I put it to you that if most people that go to church to seek for material blessings from God today actually want to live by the teachings of the Lord about money, less than 10% of them will want to become wealthy after all. Imagine a scenario where you’ve put in so much effort and with God’s help you make a lot of money and He instructs you expressly to go drop it at an orphanage or to give it all to a fellow who is in dire need, how will you feel? Will you obey?
The sincere truth is that the attitude Jesus would want us to have towards money is that of Stewardship. From the beginning of creation unto the end of the age, God’s plan is for man to be a son, managing the Father’s estate, which ultimately belongs to him as an heir, but it won’t be entrusted to him until he is found faithful not as an independent owner, who lives for himself, but as an overseer of the Father’s business. As rich as God is, owning the whole earth and all that is in it (Ps 24:1), He only releases His goods unto us as stewards. Everything we have is a trust committed into our hands whether it is money, materials, talents or gifts of the Spirit, we must hold everything in our hands as trustees for Him. This must sink into our hearts, even when God opens all the windows of heaven and pours us a blessing, such that our rooms and barns are full to overflowing, He does so as a provision for stewardship. It is a divine trust. He never loses sight of His deposits. His instruction is ever clear:"Gather up the fragments, let nothing be wasted" (John 6:12). Nothing must be wasted; all must be accounted for the day we shall stand before Him.
As treasurers of His riches, custodians here on earth, we will give account of the wealth He entrusts to us (Luke 12:42). Just like a treasurer in an organization, keeps the money that belongs to the organization and can at no point claim to own the money, but receives instructions from the head (management) of the organization, who receives applications for funds required from the different departments of the organization and instructs the treasurer on where funds are needed and how much should be disbursed. So also we are treasurers for God, receiving directives for the allocation of the resources He has entrusted in our hands to fund the work He is doing on the face of the earth. You see, the moment you got born again, you gave up your right to do whatever you wish, to spend your money the way you like, you became His property and your life, everything you had or have or will ever have belongs to Him. This is what it really means to surrender to Him as Lord and Master as He said in Luke 14:33, "In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." And as we follow His directives in this regard, God will always entrust more to us as faithful stewards (Luke 16:10-11) and when he said in Luke 6:38 that "Give, and it will be given to you, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap, for with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you", it is to the end that we will be able to give even more as custodians of His treasures on the face of the earth. However, most Christians now take God as a money doubler, another means to get richer, sowing seeds as it is popularly called, all for their own selfish, greedy motives.
Now, inasmuch as God doesn’t disapprove of investing as illustrated in the parable of talents (Matt 25:14-30), it shouldn’t be with the aim of amassing wealth rather it should be with the aim of multiplying that which the master has given you for the very use of the Master. Some greedy men, even pastors have bastardized this parable using it as an alibi to amass riches. The truth is that God actually wants us to be rich and wealthy and He’s even ready to give us the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places (Is 45:3) for no other reason but that we would use it for His purposes here on earth. Whoever is still stacking up money, stockpiling it here on earth, putting trust in it lacks wisdom. Jesus made this clear in the story of the rich fool who was not rich toward God (Luke 12:16). Although many people have all sorts of funny interpretations of this story but one sure truth is that being rich toward God simply means casting your treasures in heaven as in Luke 12:33, "Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys."Every supply God allows to flow to you is for a specific purpose which has been predetermined by Him. So he says, use this part for this, give this part to this person, save this portion for this purpose, and so on.
In addition, Jesus was prosperous while He lived on earth in that at every given time he had all that He needed, he didn’t have money stashed away somewhere if He did He won’t have asked Peter to go get money out of the mouth of the fish to pay His tax( Matt 17:27), and He would have bought the colt He rode on into Jerusalem instead (Mark 11:2)and would have rented the large upper room where they took the last supper and would have furnished it exquisitely (Mark 14:15). And He made sure His disciples understood the principle of relying solely on God for provision by deliberately sending them out empty handed and they returned lacking nothing (Luke 22:35). In the same way you might not have money in your purse all the time if you choose to obey Him as touching your finances but one thing is sure you will never lack anything you need, like Jesus never lacked in His years on the earth. Of course, it’s not that God frowns at savings, no, even Jesus had a purse, where they kept money but the savings should be held as a trust for the owner, God, after spending the original sum as instructed by Him. Besides, many a times we ask God for money to buy the things we need instead of asking for what we need and trusting the Father to meet the need the way He wants.
Also, Jesus said in Luke 12:15 "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Greed, covetousness, materialism which simply means devotion to acquiring material things, money-mindedness, and lack of contentment has been pictured as noble causes on pulpits as if it were not as sinister as adultery, deceit, malignity, homosexuality and the likes, of which it is very clear that those who do these things have no part in the Kingdom of God. If Jesus was materialistic would he have given the purse to the thief among his twelve disciples? (John 12:6)
In a nutshell, my friends, God will rather have us look up to Him on a daily basis for our daily bread - both spiritual nourishment and physical provision for He is the One who daily loads us with benefits (Ps 68:19). He expects us to trust Him with our lives in reckless abandon, not worrying about anything like a child does not worry because he knows his parents will give him whatever he needs, living off the King’s inexhaustible pocket as His true sons and daughters (Matt 6:25). It is lack of faith that God will provide for tomorrow that makes us store up money like the rich fool instead of trusting Him on a daily basis without an iota of anxiety (Phil 4:6). Nevertheless, it is certain that whatever is not of faith is sin (Rom 14:23) and the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), therefore let us trust in God as trustees of His endless, inestimable treasures.
Olukoyejo Alaba
Olukoyejo Alaba
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