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I’m starting a new weekly post titled, “Finance Fridays.” I often scour blog and articles on the internet, magazines and newspapers, and people, for advice on various aspects of how to do finances. Shortly after graduating college with more credit card debt than I could handle, I committed to make it a priority to grow a Biblical view of finances and stewardship. I submit my weekly reflections on the topic.
How we see what belongs to God speaks to how we view our finances. For many years, I saw my finances and resources serve me. How I earned them testified to my hard-work, my luck and/or God’s gift to me. What was given to me was to be mine.
Some of the implications of this paradigm led me to believe that all resources and finances were within my power to disperse. And because the Bible had mandated a 10% tithe, the rest belonged to me. Faithfulness was measured whether I would part ways with 10% of my finances.
In the past few years, I have been meditating and reflecting on the truth that all resources and finances belong to God. In Genesis 1.26, God creates man to have dominion on the things that he created on the day before. And in his instructions to humanity, he offered them a gift all of the things that he had created, whether they be creatures or plants.
And as we walk with God through Scripture, we are reminded time and again that God is the owner of all things. In Psalm 50.12, we read God confessing, “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world and all that is in it is mine.” And in Mark 12.1-11, Jesus tells a parable that reminds his audience that God is the owner of all things.
It all belongs to God. Our possessions, our resources, and our money belong to God. He has gifted us with various resources to live and to use toward his glory. When I forget that it all belongs to God, I operate with a scarcity mentality where I try to make sure that I am in control of everything. It limits my ability to be generous and hospitable.
But when I see God as the owner of all things, I recognize that my faithfulness is not measured by giving 10%, but how I manage my financial life in general: Do my spending habits glorify God or glorify myself? Am I using my money toward God’s glory or my own? Does my hope rely on my bank account or in Jesus? Does my worth come from God or from materials?
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Great post Eddy. Especially in our age of the popularly pagan “health & wealth” message about our money, the biblical reminder that we are mere stewards at best of someone else’s resources is a critical corrective. I once read a quote by the TBN folks that they see giving/tithing as “lending to God.” I know many sincere Christians who give in hopes of receiving, instead of giving because of what we’ve received. It is the Malachi 3 passage overextended.
Thank you Eddy for this post. I’m excited to keep reading this series. It’s funny that one of Jesus’ teachings about money, the issue of it belonging to the individual doesn’t even exist. It’s, “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.” (Please don’t say I support theocracy or socialism because of citing that passage.) I think the point Jesus makes in Mark 12 shows that everything is God’s anyway, as you mentioned.
I was recently listening to a radio preacher — I can’t remember who it was — and he went on a quick tangent about money. The sermon was all over the place, but his tangent stuck out to me. His picture of stewardship revolved around the 10% tithe (a debate I don’t wish to have at this moment). He pointed out that many Christians don’t even tithe and said that people put more trust in 10% of their income than in God. Whatever we may think about the rigidness of 10%, I thought his point was well put.
I’d also like to say amen to Scott’s comment.