How should money be handled? The Bible certainly provides an answer for this critical query.
Money can seduce! The reason why Delilah sprayed Samson’s secrets could be boiled down to five letters: m-o-n-e-y (Judges 16:18). Prophet Elisha’s servant, Gehazi ‘accepted money’ from the healed Syrian centurion, Namaan, to earn his master’s displeasure. His chilling statement is a stern reminder that money, illegally received, does not escape the eyes of the all-seeing God. (2 Kg.5:26). As soon as ‘money’ was handed over to Judas, he sought every ‘opportunity’ to hand over Jesus to those who handed him the money (Mk.14:11).
Money is so mesmerizing that it could make you forget your Maker and lure you to go behind it. Knowing this, Jesus preached, ‘No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money!’ (Mt.6:24). Money cannot satisfy! King Ahab showed the money to an ordinary citizen of his kingdom – Naboth. He wanted to buy the grape garden that was the God-given inheritance of Naboth. But Naboth plainly refused his offer (1 Kg.21:2,15). John the Baptist told this to silver-chasing soldiers who asked him, “What shall we do?” “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.” (Lk.3:14). The writer to the Hebrews wrote, ‘Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have’ (Heb.13:5).
You must be a steward of money! There were days when Jacob took what belonged to others. His brother’s inheritance. His father-in-law’s cattle. But his life took a U-turn. When his sons brought back the money they paid for the grains they had got in Egypt he instructed them: ‘Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight’ (Gen. 43:12). Do we return the extra money that a shopkeeper or a bank official gives us by mistake? One-way you can show that you are a ”faithful steward” of money is when you return money that does not belong to you to its lawful owner. Money should be carefully spent! The Pharisees were money-lovers (Lk.16:14).
When in trouble, they used money to get ahead of others. They bribed the soldiers to tell a lie that Jesus’ disciples stole his body while they were asleep (Mt.28:12-14). Bribing is wrong. The Bible also teaches that saving money for the rainy day is a wise thing to do. ‘Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest’ (Mt.25:27). ‘Owe no one anything, except to love each other’ (Rom.13:8). The worse thing about borrowing is that it makes us the slave of the lender (Pr.22:7). And we are not to be slaves of anyone expect Jesus Christ (Eph.6:6). Oh how many have mindlessly borrowed money only to struggle hard just to pay it back! Did not Jesus teach us that we must “count the cost” before we set our foot into anything. Otherwise, what awaits us is mockery.
People will say, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’ (Lk.14:28-30)? Don’t make mistakes here – borrowing or taking loans does not make one a ‘sinner’. If that were the case would Christ have preached, ‘Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you’? (Mt.5:42). So while loan-taking can’t be branded as ‘sin’ it is certainly is not ‘smart’! Money should be copiously sown! Money can be sown in a variety of ways. It is sown by our tithing. ‘You shall tithe the entire yield,’ is God’s dictum (Duet.14:22). ‘All your yield’ means ‘all’. Many of us tithe only from our salaries. Tithing should be coupled with tenderness (Mt.23:23). To whom should we give our tithes? The Bible gives us the answer. ‘And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse’ (Neh.10:28). ‘The house of the Lord’ – when this phrase is studied in the entire context of the whole Bible, it means ‘the unseen body of Christ’. It means more than one particular local church or one person’s ministry.
We must see that we contribute atleast in some way with our tithe to bless the entire body of Christ. Our giving must cross tithing. A poor widow who was supposed to be supported by the offerings of the others gave all she had – two copper coins. Jesus said, ‘For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on’ (Mk.12:44). By doing this Jesus taught this principle of giving: it is not how much we give, but what is left behind after we’ve given that God notices! We must not give to God just to get blessings from Him. Simon, the repented magician was impressed when he saw people being filled with the Holy Spirit as the apostles laid hands on them and prayed. He wanted that gift himself. He opened his purse and made an offer to them. ‘How much for this spiritual gift?’ Hear what Simon the preacher mouthed to Simon the sorcerer: ‘May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!’ (Acts 8:20). Why do we give to God?
We give because we are grateful to Him. That’s it. Have you displeased the Lord in the area of money? Then repent. Nehemiah called the people of Israel who had committed ‘money-sins’ to do just that (Neh 5:6-10). Zacchaeus did not hear Jesus preach about money. Yet he pulled the curtains on his money sins. His life took a dramatic U-turn. He confessed ‘if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.’ And it was to that sinner who repented from sins including ‘financial frauds’ that Jesus said, ‘Today salvation has come to this house’ (Lk.19:1-10). If you repent of your ‘money’ sins, Jesus would also embrace you with those very same words! ..
Author: Mr. Duke Jeyraraj, an engineer turned engaging youth evangelist is the founder of ‘G Power 4 Mission’, Hyderabad
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