Contentment at Both Ends of the Financial Spectrum

Today we have another author’s writing to highlight and another blog to feature for the first time. Simply going by the name Wills, his site is named With Wills. He grew up in Southern California and now lives in Portland, OR, and has been involved in various types of ministry. Clicking the header which follows will take you to the place where we located it, which we encourage you to do.

Financial Satisfaction

In Hebrews 13, the author ends a string of extremely practical commands with this verse:

“Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you” (Hebrews 13:5).

In this verse, he gives us two “whats” and a “why.” The “whats” are commands for believers to follow and the “why” explains why we should obey these commands.

The first “what” teaches us that we, as believers in Jesus, are to keep our lives free from the “love of money.” The love of money was an issue in the early church and it can be for us, as well, today. When we love money, we determine our value by it; we find our satisfaction in it; we find our sense of security in it. And in doing so, we lose our faith in God. God wants our love: he is the one who has determined our value (and it can’t be counted in dollars); he is the one who provides ultimate satisfaction; he is the one we should look to for security. He is worthy of our trust. We should love him instead of money. (See Matthew 6:24).

The second “what” tells us to “be satisfied with what [we] have.” This can be applied to anyone, but let’s consider it in relation to two groups: the poor and the rich.

If a poor Christian, or one suffering from persecution or discrimination, were to read this, he should take the command literally: “be satisfied with what you have.” Most of us have a desire to get out of difficult situations as quickly as possible. If we are struggling financially, we usually want to get just a little bit (or a lot) more so we don’t feel the pressure that comes with looming bills that we can’t afford to pay and pending purchases that we can’t afford to pay for at the moment. Yet, God does not command us to, necessarily, “work harder so we can pay for those things.” He commands us, instead, to “be satisfied with what we have.” (We will see the “why” in a little bit. But, now, let’s consider how the rich are supposed to apply this verse.)

If a rich believer reads this, they should also take the command literally: “be satisfied with what you have.” Those who have wealth tend to want to increase their wealth. This often comes from a desire to “keep up with the Jones’” or to be “responsible” with what God has given them. Unfortunately, both desires have the tendency of revealing an underlying “love of money.” Instead of striving to “store up treasures” (Matthew 6:19), well-off Christians should strive to “be satisfied with what they have” and put their faith in action by using their wealth for the direct benefit of those around them who are in need. (See James 2:14-26, Luke 12:13-21; 18:17-23.)

The “why” explains that we should keep our lives free from the love of money and be satisfied with what we have because, “[The Lord] will never leave or abandon [us].” It’s that simple. God is with us and he wants to be our provider. He has already provided so much for us- our lives, our talents, and our salvation- just to name a few. And he is infinitely capable of meeting our every need. He wants to free us from the love of money so that we can love him. He wants to free us from the anxiety of not having- because he is infinitely wealthy, he is with us, and he will never leave us. He wants to free us from the anxiety that comes with storing up earthly treasures- because he knows what we need and he is able to provide for us as we go. He is omniscient, sovereign, and he will never abandon us.

So, brother or sister, if you see the love of money in your life or you find yourself feeling dissatisfied with what you have, remember that God wants you to be free from these sinful dispositions. He wants you to be satisfied. He knows what you need and has already provided it or he will provide it. He wants you to remember that he will always be with you: he will never leave you or abandon you. Abandon your self-sufficiency, greed, and dissatisfaction and trust him.

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Some additional, unrelated resources:

First, some of you are often called upon to read the scriptures in your local churches, and hit a passage with a proper noun (usually a person or place name) that leaves you lost as to how to pronounce it correctly. Here are three supports for that situation:

• The online tool BibleSpeak lets you actually hear someone saying the word in question.
• In September of 2020, we wrote a slightly lighthearted piece On Pronouncing Bible Names in which we stressed you don’t want to stumble and give people the impression the Bible is a difficult book to read, study and enjoy. Or that it’s simply ancient, uses an ancient vocabulary, and is therefore irrelevant.
• In a much older article, from September, 2011; we encouraged you to add some dramatic reading elements to the printed copy you’re speaking from, to make the reading of the scripture more impactful. Check out the short article, When It’s Your Turn to Lead the Scripture Reading.

The second additional resource today introduces a new book containing prayers inspired by the first 75 Psalms. I’m hoping we can include an excerpt here at some point. Check out my review.

Money and Wealth: It’s All His

Today we’re zooming in on part two of a two part series about money… so you might want to read part one.

[visual: me leaning on one foot, and then the other, waiting for your return]

…Okay, we’re back.  So you already know that this is by David P. Kreklau who combines something that sounds really exciting with something that sounds rather boring — he’s a CPA with the US Air Force.  Part two (click the title to link direct) is:

Awkward! …the Impact of Sovereignty on Our Money

Have you ever been in that awkward situation where somebody wants to give you money but you are embarrassed to receive it… or maybe you want to give money to someone but they are too embarrassed to take it?  As my daughter would say, it feels “awkward…!”

In my last blog I talked about how we take pride in our money and we allow it to bleed into our identity… making us feel like we have all the control over our money, which can create these awkward situations where we convey feelings of pride either in giving or receiving.

But the point I made was that God is sovereign over all things, including whatever it was that helped you obtain your wealth… whether your choices or upbringing, etc.  And therefore, whatever amount of money you have, that is what God has chosen to distribute to you.  Thus, you need not tie your identity to your wealth.

The Impact of Sovereignty

Here are some practical ways that this understanding should affect our money.

1)      Humility.  Knowing that it is God who distributes to whom He wills should disarm our pride over our wealth and lend us to feel humble in knowing that what we have is only of grace… not ourselves.  And let’s face it, we could all use more humility.

2)      Gratitude.  This humility should naturally flow into gratitude, recognizing that this grace is not deserved and that we actually deserve nothing.  Yet, God gives to us lavishly.

3)      Giving.  Just as we model everything we do after the Gospel of Jesus Christ – how He gave Himself for us when we deserved nothing good – we ought to give graciously to those in need, despite what they “deserve.”

4)      Stewardship/Redistribution.  Remember that since God decides in His sovereignty who gets what, then those who have been given much must remember that they have been given much for a reason.  You have been made a steward by God, and it is up to you to redistribute to those in need.  This is easier to do when you remember that it is not your money.  It is God’s… given to you to use for the kingdom in bringing about His good purposes.  This knowledge should also directly impact how you spend your money.

 5)      Receiving.  We need not feel embarrassed when receiving charity, as this is what God has appointed.  His way of you obtaining that money in this instance just happens to be a gift of love from someone as opposed to a wage.  Is there a better way of feeling the Gospel than receiving a gift instead of earning it yourself?

As you can see, this understanding of our wealth brings profound consequences to how we view money.  You can stop looking inward in terms of valuing yourself by your wealth and start looking outward by trying to breathe value into others.

If God gives abundantly to you, use that money to glorify Him.  If He gives you a nice home, use it to entertain in a Christ-exalting way.  If you are short of cash and someone helps you out, use that money to His glory and see the Christ-like quality of giving in that moment and worship Him.

If the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10)… then the love of each other will disarm that evil.

~David P. Kreklau