Ch 18 Christian Financial Stewardship

Where does wealth come from?

Typically, one must work in order to acquire wealth and to work, one needs health, aptitude, motivation, skills, and favorable circumstances. God is the ultimate provider, and wealth and prosperity are blessing from God. People who trust in God can be wealthy or poor and the word of God does not promise financial comfort or prosperity. What is promised is the plans the Lord has for us which are plans for welfare and not for evil to give us a future and a hope. We might be thinking that if we had something we’d be in happy, but in reality we won’t ever be truly happy. But to be happy, we must count what we do have and multiply them,

When does wealth and money become bad?

Money and wealth isn’t bad until the role of money takes a high priority in your life. When you start believing that all that you have is a result of your ability, and when God is not the firs priority, pride takes over and one may try to obtain wealth at any cost using unjust and unethical means while God is against injustice. When wealth becomes an obsession, there is no space for contentment. Christ says that it is impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. He warns us to not get attached to money as once you are it is very hard to give that up and you start to distance yourself from God. We must put our hope in God and not money.

What is tithing?

The act of setting aside of one’s wealth to God. The tithe is introduced as law in Leviticus 27:30-45 for people of Israel to set aside 10% of their wealth. While most parishes do not practice any formal tithing program, we shouldn’t be focused on the percentage or its origin but the spirit of the act for we are setting aside our first and best resources to Church not out of obligation. Instead, we do so for honesty and a sense of gratitude for all that God and His Church has given to us.

How do we manage wealth with effort and consideration?

Money is a necessary financial instrument to live our day-to-day life yet undue importance is given to it. Possessing and using money properly requires wisdom. We should work hard to make money, spend conservatively, give to charity, save for the future, and be rich in faith. If it feels hard to do, then we are on the right track since it shows you are trying to give.

Put wealth in perspective:

God has given us all the things that we enjoy and they are to be utilized for things that are necessary and important. It is good to receive wealth and good health from God as it is a gift from God. Our society looks up to the wealthy, powerful, and influential. We may feel pressured to be the best in everything, and in our fast-paced world it becomes difficult to measure when enough is enough. Many spend a lot of time planning what we want to do in the future, but fail to realize that we should consult with God first as we are working to bring Him glory. If we work to hard, we will forget what’s most important: friendship, family, and your spirit. An idle mind is the devil’s workshop but when we use our talents and blessings productively, we can bring glory to God’s name and be great contributors to the world.

What should we do about wasted resources?

For people who can afford, this is a time of abundance. We have the opportunity to get anything and everything at anytime as long as it can be paid for. So people lose sight of the effort put into a particular commodity like food, clothes, shelter, and clean water. Just as when Jesus Christ was feeding the multitude with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and there was still plenty of leftover, he gave his disciples proper instructions to prevent waste. Christian’s goals should be to reduce waist.

What does Jesus Christ warn about money?

Jesus Christ tells the rich man to sell everything they have and give to the poor so they will have treasure in heaven and follow him. He gave similar commands to his disciples. Greed is an enemy of the faithful as it can choke people and cause them to be spiritually unfruitful. Jesus Christ warns about the danger of greed, storing up wealth for self-use without being “rich towards God”. When we use wealth to help others, we gain “treasure in heaven”. We should place our heart in heavenly matters and not earthly temporary things.