dung, scraping boils on his body with a broken shard of pottery. If you or I were to face similar circumstances today, how might we react?

It took some 'talking it out with God' to get all the things off his chest he really didn't understand. He asked repeatedly why all these events were transpiring - something I know God didn't mind. He might have even began to question his faith a bit - another thing I don't think God minds us talking with him about. There are times when we just don't understand our 'losses' - times when we might call into question our own beliefs and where it is we have put our trust. If our trust has been placed in the 'things' and not in God himself, our faith will falter a lot. If we find ourselves bemoaning our 'losses', but keeping God at the center of our prayers, it is likely we have placed our faith in the Creator and not the creation.

God's plan is for us to be rich toward him - not ourselves. We can amass all manner of 'goods' and 'things' that really don't fill the empty space in our spirit but might just fill more than one empty space in our homes, garages, workshops, or storage rooms. We would be happy with our riches for a while, but the reality of the 'hole' in our spirits would still be there. We need to remember that Christ desires to fill us to overflowing with all manner of good blessings, but they begin on the inside and are not stored in garages! We might be 'rich' to some, but we are 'poor' where it really counts. Just sayin!

Life Hack #7 - Hidden Treasure

Life Hack #7:

Riches are elusive - especially when we are pursuing them. Riches seldom fall into our laps, delivered on a silver platter, all nice and neat. We have to pursue, labor, direct our focus, and spend a whole lot of time going after them. Riches are not "prohibited" or "bad" for a Christian, but they are not the end-all - the main pursuit in life. We need to discover where our true riches are and how they are obtained, maintained, and continually refreshed.

Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich; restrain yourself! Riches disappear in the blink of an eye; wealth sprouts wings and flies off into the wild blue yonder. (Proverbs 23:4-5)

Our true riches are not the "things" or "bank balance" we attain, but the richness of God's grace, love, and purpose in our lives. What we often find ourselves doing is pursuing what we "think" will make us happy in some sense, rather than accepting what we can "count on" to fulfill us totally. Once we determine our actions as either "pursuing" or "accepting", we might have a little indicator of what types of riches we are after in this lifetime! Those which elude us need to be pursued - those which are gifted to us need to be accepted.

God's grace and love are "accepted" riches - we "amass" them at the point of our acceptance of the sacrificial death of Christ and the placement of our hope in his finished work on the cross. We "accrue" these riches into our lives the longer we walk with Jesus and learn of him. Today's grace will be built upon tomorrow, and tomorrow's grace will increase even more into infinity. We are not really amassing "more" - just coming to appreciate the significance of his grace and love more fully each day. We are truly receiving, not pursuing, because God pursues US in order to bring us close to him. We just nuzzle up in response to his love and grace - this is what we often refer to as pursuing him.

Earthly treasures are fine - they fulfill a purpose in this life here on earth. Things like food, housing, clothing, and enough money to keep the lights on I am trusting God to provide - giving me good health and the ability to interact with life around me. What I am focused on daily is the purposeful spending of time getting into his Word, allowing it to get into me, and letting his still-small-voice speak into the depths of my spirit. We are unaware of the magnitude of God's riches until we allow him to reveal them to us. God wants us to beware of the "pursuit" of what doesn't really last. In turn, he hopes we will learn the meaning of our true "wealth" or "riches" - Jesus Christ. To be a child of God is to come into the fullness of all the "wealth" of God's Kingdom. Don't live to pursue what really doesn't matter in the end! Just sayin!

Bless 'em

Although the mass hysteria to purchase truckloads of toilet paper has died down, there is still a significant shortage of the stuff we need on the grocer's shelves. The truckloads of goods come and go, but there still doesn't seem to be a restock of all that once existed on the shelves. I have observed more and more posts telling us how to 'make yeast' from various household items because it is scarce in the markets. We see posts proclaiming new ways to create hand sanitizer from aloe and isoprophyl alcohol; kitchen wipes using a half roll of paper towels submerged in a small amount of bleach and water solution; or even the re-emergence of the use of hydrogen peroxide to sanitize items. As the saying goes, "Necessity is the mother of invention." Some are more than 'well-stocked', having amassed a great deal of resources for their 'quarantined existence', while others are still frequenting the stores at the earliest time possible in hopes of obtaining just a few things they really need in order to make it through this week. There is nothing wrong with being prepared, or even wise in how we use things we already have, but when we deny others the very thing they have real need of in their lives, is this what God would want? While we could apply this to our 'stockpiles' of quarantine goods, we can equally apply it to the good things we have in our lives that God has provided all along in life. How about that good sense of humor - give it away to others who are needing a good laugh today. What about your gift of song - find a corner in your yard and let it rip - bless someone today with a melody of praise and worship. Maybe it is your talent to create - dig out that sewing machine, hunker down and sew a few masks for your local food bank workers so they can continue to meet the needs of the hungry while staying protected themselves. We all have so much to give from what is already in our 'resource rich' lives, but it takes action to give!

As the saying goes: Those who love money will never be satisfied with money, and those who love riches will never be happy with what they have. This, too, is fleeting. The more goods there are, the more people there are to consume them. How does any of this really benefit the owners except they can gaze proudly on their possessions? Sweet sleep comes to those who work hard, regardless of how much or how little they’ve eaten. But the abundance of the rich keeps them awake at night. (Ecclesiastes 5:10-12)

We all have things we can give in this time of great need across our countries. It may not have been much in the eyes of some with greater wealth, but even the widow's mite blessed the socks off of God! You and I have some form of a 'widow's mite' in our possession, but we have to be willing to give it away in order for it to be a blessing to anyone. We could not be more trusting of God's provision than to use what he has given us so freely to allow a blessing to come into another's life. This blog won't be long today because it is merely intended to give us food for thought. What is it you 'possess' that you can put to use today to bless another? What is it you have been gifted with as a talent that could be put to good use in order to create something of usefulness that would meet the need of someone who cannot meet their own need right now? Maybe you can still drive and are well enough to shop around the stores - be a blessing to those who cannot. Perhaps you have a high pressure washer and you could ask your neighbors if you could be a blessing by washing out their trash receptacles for them while you have time on your hands. You could place a large cardboard box at the edge of your driveway with a large sign indicating you are collecting non-perishable donations for a local shelter or food bank - then take it down to them once it is filled. There are tons of ways to be a blessing right now - using this quarantined time to do more than binge watch TV or surf the net. Begin by asking God to show you how to bless others and then be open to what he shows you to do! Just thinkin....

Maybe not the lifestyle you planned

When I was a young adult, one of the shows gaining popularity was this show which featured lots and lots of well-to-do people and how they lived.  It was called "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", featuring Robin Leach "showing off" the homes of those who enjoyed what some considered an "elite" lifestyle. Ball players from major leagues, actors and actresses, and a myriad of other rather insanely rich people had opulent homes and properties which made eyes pop and people dream about what it would be like to live with such luxury.  It must have hit the mark for many a TV viewer as the series ran for 11 years!  One home caught my attention more than any of the others.  It was the one Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz lived in located in Beverly Hills, California.  Why?  I think it was the simplicity of their lifestyle in a region where "magnitude", "frills", and "effect" were all the rage.  Their home looked like a "regular" home from the outside - just another home out of an era gone by.  Sure, they had a pool and a nice lounging area in the backyard, but the home looked "lived in" and kind of like what "regular" people would be able to inhabit.  All the other homes we saw were massive in comparison, with all kinds of "bells and whistles".  I think this is why this one stuck with me - complete with card table, clean kitchen and piano. Nothing screams for attention more than the "gaudiness" of trying to "put on the Ritz" like so many of those portrayed did in their homes.  Nothing shows the shallowness of life quite like the need to "show" what one has.  Lest anyone think I am equating Lucille Ball's lifestyle to the one we all need to adopt, I am merely comparing two obviously differing "philosophies" on how one will handle their wealth or good fortune in life.  What we have is one thing, who we are at the core of our being is quite another!  What we have may be on "display" in life for others to admire and drool over; what we display from the recesses of our heart is what really speaks the loudest though!

The lifestyle of good people is like sunlight at dawn that keeps getting brighter until broad daylight. The lifestyle of the wicked is like total darkness, and they will never know what makes them stumble. (Proverbs 4:18-19 CEV)

The closer we draw to Christ, the brighter our lifestyle becomes.  The evidence of his presence begins to "ooze" out of the recesses of our heart - we cannot contain what he creates within us - it is meant to be shared.  It may not be the same "opulence" displayed in those "Lifestyle" homes, but let me assure you, it rises above even the most elaborate and fancy of those!  Our lives are mirror images of what we spend time facing long enough.  For example, turn toward sports frequently enough as something which consumes your attention and you will find your home begins to reflect this "affection".  You will decorate in the team colors, display a few team memorabilia, and even begin to talk stats about team performance.  This is just part-and-parcel with being a "fan" or "devotee" to the sport!  Now, think about considering Christ in just the same manner. If we are dedicating just as much time to him, we might just see a little bit of him reflected back to us in all we say and do!

We sometimes think the more we focus on something the closer we will be to obtaining it in our own lives.  Yet, so much of what we spend time focusing on is just an elusive object, position, or scheme.  The truth of the matter is pretty plain - we focus on the wrong stuff and then wonder why we don't see more of Christ manifest in our lives.  Unless we spend time looking into the mirror of his face, we won't see what he sees!  Even when we spend just a little time with him each and everyday, we become more and more like him just because we begin to see reflected back some of his glory and "brightness" in our lives. It is impossible to behold the presence of God and not be affected by it!  In much the same way as "big dreamers" were affected by seeing the show I referenced above, we can be affected by time with Jesus.  Many think it has to be dedicated time on our knees, long hours in church, and the like.  I am here to challenge that a little bit today.

It isn't the "quantity" of time - it is the quality.  Do we spend enough time in the Word?  To answer that I would have to ask you if the Word is having an affect on you, regardless of whether you read a verse or two, or an entire chapter. The quantity isn't the issue - it is the quality.  Do we spend time in prayer in the "right" way?  I am not a "kneeler", so I pray on my feet, sitting in the car on the way to work, when someone comes into my office, and while just sitting reflecting on the beauty of the garden.  Prayer is just talking to God about the regular stuff of life.  It isn't always this structured, totally organized methodology.  I won't win any points on "organization" as it comes to my prayers.  I just let them flow and let God take care of putting "organization" to them.  Do we spend enough time with his people?  I guess this is up for interpretation for most.  I have been a three service a week church-goer, to a one service a week church-goer.  I have attended small groups and gone periods without one.  There is a balance which must be maintained between it all.  This is all I am saying.

The most telling part of walking with Jesus is the evidence of us having walked with him.  This is the focus of my life and the hope I have for each of you. When others look upon your "lifestyle", my prayer is that they don't see the "opulence" of the world, but that which comes from having beheld the face of Jesus!  Just sayin!

What must I do to be really, really rich?

The scriptures are full of conundrums - those "life riddles" which get us to thinking a little bit, but almost seem "counter-intuitive".  It is this idea of "getting us to thinking" which I believe God might just have in mind, for all action begins in thought and all thought has one of two outcomes - good or bad.  When the thing presented is "counter-intuitive" it can be a little hard to understand.  If you have studied the New Testament, you will likely remember a wealthy Jewish man coming to Jesus one day and asking Jesus what he must do have eternal life.  Jesus responds with somewhat of a conundrum to this young ruler.  He references the goodness of God and tells the young man he must keep God's commandments.  That is all well and good, but the rich young ruler wants to know "which ones" he must obey.  Isn't that just like us?  We hear "keep his commandments" and we want to know where there is "wiggle room"!  So, Jesus lists a few of the "biggies" and the rich young ruler is bolstered in his confidence of entering into eternal life as he proudly announces, "I have kept all of those!"  Then he asks the further question, "What ELSE must I do?"  Uh oh...now he has gone meddling!  To this Jesus replies, "If you want to be perfect, go sell everything you own.  Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come and be my follower." (Matthew 19:16-21)  As you may well expect, the young ruler was a little disheartened by this answer.  If he had just left "well enough" alone, he might have stood a chance!  Yet, in the answer Jesus gave there was a hidden meaning having nothing to do with the wealth we amass, but what the wealth does with our heart. Never forget God's purpose is to redeem our hearts!

Sometimes you can become rich by being generous or poor by being greedy.  Generosity will be rewarded: Give a cup of water, and you will receive a cup of water in return. Charge too much for grain, and you will be cursed; sell it at a fair price, and you will be praised. Try hard to do right, and you will win friends; go looking for trouble, and you will find it. Trust in your wealth, and you will be a failure, but God’s people will prosper like healthy plants. (Proverbs 11:24-28 CEV)

Richness or a state of poverty are really based not on what is in our bank account or what we wear on our backs.  It is based on what is in our hearts.  This is what Jesus wanted the man to really know - the freedom of heart which follows with full abandon.  Too often we have become "followers" of Jesus, only to find we are trying to do so with hearts so full of other stuff we cannot really allow him much room there!  Yes, God is after a generous heart, but generosity is a state of being which stems from a heart that realizes the intensity of God's love first!  I think this is what Jesus had in mind as he revealed this man's heart - he was holding onto what he had amassed (his accomplishments, his position, his power) while Jesus was asking him to accept what all true believers trust in - Jesus' accomplishments, his power, and his position at the right hand of God the Father.

I am not into prosperity teaching, so if you are I might just step on your toes for a moment here.  God never declared we could "name it and claim it" - I don't really see that in scripture.  In the same way, he never really declared we have to be penniless and barren of any "substance" in the realm of material things.  He DID remind us several times about how these things can give us a false sense of security and can become the primary focus in our lives, making very little room for Jesus!  To this end, he reminds us repeatedly these things are not eternal - they don't last past the grave!  They don't pave our way into eternity.  They may make life enjoyable while we are here, but they don't make life any different for us at the foot of the cross!

The scripture is quite clear - you overcome poverty by your generosity; you get consumed into poverty when you hold onto "stuff" too tightly.  Nothing enriches us more than laying down what we have for another - nothing robs us more than to hold on so tightly to what we have that others are denied a blessing.  It is more than our riches in a material sense that God is after here - he is after our very lives.  Richness comes in laying down our own self-directed intention to live by our own measures of goodness and to take up the goodness which only grace can produce.  Poverty comes in denying we need God's "grace riches" to make us truly "wealthy".  

The conundrum is - give to get; lay down to receive; deny to be blessed; leave to follow.  All are polar opposites and all produce the same result - poverty when we hold on or stay behind; riches when we let go and move forward with Jesus.  Just sayin!

Material or Immaterial - you decide

Christopher Columbus once said, "Riches don't make a man rich, they only make him busier."  Maybe there is more to this little bit of wisdom than first meets the eye!  The writer of Ecclesiastes said it this way:  If you have to work hard for a living, you can rest well at night, even if you don’t have much to eat. But if you are rich, you can’t even sleep. (5:12 CEV).  The riches we amass are both material and immaterial, but the ones which seem to give us the greatest of concern are the material.  They require so much of our attention and the last "big thing" we managed to get is almost outdated or not as useful or as good within just a short time of attaining it.  I could spend a great deal of time lamenting the many purchases I have bought over the years only to share how disappointing they were because they didn't perform "as seen on TV" or they simply were outdated within just a short time of getting them.  The this which never goes out of style or "outdates" are the immaterial things I can "amass" over the course of a lifetime.  Things like memories - they may grow old, but they never "outdate".  Things like friendships - they may evolve into deeper, personal relationships over time, but they don't "outdate".  Something which is outdated is antiquated, obsolete, and what some may call "old fashioned".  I don't know about you, but there are some pretty "old fashioned" things in my life and I kind of like them!

What is the best thing to do in the short life that God has given us? I think we should enjoy eating, drinking, and working hard. This is what God intends for us to do. Suppose you are very rich and able to enjoy everything you own. Then go ahead and enjoy working hard—this is God’s gift to you. God will keep you so happy that you won’t have time to worry about each day. (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 CEV)

My best friend and I joke frequently about one of our favorite pastimes - eating!  We make light of the fact that any day spent creating or enjoying good food is a good day indeed.  I cannot help but think this way as I enjoy not only the good food, but the good friends I share that food with!  Even a bologna sandwich and a cup of tomato soup on a cold day with my BFF is like gourmet cuisine in my book!  It isn't the "much" we can bring to the table, but the "beauty" of each other that makes the time so awesome.  We don't have to spend lots and lots of time in deep conversation.  In fact, sometimes we just share what it is in a particular game we are playing which will help us to finish our quest!  Now, for non-gamers that may seem a little trivial, but let me assure you, some of those quests are hard and a little help from a friend can go along way.  As a matter of fact, my son was over the other day and I asked him to help me get past a particular level in one of those matching games.  He took my phone, worked it out, and handed it back to me.  Finally, I had advanced past the level I had been stuck on for nearly two weeks!  Not much to you?  Everything to me!  Why?  I had time with my son and he got to "school" his mom in how it was done!  Priceless!

Many times we complain about the fact we have to work for a living.  Sometimes we mean it and other times we are making light of the fact we have to get up each day and dress, drive, and engage in whatever it is we do for a living.  I have been out of work for a couple of weeks again with disability for the knee.  I am going absolutely stir crazy around the house.  God just didn't make us to sit around non-productive all the time.  I have payment coming in for my disability, one of the great benefits I have from my workplace, but I find working kind of rewarding.  It is hard, and at times I want to pull my hair out at some of the silly stuff we have to do (or the silly stuff someone else does which makes us have to do what we do!). Yet, in the complexity of the work, I find reward.  Now, that isn't a sick mind my friends - it is a mind doing what God made a mind to do!  We are to enjoy our work - because it is what God has given us to do.

In examining our lives, there are simple things we do each and everyday which deserve more of our attention than others.  Things like letting our sons "school" us in an online game, or sharing stories over a cup of soup with a friend who just needs to talk about the "regular" stuff of life.  It isn't much, you may even think it trivial, but in the light of eternity, it is everything!  The immaterial "things" we amass deserve focus, too - not just the mad rush to get the material!  We cannot underestimate the value of our relationships - for to lose even one is to lose a great deal.  We cannot overestimate the value of our wealth and riches - for to lose them will leave us wanting and haggard.  We need a balance between the material and the immaterial "riches" we can amass.  I guess it is this balance I'd like us to focus on as we come into the new year.  Balance is where we will find our greatest reward - not in the getting of more, but in the enjoyment of what we already have and building upon that until we see it prosper and multiply!  Just sayin!

Principle 7: Know What Riches Are

Riches are elusive - especially when we are pursuing them.  Riches seldom fall into our laps, delivered on a silver platter, all nice and neat.  Instead, we have to pursue, labor, direct our focus, and spend a whole lot of time going after them.  Now, don't get me wrong - I don't want to live in a cardboard box, but if we just begin to consider this a little, we might just get a little insight into our seventh principle for living with a solid foundation in life.  Riches are not "prohibited" or "bad" for a Christian, but they are not the end-all!  I think our purpose today is to discover where our true riches are and how they are obtained, maintained, and continually refreshed.  

Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich; restrain yourself!  Riches disappear in the blink of an eye; wealth sprouts wings and flies off into the wild blue yonder.  (Proverbs 23:4-5 MSG)

To be certain, our riches are really not the things or "bank balance" we attain, but the richness of God's grace, love, and purpose in our lives.  What we often find ourselves doing is pursuing what we "think" will make us happy in some sense, rather than accepting what we can "count on" to fulfill us totally.  Look at the two words I used there - pursuing and accepting.  Once we determine our actions as either "pursuing" or "accepting", we might just have a little bit of an indicator of what types of riches we are after in this lifetime!  Those which elude us need to be pursued - those which are gifted to us need to be accepted.

God's grace and love are "accepted" riches - we "amass" them at the point of our acceptance of the sacrificial death of Christ and the placement of our hope in his finished work on the cross.  We "accrue" these riches into our lives the longer we walk with Jesus and learn of him.  Today's grace will be built upon tomorrow, and tomorrow's will increase even more, and so on.  We are not really amassing "more" - just coming to appreciate the significance of his grace and love more fully each day.  We are truly receiving, not pursuing, because God pursues US in order to bring us close to him.  We just nuzzle up in response to his love and grace - this is what we often refer to as US pursuing him. 

Earthly treasures are fine - they fulfill a purpose in this life here on earth.  I need a car to get back and forth to work, and God has blessed me with a very reliable one.  I need clothing to cover my nakedness, but it is not the clothing which truthfully adorns me.  I require food to keep my body functioning correctly and at optimum health, but food is not what I pursue.  These are things I am trusting God to provide - giving me good health and the ability to work well in my chosen profession.  What I am focused on daily is the purposeful spending of time getting into his Word, allowing it to get into me, and letting his still-small-voice speak into the depths of my spirit.

There is a joke which goes something like this:  A man meets an angel one day and is told today is his time to leave this earth. He is given the opportunity to take anything from this earth he wants - just one thing.  He chooses all the gold he has amassed in his treasury.  When he arrives in heaven, he is greeted by the same angel.  The angel questions him about his choice of bringing the gold.  The man says he has worked hard for it and the angel says, "Yeah, but I just don't understand why you brought paving material to heaven!"  We are unaware of the magnitude of God's riches until we allow him to reveal them to us.  Our writer wants us to beware of the "pursuit" of what doesn't really last. In turn, he hopes we will learn the meaning of our true "wealth" or "riches" - Jesus Christ.  To be a child of God is to come into the fullness of all the "wealth" of God's Kingdom.  Don't live to pursue what amounts to "paving material" in God's economy!  Just sayin!