No Middle Ground
20 August 2009
3 Comments
However anything works, you cannot serve God and riches.
I worked full-time as a financial consultant for over two decades. I helped hundreds of people plan investments, plan their future and reach financial goals. I learned a lot.
I learned that the pain of a down market is more than twice as intense as the joy of an up market. I learned that there’s never enough money for anyone. I learned that rich people are not as happy as poor people. And I learned that you cannot serve God and money.
I’ve written earlier that we are in a transition time. The old wine is not working, and the new wine has not come in yet. So many people are unhappy. God has purposely led millions of people it seems into a place where, if He does not come through they will not survive financially.
That’s where he wanted us all along.
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else we will be loyal to the one and despise the other. I know a lot of achievers-people who love to accomplish things big and little. These people have a particularly difficult time dealing with this issue of Money.
More easily driven by guilt than some people, the voice of Money tells them, “If you go bankrupt, then you are guilty, because you trusted God too much and did not produce enough money.” That is of course an incredible lie. But it seems to work for a lot of Americans and many other people around the world. On the other hand, I believe every day monetary miracles will happen soon for many of us. They will become commonplace for us.
All the resources ever imagined are in heaven. We want them. However, God does not give them unless we line up with the Kingdom of God. We must seek Him and His Kingdom first. What does that mean:
We do not worry about ourselves but jump off the cliff for His purposes.
We think of others, needy people, desperate people in spirit and in body.
We do exactly what God desires, directs and plans for us.
We keep short spiritual accounts with God. His righteousness is the “bar” we have to clear, and I wrote recently He is raising the bar.
We do not make a big deal about us, but focus people on God, His son and His amazing everything.
I once realized if I were to put a glass of wine into a septic tank, what would be the contents of the tank? Sewer water of course, not wine. If I were to put a glass of sewer water into a barrel of wine, what would I have? Sewer water, is the answer again! We cannot continue to bear these unrighteous things in our life. If we worry the “normal” amount about money, we are not in line with the Kingdom. If we hold anything against anyone, we are living in a septic tank, no matter how many good things are there. Jesus said about money, clothing and food, “Give no thought at all.” Try arguing that with a modern affluent westerner. Yet, they are wrong, dead wrong. This is a barrier to our receiving the Kingdom which moves in our hearts.
I see a two-tiered way of understanding money. One is the wisdom of the world & how things work in the world. Yet, there is a transcendent way God works supernaturally above that. Saving and investing are “wise” and good yet cannot “do it” for us; but building the Kingdom is great. It is possible to live by supernatural Kingdom Bank accounts.
Yet, we are already living in the greatest awakening in all history. It is private, quiet, deep and profound. God is squeezing any love we ever had for money out of us and we should be really thankful. He said to give not thought to tomorrow, so lets really do it with joy and thanks to God! Tomorrow I will tell you another story about money in my life and provision from heaven for His Kingdom.
Matthew 6:25-34 NKJ:
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
However anything works, you cannot serve God and riches. I worked full-time as a financial consultant for over two decades. I helped hundreds of people plan investments, plan their future and reach financial goals. I learned a lot.
I learned that the pain of a down market is more than twice as intense as the joy of an up market. I learned that there’s never enough money for anyone. I learned that rich people are not as happy as poor people. And I learned that you cannot serve God and money. I’ve written earlier that we are in a transition time. The old wine is not working, and the new wine has not come in yet. So many people are unhappy. God has purposely led millions of people it seems into a place where, if He does not come through they will not survive financially. That’s where he wanted us all along.
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else we will be loyal to the one and despise the other. I know a lot of achievers-people who love to accomplish things big and little. These people have a particularly difficult time dealing with this issue of Money.
More easily driven by guilt than some people, the voice of Money tells them, “If you go bankrupt, then you are guilty, because you trusted God too much and did not produce enough money.” That is of course an incredible lie. But it seems to work for a lot of Americans and many other people around the world.
On the other hand, I believe every day monetary miracles will happen soon for many of us. They will become commonplace for us.
- All the resources ever imagined are in heaven. We want them. However, God does not give them unless we line up with the Kingdom of God. We must seek Him and His Kingdom first. What does that mean:We do not worry about ourselves but jump off the cliff for His purposes.
- We think of others, needy people, desperate people in spirit and in body.
- We do exactly what God desires, directs and plans for us.
- We keep short spiritual accounts with God. His righteousness is the “bar” we have to clear, and I wrote recently He is raising the bar.
- We do not make a big deal about us, but focus people on God, His son and His amazing everything.
I once realized if I were to put a glass of wine into a septic tank, what would be the contents of the tank? Sewer water of course, not wine. If I were to put a glass of sewer water into a barrel of wine, what would I have? Sewer water, is the answer again! We cannot continue to bear these unrighteous things in our life. If we worry the “normal” amount about money, we are not in line with the Kingdom. If we hold anything against anyone, we are living in a septic tank, no matter how many good things are there. Jesus said about money, clothing and food, “Give no thought at all.” Try arguing that with a modern affluent westerner. Yet, they are wrong, dead wrong. This is a barrier to our receiving the Kingdom which moves in our hearts.
I see a two-tiered way of understanding money. One is the wisdom of the world & how things work in the world. Yet, there is a transcendent way God works supernaturally above that. Saving and investing are “wise” and good yet cannot “do it” for us; but building the Kingdom is great. It is possible to live by supernatural Kingdom Bank accounts.
Yet, we are already living in the greatest awakening in all history. It is private, quiet, deep and profound. God is squeezing any love we ever had for money out of us and we should be really thankful. He said to give not thought to tomorrow, so lets really do it with joy and thanks to God! Tomorrow I will tell you another story about money in my life and provision from heaven for His Kingdom.
Matthew 6:25-34 NKJ:
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
You are so right on about this. God is a good, benevolent Father who wishes to bless us abundantly, but He first has to test our hearts to see whether we love Him, or money, the most. We absolutely cannot outgive God, but if we are hoarding or waiting to get rich to tithe or give to His causes, we will miss out. We have to be faithful with the little in order to be faithful with the abundance…and He is waiting to pour out the abundance in His time. Our job is to be “thankful in all things” and to let Him know it. And to give to those in need whenever He nudges us to do so.
Bob:
Thank you for this teaching! I now see that some of us have missed the lessons. God speaks clearly and we hear him!
I am grateful for your blog. You are a talented and gifted teacher. Your words flow from a sincere heart. They give guidance and comfort. I had always wondered what the spiritual lesson was that I was missing and continued to make refinements in personality and conduct, in the belief that this is what God wanted. I now realize the answer was both much more simple and much more difficult. He is saying that time spent in prayer and meditating on his word DAILY is not mere religious ritual, but the only way we have of maintaining our connection to His light. It the means by which He speaks and guides!
Once we repent (change our mind about what is true and false in the world), it is not enough to believe and to seek to serve him. NOT ENOUGH! Why? Because the separation that led one to repent (to once believe in what is false) has been effected once more. Absent, daily devotion, contemplation and a reading of his word where his teachings and his promises lie, we are disconnected from the very force that seeks nothing more than to re-establish order in our lives. He wants to place us on the path of no resistance as we move about the world reaching souls he would have us reach-out to in the manner he instructs. He wants to show that we are divinely made for His Glory!
We must all return to what is effectively a part of our PRACTICE of faith. One cannot operate without the other.
Bob, today, I can say you are His angel sent here to guide us out of confusion and misunderstanding. Speaking for myself, this teaching has eluded me for many years now. I have prayed about it, but I guess I was not sitting quietly long enough to hear his answers.
You remain my brother in Christ!
May his peace and his blessing and his light be with you always! May you know miracles in all that you are and all that you do all day, everyday! (I hope my gratitude is beginning to show here … it flows from a heart that has been so touched that words have failed me today.)
Kirsten, Your gratitude is evident. You have made my day! What you said happened to you is the primary reason for my blog. Go back and read “Neglected People Called Directly by the Spirit.” We have become friends in a wonderful way through a blog of all things. Thank you, and bless your times with God. I should blog someday on it, but I will mention this in passing. The parable of the virgins is key to this concept. They were to wait for the bridegroom. Nightfall came and some did not have enough oil. However, the ones who did have enough oil stored up could not loan any, as they would then not be able to wait. So, the others left to buy more oil but the bridegroom came and they missed the wedding feast. This is a parable, a metaphor, too, of Jesus coming and our not being prepared. The oil we cannot borrow from anyone is the nurture we get from years of spending time with God. Our personal prayer journal reflects the oil, but what is stored up in our hearts is the “oil” of the Holy Spirit. God asked me to make this blog to be His voice to call His sheep to himself (Ezek. 34.) So, you have given me great encouragement.
Thanks, friend, for coming and especially for sharing. Bob
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