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July 22, 2009
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Winning with What You Have
Maybe you've been reading the articles I've written the last few weeks and asked yourself about the series I preached, How to Be Rich, and had some of the same questions I've had. Am I telling people that God wants them to have lots of money? Am I saying that if people follow God they will be rich? The answer is ... NO WAY. That is not the point at all.
The truth is it is not how to GET rich. It literally is how to BE rich. God led me to talk about (and share with you about) how to use what God has already given you. Remember, you are already rich. You are blessed with more than most people on the planet have. Just a fact.
But God is testing us. Can He trust you with more? Are you using what you have been given in the best way possible? Jesus said to us in Luke 16:10 that for us to be trusted with much, we have to be faithful with the small amount. That is the test.
Hey. I've been there. Feel like I am still there. Fact is I have failed and fail often. When we think that life is about us or making us more comfortable, we fail big time. Life is not and my stuff is not just for me and my family. It is all about serving His much bigger purpose than me. Yes, I'm part of that purpose, and God loves you and me very much. But we have got to change how we look at what we have and how we use it.
Here is what God says to you and me about what we have in 1 Timothy 6:17-19:
Tell those who have the riches of this world not to be arrogant and not to place their confidence in anything as uncertain as riches. Instead, they should place their confidence in God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. Tell them to do good, to do a lot of good things, to be generous, and to share. By doing this they store up a treasure for themselves which is a good foundation for the future. In this way they take hold of what life really is.
Placing our trust in anything other than God is wrong. That is when failure is certain. On the other side, success is sure when we are "generous" because we have vision for what God has for the future.
In this message I preached, I asked our church family to take the 90 DAY GIVING CHALLENGE which is a big deal. We asked people who have never given to give for 90 days, and if they were unsatisfied with the outcome and that God didn't bless them, that they could have a full refund of what they gave during those 90 days. We had a few people who were already giving get honest and begin to give more in this time. We also had a few people begin giving. You should have heard their stories. God blessed them in huge ways. More about that next time.
I believe that God calls us to create margin in our lives. That is margin with our money so we will have more money than we have month. Create margin in your calendar where you have more time to spend with God and the things that matter (things like family and serving others). As you and I create that margin we will see that we are blessed in big ways, and because we are blessed, we can give more and do more with what we have. That is the secret to success and building real margin into our lives.
Let me use this last few sentences to invite you back next week. The next article will talk about how our money lies to us. We will examine how we give to the church and the ministries that we believe in. My point in the How to Be Rich series is to have you walk away knowing that God will use us and what we have in bigger ways if we will trust Him with it all.
Michael Harrison has impressed me with his commitment to building the Kingdom through the ministry of the local church. And he has struggled through what that means as it related to personal finances as well as church financial development. He preached a series recently called How to Be Rich. I've asked him to share some commentary on what happened both in and out of the pulpit as he bravely dealt with what some pastors believe to be a four-letter word ... cash. I'm delighted he agreed to share his thoughts. Be sure to check out his blog too.
Related Post:
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Love More ... Expect Less
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Good News & Bad News
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Meet Joe Sangl
Posted by bstroup at July 22, 2009 8:08 AM
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