Tag: wealth

Posted in A Father's Love, Creation, Devotions, Holiness, Marraige, spiritual warfare, The Gospels, wisdom, worship

Luke 18 Part 2–Child Like Faith and Wealth

Posted on by Michael Smith

Dr. Luke continues to recount the principles that Jesus taught while He was wrapping up His ministry on earth.  It remained important to Luke for those that read his account to see as many sides of the Lord as was possible.  In this account, Luke looked at how Jesus felt about children and childlike faith.  Parents were bringing their children to meet Jesus, and have the Lord bless them.  What a nice change for Jesus–pouring out blessings to the young.  The disciples, however, saw it as a bother, taking Jesus from the important duties.  Jesus called the kids to him and told the disciples not to interfere.  Jesus saw the children and their faith as pure and undamaged by life.  He wanted all to understand that it was that pure and complete faith of children that pleased God most.  It was a picture of the relationship God longed to have with His chosen.

Next, Jesus was asked what it really took to receive eternal life.  The man that asked was very wealthy. Jesus said that he should follow the law and prophets.  The man smugly said he had done that all his life.  Then Jesus dropped the bombshell–“Sell your stuff, give the proceeds to the poor, and then come and follow Me.” The man became sad. Jesus then told the group that it is very difficult for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God. 

God told Israel at Mount Sinai that They must have no other God before Him.  Sadly, time has revealed repeatedly that money and wealth are some of the most difficult gods to release.  They give the illusion of independence and control.  They make one feel safe and unstoppable.  Jesus knew and showed us that those feelings were not real and were as temporal as a morning fog. 

Wealth is never satisfying, and unless its owner is willing to lay it at the Lord’s feet, it will take the Lordship of their lives.  Jesus was simply stating that to have eternal life, we must lay whatever controls us at his feet. Wealth, power, relationship, family, career, or anything that we consider our ticket to independence or control must be laid at God’s alter.  

Fear not, however, as He told the disciples, whatever we lay at God’s feet, He will restore exponentially back to us.  He is a loving Father that only wants us to enjoy peace and freedom.  That peace and freedom comes from trusting and following Him.  It has been the same since the beginning and will remain so until His return.

God Bless You

15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

The Rich and the Kingdom of God

18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’[a]”

21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

26 Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”

27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”

29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Posted in A Father's Love, Devotions, Holiness, spiritual warfare, The Gospels, wisdom, worship

Luke 12 Part 2–Wealth and Fools

Posted on by Michael Smith

God Has never worried Himself with riches.  He blesses some with much wealth, and others He provides just enough each day.  As Israel traveled through the desert for 40 years, He gave them enough manna for the day, and no more.  As a result, when they entered Israel, they easily trusted God as He had provided what they needed for a generation.  In this passage, Luke tells of the parable of the rich fool.  He had so much wealth that he had no place to store it.  Rather than help those in need or give some back to God, he decided he would simply hoard it by tearing down his barns and build bigger ones.  God shook His head…You fool, don’t you know your life will be demanded of you tonight?!!?

We need to depend upon God for our provision.  When we become secure in our own wealth, abilities, or knowledge–it causes us to discount our daily dependence upon the Lord.  As we grow independent of God, we lose sight of who we are and Whose we are.  When that happens, sin takes over and we spiral out of control.  History is full of people that started walking closely with God, but then allowed their personal success to become a wedge between them and God.  Paul wrote, “I have learned to be content in all circumstances–whether well fed or hungry; living in plenty or in want, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  Phil 4:12-13

God uses wealth as a tool to advance His plan.  When God blesses one with wealth, He simply asks that it be used wisely and hold on to loosely.  As with Israel, In the end hoarded riches are foolish. There are no U-Hauls in Heaven.  Great stewardship and generosity are hallmarks of those God blesses.  It is man’s ability to recognize God’s provision, no matter how much or how little he possess, that is the true blessing.  Help me, Lord, to be content with Your daily provision.

God Bless You

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Posted in Devotions

Isaiah 2 Part 2–The Day of the Lord

Posted on by Michael Smith

The Lord almighty has a day in store…For Judah, that was not the best news! It really came and comes down to who is running the show.  For Isaiah, he was warning the chosen people of Israel that they need to allow God to be God.  He was in charge and the inevitable nature of that would prevail.  My daughter uses this line with her 2-year-old that pretty well sums it up, “You can obey with a happy heart or a sore bum…You choose!”

God was warning Judah that they could follow Him with a happy heart or face the day of the Lord. Make no mistake–on the Day of the Lord, God will be exalted.  People will be humbled like never before–all that cool stuff they collected, WORTHLESS.  All the security and safety measures they put in place…USELESS.  People will be running in fear and hiding in squalor.  They will have left their Idols behind. Idols like wealth, pleasure, power and beauty–IRRELEVANT.  It will be a time of survival.

There will be little doubt–God is God! Nothing formed by human hands will be of worth–only the vast creation and its Creator will matter.  In Judah’s fall, Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. The people were led away into captivity and their national identity destroyed. For the next 70 years they lived as slaves, and they were subject to Babylonian and Persian rule.  The Book of Esther, a tale of the time, never mentions God’s name once.Could it happen again? For Israel–it did; in Rome, and in Europe. Now, after restarting again in 1948, they have again gained prominence across the globe.

But what of the church? We too are His chosen.  As Joshua said so many generations before–“Choose this day whom you will serve…As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”  Make no mistake, the Day of the Lord will again come. In that day, all our collections and treasures will mean very little. The only things that will matter will be what we have collected for the eternal…That will be a day when all that the world holds as priceless will become worthless; and, all that men deem glorious will seem petty.  On that day, all that God has made, and all that He has said is important will take center stage. We will worship Him, as it was intended to be. 

 So, like my precious granddaughter, we can do so with a happy heart, or with a sore bum!

God Bless You

The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled
    and human pride brought low;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

12 The Lord Almighty has a day in store
    for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
    (and they will be humbled),
13 for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,
    and all the oaks of Bashan,
14 for all the towering mountains
    and all the high hills,
15 for every lofty tower
    and every fortified wall,
16 for every trading ship[b]
    and every stately vessel.
17 The arrogance of man will be brought low
    and human pride humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day,
18     and the idols will totally disappear.

19 People will flee to caves in the rocks
    and to holes in the ground
from the fearful presence of the Lord
    and the splendor of his majesty,
    when he rises to shake the earth.
20 In that day people will throw away
    to the moles and bats
their idols of silver and idols of gold,
    which they made to worship.
21 They will flee to caverns in the rocks
    and to the overhanging crags
from the fearful presence of the Lord
    and the splendor of his majesty,
    when he rises to shake the earth.

22 Stop trusting in mere humans,
    who have but a breath in their nostrils.
    Why hold them in esteem?