Godliness with Contentment

Gifts reaching heaven

Cornelius seems to have been wealthy. Cornelius was not a chairman of a non-profit organization, he spent his own money to help the needy. He decided to be generous with what he had. He saw needs and went after meeting them. I believe that his giving was motivated by his relationship with God.
As a believer today, is your giving motivated by your relationship with God?
One of the principles I have seen in the Bible is that when we use money the way God desires, generosity is involved. A principle does not change because of the circumstances.
 
*You may be listening to this and saying, I don’t have centurion money. That's fine. You can be generous without plenty money. It has to do with your heart not the size of your wallet.
*You may be saying, if I give from what I have then I will have less. Sounds reasonable, but what does the Bible say? The Scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 9:10-11 "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."
God will bless you and has blessed you so that you can be generous. Through your generosity, men and women's needs will be met, and will result in thanksgiving to God. The same God will continue to supply and increase your store so that you can continue to do the same over and over again.
*Then you may say, people are ungrateful and they won't say thanks. Well what happened with Cornelius should be good enough to help our hearts. It never said that the poor were grateful (they may have been or not), but what it did say was that his giving reached heaven. Cornelius pleased God with his giving whether people on earth said thanks or not. Our giving should meet needs, yes, but our relationship with God should prompt the giving. Ultimately, generosity for Christians should be about that.

Right money, right hands, right time

Today we take a look at Joseph of Arimathea in the gospels. He was described as a disciple in secret yet he stepped up at the right time to secure Jesus' body after the crucifixion and gave Jesus a respectful burial in his own tomb. Some of us have an issue with rich people and even rich Christians. Yet this man uses his wealth to serve Jesus when others did not or could not. He was blessed by God with wealth and used it now - for such a time as the burial of Jesus. Money was used by Levi to hold a banquet in Jesus' honor so that he could get fellow tax collectors to meet Jesus. Money was used in Jesus' ministry to take care of his needs and the needs of the apostles.  Money was used by the woman who bought the alabaster jar of perfume and anointed Jesus with it in preparation for his burial. And here, money was used by Joseph to take care of Jesus in his death and burial. Money is used to take the gospel to millions today and help the poor and needy. For the 49th time, money is a tool and we are to use it the way God desires. Let's find out how he wants us to use it. Here, Joseph saw a need and filled it, bringing glory to God. One good place to start is by looking for the needs.

Zacchaeus - Out On A Limb

Zacchaeus was wealthy. Some would say that he got his money by cheating people out of their taxes by overcharging them. But that is not what Luke says, nor Jesus nor Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus says "if" he had cheated anyone out of anything. Not that he did. Sometimes today we look at people who are wealthy and can wonder what illegal thing they did to get wealthy. Some people do it right. They work hard, they spend less than they make, they invest. It grows. I get the impression that Zacchaeus was like that. Honest and hard working - I know boring. It is more exciting to think that he cheated people. Because he was a tax collector and the Jews shunned him, it was easy to say he was a cheat.

Young, Rich, Powerful, Yet Sad

Isn't money supposed to bring happiness? Isn't all our problems to go away with money? Apparently not. It didn't with this rich young man in mark 10:17-23. Don’t be fooled. It won't work with you either.

Giving in Secret

I get to talk about money from the Bible's perspective. God wants his followers to give to the needy. He has blessed you to give to the needy. In addition, this is focused on the individual. You may say that the church I attend gives to the needy - Amen for that, but here he speaks not to the church but the individual. Each of us as his followers should give to the needy.
So when we give, Jesus says:
-do not announce it in the synagogues or street corners (the hypocrites do it that way). Don't blow your own trumpet. They are giving to be seen and they get their reward of being seen, but they miss out on God's reward.
-he also says, do not let you right hand know what your left hand is doing - give in secret. You will get God's rewards

The Centurion - Are you managing money God’s way?

This guy (Luke 7:1-10) had money and did good things with it, but he did not think that his money meant that he deserved anything. Money did not make him big up himself. He used it to serve others (he built the synagogue there in Capernaum), but also he did not expect something in return. In addition, this guy was a Roman centurion, so he had power as well, yet he understood that Jesus' authority was bigger than his. He respected Jesus. He knew that Jesus could heal long distance. Jesus need not be in the same place as the servant in order to heal him. How strong is God's authority in your life? Does it lead to an amazing faith? It should. Does it lead you to spend/save/invest/give money the way God prescribes?
 

Levi - Gratitude

Levi leaves his job to follow Jesus and in his gratitude for Jesus throws the banquet but also invites the people he knew.  He knew that they also needed Jesus.  This was a way they could come in contact with Jesus. Levi is set free by Jesus and he wants those he knows to be set free by Jesus. He uses his time and resources to go after influencing others to follow Jesus. When you consider retirement or your 2nd act, how do you envision spending your time? it should be that you are thinking now about how God wants you to spend your time in service to others.

Daniel - neither corrupt nor negligent

The great focus of this episode is about Daniel's integrity and his work ethics. His coworkers could find nothing wrong with Daniel's work - he was not cooking the books or stealing or having an office affair. Daniel worked as if working for God. Daniel was about to be promoted. Because of this, his coworkers wanted to kill him. Yes, kill him - death by lion.

Queen Esther - great financial advice

Esther had a chance to get up to half of the kingdom and she chose to save her people instead. Who was giving her financial advice? Who indeed? Great advice! Money and riches and wealth can be for many people something to go after or die trying. For Esther, the rescuing of people's lives was more important. This can sound like a no-brainer, but there are some who choose the money instead. I believe that as a Christian, my wealth journey needs to be guided by God and his Word. I cannot do things against God and expect to win. In my dealings, I need to be fair and not do anything illegal. I must have integrity as I work and offer services or sell products. We must choose right, based on God.

Hezekiah - Give glory to God

King Hezekiah knew what to do when trouble came. He went to God in prayer. He also saw God move in amazing ways. The Assyrians were defeated, and God gives him fifteen more years when a terminal illness threatened his life. But, we also will see from the Scriptures that when the envoys from Babylon came he showed them everything. I believe that the missing piece is that he did not give the glory to God. Our call is to trust in God and go to him in trouble as Hezekiah did, but also to give God the glory when he delivers.