The Gift of Money

January 1, 2009

Having money is a gift – though I haven’t always considered it so. In my recent past I have said “Having money is more of a curse than a blessing”. I now believe that to be wrong. Before you say “DUH” let me explain. When I was still financially challenged I learned one of God’s secrets to having money. “It all belongs to Him”. It is not really mine. He lets me keep a large percent of it because He enjoys giving His daughter gifts but truthfully it is ALL His. But learning this lesson had no impact on me because when you have so little money to begin with you are totally focused on getting food on the table and warm coats for the kids. Having money left over at the end of the money was a rarity if at all.

Then the day came when I did have money left over – a lot of money left over at month-end. More money than I needed or expected. That is when the distant memory of a lesson came back. If it was all His and I have met my needs, what should I do with the rest of the money?? Somehow it didn’t sit right in my soul for me to buy more “toys” or a nicer home or more stocks and retirement insurance. So why had God given me the extra money? This is where the curse comes in – I spent a lot of time and prayer trying to figure out what to do with the money. My peace was shattered as I worried if I would do the right thing and be a good steward of the money. I soon hated the extra money and wanted to go back to the way it was. But I knew that was wrong too.

Then the Lord answered my question;

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Acts 1:8 (NIV)

I, Toni, have in my own life a Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and ends of the earth. Not only was my body to go to these places but God’s money was too! So I set about figuring this out. My

Jerusalem = Lawrenceville
Judea = Georgia
Samaria = United States
End’s of the earth = everywhere else

When I started determining if and how I was contributing financially in these four areas and making adjustments with God’s money the blessing of money came and therefore the gift of money was finally understood.

T

The Gift of Work

December 28, 2008
“He who enjoys his work never labors” Jim Stovall

My husband Johnny loves to work. Not in the workaholic kind of way but in the pure satisfaction it brings him kind of way. Johnny does an honest day’s work six days a week. Typically he puts in 8 hours at his full time job and 3 – 4 hours at a part time job. Johnny works for the put pleasure and satisfaction it brings him. That is not to say he doesn’t enjoy his leisure time – he does. Johnny loves’ a good cruise and will take a vacation in a red hot minute. But when he was little he received the gift of work from his father. He learned how much pleasure he would derive from a cruise or a vacation when he earned them himself instead of having it handed to him. Somehow he “got” that leisure was a reward for hard work therefore he enjoyed his work all the more. I am reminded of someone else who learned this lesson from his father. Jesus was a carpenters’ son.

He was someone who did manual worked with this hands. In fact, while he was here on earth, he was a carpenter longer than he was a “preacher “. Joseph, Jesus' father, was a carpenter [Matthew 13:55], and Jesus followed the family trade growing up, especially being the firstborn, he would follow in his father's profession. There was a saying among the Jewish men in the nation of Israel: "If you do not teach your son how to work, you teach him how to be a thief." Joseph and Mary were hardly wealthy, and Nazareth was a small remote town. The family of at least 5 sons needed money and building is honest work.

Many of Jesus’ teaching reflect his carpentry background. For example, Jesus spoke about the "narrow gate" that we have to go through. Jesus talked about building a house "upon solid rock" and not "upon the shifting sand" and in Matthew 11:29, Jesus said that his "yoke" was easy. Using carpentry skills Jesus could make a yoke that was comfortable for the animals.

The gift of work is fundamental to who we are, how we life and what contribution we make. Have we learned it and have we passed it on?

T