Disclaimer: The financial teaching below is what I believe to be true and accurate, biblically speaking. It should not be read like a "how to be a millionaire". It's also not whatcha call prosperity gospel, that stuff isn't really gospel to my way of thinking. The real reason for this disclaimer is, as of 2022, 1. I am not a millionaire, and 2. I am not able to give as much to the Kingdom as I want to. So, what follows is not so much a way I am teaching you to live as it is a way that I intend to live. I will lay this out fairly methodically and thoughtfully for my benefit and will do so publicly for your benefit. (Hopefully! :D) Check back in 2042 and we shall see how this went. :)
Earlier we learned that it really is all ministry The "it" in question of course is, your job, work, business, etc. That thing that you do for profit. That is ministry. Click on the word, ministry, for more details. Ok, now, it is also very important that we know that God provides for you, and your money-making endeavor is only the tool he uses, see the post about the seesaw for more detail on this matter. So, 2 facts to have clearly established at the very start of this series are 1. Whatever you are doing for profit is ministry. 2. God is providing for your needs, NOT you. If these facts do not apply to you because you are not a Kingdom Disciple, then you might as well stop reading here. This series is not designed for personal wealth. This series is designed for harvesting resources for the Kingdom. If you are more interested in personal wealth, perhaps you might find some of Robert Kiyosaki's work more to your liking. Google his name and buy his books if you wish. So, going forward, I will assume that it's all understood that I am talking to a Kingdom disciple who at least intellectually knows that his money-making exercise is a ministry and that God is providing for his needs.
So, going forward, I will be referring to your for-profit work, investment, job, business, etc. as a money-maker just for simplicity's sake. Your money-maker is for ministry. It is God's, not yours, as a disciple, you don't own, you steward. So, even something like your job, is, God’s moneymaker for you, for you to steward, to use as you deem right. Like in the parable of the 3 servants, 3 men were given money, 2 of them doubled it. (See Matthew 25:14-28) So, let’s take the money maker God has given us seriously. On the one hand, we have the ministry of people, how do you treat the people you encounter in your money maker, and what is your money maker's reputation as a result of that? That is a different discussion from what this series is targeting, a very important discussion it is though, and one we may be able to have some other time. In this series, we will focus exclusively on the money side of the money maker. Money is simply a means used for acquiring goods and services. It is NOT something you love or value for its own sake, it is merely a means. Money is a little like vegetable oil. You do not acquire vegetable oil and eat it. Yet, you do. How? Many food products have this vegetable oil in them as part of their makeup. Vegetable oil is also often used for cooking, to keep the food from sticking to the pan. So, in many foods you eat, behind the scenes, in some invisible way, the vegetable oil was making it possible, assisting with it, etc. This is how it works with money. When you see the nice big bass boat being backed into the lake, money made it possible for this to happen behind the scenes, throughout the process of designing, manufacturing, distributing, selling and buying. So, what if this was established for us Kingdom Disciples for the Kingdom? What if we took God’s moneymaker for us as seriously as it is? So many times, we pray and ask God to aid and comfort those who were hurt by a hurricane. Or we ask God to heal someone who has a disease, where the treatment costs are too expensive for the family of this person to bear. This kind of praying is very very good. We should pray, and I hope after we embark on the “Money and the Kingdom'' mission we will pray twice as much as before but, what if we were able to be part of the answer as well? Rather, what if God would use us to answer the prayers of others? I think this can happen if we decide today, right now, to take money very seriously, for what it is, which is, a means to acquire. A simpler term is power. A power to get something. So, money is a specific kind of power, but it must never be our power.
This "Money and the Kingdom" series has been broken into 4 parts. You have just read Part 1.
The other 3 parts are:
Money and the Kingdom: To Give to the Least of These
Money and the Kingdom: To Spend as One Blessed by The Lord
Money and The Kingdom: To Save for the Day of Redemption
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