Enough For Our Journeys
Continued from last month
Money—or the lack thereof—plays a very important role in the basic happiness and mental and emotional health of most people. Like it or not, money often governs the way you think, feel, and live your life on a daily basis. If you don’t have enough money, then money often becomes the focal point of your world, and it will negatively affect almost every aspect of your life.
However, if you do have enough money for your life’s journey, it will free you to pursue God’s plans and purposes for your life in a positive way. Anyone who feels that money is not important is deceived. Money is important. Money is necessary in today’s world! It is wonderful to live one’s life here fulfilling God’s great plans and purposes for one’s life; to spend one’s time “creating” wealth and prosperity in order to show love and do good in tangible ways is a fulfilling and productive way to live.
And yet there is a religious prejudice so great that some people honestly feel it is a great honor to be poor. To strive to be poor—as many truly do—is wrong; it is a great weakness; one who does so is being untruthful to God’s revelation of wealth; to seek to be poor is to be unkind to one’s fellow humans. Yes, if we can create wealth by honorable and biblical methods, we ought to pursue the goals of wealth and prosperity.
Often (not always), people are poor because of faulty teaching, wrong beliefs, or because of incorrect choices they have made along their journey. And . . . some people are poor because they are lazy. But God does not want his children to be poor. It is not spiritual, holy, or godly to be poor. God wants his children—you—to have enough for your journey and for that of your close traveling companions.
“But, wait a minute,” You say, “Jesus—the very one whom we are called to follow and emulate—became poor; it says so right in the Bible!” You’re absolutely right. The Bible does say that Jesus became poor. But don’t stop there; read the entire reference where that is found: 2 Corinthians 8 :9: “Though Jesus was very rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.”
Jesus was poor only in comparison to the tremendous riches he left behind in heaven while he was here for 33 years. But while he was here he was not poor in human terms; Jesus always had enough for his journey—and for that of his close traveling companions—while he was here on earth. For example, Jesus’ ministry and entourage was large enough that he required a treasurer. A treasurer is not necessary unless there is a lot of money in the “treasury.” Another example: Jesus wore a seamless robe. That’s equivalent to a man wearing a fine, tailor-made, very expensive silk suit in today’s male fashion terms. Jesus paid taxes. In order to pay taxes, he either had to have an income, own a home, or both. My personal opinion is that Jesus owned a rather spacious home in his headquarters city of Capernaum, but it’s not a belief I would argue about.
Was Jesus Homeless?
Perhaps you’re questioning right now: “Maybe you are correct in what you have just said about Jesus, but what about that time Jesus said, ‘Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but I, the son of Man, have no place of my own, not even a place to lay my head.’?” Here’s at least a partial answer to your question. At the time Jesus made that statement, he was passing through the region of Samaria on his way to Jerusalem. He sent his disciples ahead to make arrangements to stay the night in a nearby Samaritan village. The citizens of that village turned them away, because most Samaritans would have nothing to do with their Jewish “cousins” (much like the antagonism today between Jews and Palestinians in modern Israel). So . . . in response to being turned down for a night’s lodging, Jesus made that statement. He was simply saying that he was having difficulty finding a place to stay that night on his journey to Jerusalem. He was not saying he was so poor that he never had a decent place to sleep. Well, there you have it. Just a few examples to illustrate that Jesus was not poor during his 33 years here on earth.
What’s my main point? God does not want us to be poor either during our mortal journey here on earth—no matter where we live or in what type of society or culture we live!
The Root Of All Evil!
Here’s another point. Someone will say: “The Bible declares that money is the root of all evil!” Not True . . . The Bible claims the love of money is the root of all evil. The greedy grasping for money is the root of all evil. The inordinate preoccupation with obtaining money is the root of all evil. Money in itself is neither good nor bad; it is merely a medium of exchange used for commerce during this life. In fact, money can often be the root of much good! It is the unholy fixation and striving for money to pursue one’s own ends that is evil—not money in and of itself. It is when a person makes an idol of money that it is wrong. Think of what you could do if you had more money and were motivated by God in what you did with that money. Think of what you could do for your family and loved ones; for your Church; for missions; for the spread of God’s Kingdom on earth.
Often we have a prejudice against money because we have a prejudice about how some wealthy person has misused his or her money. But that’s a problem with those types of people, not with the money they have. Not all wealthy persons misuse their money. Yes, a few do, and they are the ones who are most often in the public eye—their greed, their dishonesty, their pretentious opulence. But what of those who produce wealth and then quietly—behind-the-scenes—give much of it to God’s causes, to charity, to good works? We don’t hear of them because they do not make the headlines and the news. There are many more of them than there are those who misuse and abuse their wealth. Many, many wealthy people are godly Jesus-believers who give, and give, and give back to God because they know Who it is who has given them the power to create wealth and prosperity. And why God has given them that power.
Your Acres Of Diamonds
The question now becomes: “How do you find your ‘acres of diamonds’”? How do you create wealth? How do you become prosperous? God asked Moses: “What is that in your hand?” God has given each of us—God has placed in each of our hands—certain talents, skills, knowledges and abilities in order to create wealth and become prosperous. They are right at hand; you have in your own hands all you need to create wealth and prosperity. Your “acres of diamonds” is something within you, something within your scope of influence, something in your own hand that God has given you to create wealth and prosperity.
Ask him to help you dig deep and find it. Ask him for wisdom and insight, for creative, inventive, and ingenious ideas, for thoughts you can act upon, and to bring people into your life who can help and assist you. When you ask God to help you begin to create wealth and prosperity, in a manner of speaking that puts him in a position where he unleashes unseen forces to go to work on your behalf, where wonderful events begin to align in your life without any human explanation, and miracles begin to take place.
One thing to look for is this: Find some product or service people want and need, and then seek by godly and honest principles to fill that need. Know what others need, and then invest your time and energies in supplying that need. Success is almost certain to follow.
True Success
By the way, would you like the biblical definition of success? Here it is: “Success is for me to steadily and consistently move toward accomplishing God’s plans and purposes for my life, according to my potential; it is a journey, not a destination.” Note: we gave you the definition of “prosperity” last month.
Does where you are located make a difference in your ability to create wealth and prosperity? What if you live on the wrong side of the tracks or in a big city slum area? What if you live in a poverty stricken rural area? Does it make a difference where you live or what your background is? Does your lack of formal education make a difference? Does it make a difference whether or not you have adequate startup capital? No, it does not. Does your appearance, your weight, your age, your sex, your race make any difference? No, they do not.
With modern technology, communication, and transportation, you can meet a need almost anywhere in the world if you find the right product or service. Do not feel you need to move to a big city. Do not feel you need to move to the suburbs or to a less densely populated rural location. For most of us, our “acres of diamonds” are right at hand; we already own it, or possess it, or think it—but we have yet to act upon it. Find the need, ask God for wisdom and insight; ask God for a spirit of discovery, creation and invention—and then do it. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your strength,” declares the Bible.
Yes, God has given you the power to create wealth and prosperity for you and your close traveling companions on life’s journey. Ask him how. Obey him when he tells you. Give back to him some of the wealth and prosperity he gives you in order to spread his Kingdom on the earth. Be part of God’s great purposes to enrich the lives of others with the wealth and prosperity God will bring into your life. Find your “acres of diamonds” right in your own back yard, right at hand—and then be a channel of wonderful blessings to others as you help them locate and work their own “acres of diamonds”. During a long and arduous part of our life’s journey, my wife and I discovered part of our “acres of diamonds” when God taught us how to get completely out of debt in a relatively short time.
We hope this teaching about discovering your own “acres of diamonds” has been helpful to you. We pray for God to bless you. We wish you true success, wealth and prosperity during your own journey along the King’s Highway in fulfillment of God’s great plans and purposes for your life!
“When you give [money] to God [by giving to other people], God will return your gift to you [through others]. [[God is your Source; people are simply his means, his instruments.]] When He gives back to you [when you need it], it will be baskets full: pressed and squeezed down, shaken back and forth so it gushes out and spills over—a full measure. The measure you use to give is the measure God will use to give back to you.” –Luke 6: 38, Paraphrased and Amplified
To Think About This Month
“God, I know I make mistakes with money; help my mistakes to be in giving, not in being stingy.”
Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc.
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated December 2020
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