How's Your Soul- Money Honey
“If you get your soul right, your behavior will change.
”
Continuing and ending with the series, "How’s Your Soul?," I want to talk about money. The Bible mentions money over 800 times and makes over 2,000 financial references. Money is important to God and it can be a wonderful thing for those who know how to use it to glorify Him and uplift others. But, if our souls aren’t plugged into God then how we spend it will show what’s going on inside of our hearts, and show that we have a lack of understanding on how to properly handle it.
Just about everything God makes the devil turns around and uses it for evil- sex, computer technology, and the family. But money is a part of this list and is messed up with people mishandling it, by not cultivating what God has given them. So then we get statistics showing Americans owing $733 billion in credit card debt.
Because money is important to God, writers of the Scriptures wrote about the topic a lot. And Jesus, talked about money more than He did love, heaven and hell combined.[1]
When our souls aren’t right, we totally miss how awesome, loving, and caring God is for our wellbeing.
Bondage…I Think Not
When God, through Moses outlined to the Israelites, before they entered the Promise Land, His rules, regulations, and boundaries He did this in love. It was well thought out that if they obeyed Him, they would always lend and not borrow.
“The LORD your God will bless you as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations but will never need to borrow. You will rule many nations, but they will not rule over you. ”
Jesus came so that we might be free (Galatians 5:1). God has never intended us to be a slave to creditors or to anyone but His holy freedom. The Christian author on stewardship, Chris Brown put it well: “God wants us to be in a position to hear from Him and to serve people in His name . .. not to be in bondage to payments. He wants us to have freedom and options. Many of us sense God calling us to do great things for Him, but when we’re in debt, we can’t.”
Being Content in All Things
I remember when I moved back to the US from the UK. I didn’t have much money to my name. I had finished my degree and I hardly had any money to my name. But I resolved that I would not live a life in debt, and I haven’t- minus student loans. Those don’t count, right? J But I refuse to have credit card debt. In this time the words of the Apostle Paul stuck in my mind:
“Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. ”
When we learn to be content in whatever season we’re in, we put in check our desire for more stuff. One of my guilty pleasures is the Real Housewives series- shout out to the ladies of New York and New Jersey! Haha! I remember Jill Zarin saying in one episode “when you spend less than you can afford you’ll always have money.” When we live from a place of contentment and spending within our means, there’s some part of our souls that knows God will provide what we need.
God Takes Care of His Own
Sure, God loves all the people He makes (Luke 6:35). But there’s something about His children where He really looks out for them. Do you recall how God has helped you in a situation that seemed helpless? The Psalmist wrote:
“Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread. ”
When a person is plugged into God, filling their souls with the things of God, they know Who they belong to. When you know, as a committed child of God, that you are free, you’re content because you have all you need, then you know that you’ll be taken care of- even in life’s most financially challenging seasons. So there’s no need to misuse money.
That quote from Brown above is chillingly scary to me: “Many of us sense God calling us to do great things for Him, but when we’re in debt, we can’t.” Why? Because of debt or other money issues. Let’s not allow our own mishandling of money prevent us from having options or doing great things for God. What we sow we will reap- even in how we deal with money.
I end this series on “How’s Your Soul?” this week on this important topic of money. I hope that you found this series a blessing, and I pray that we commit our souls to the Lord daily, weekly, and yearly to let the Holy Spirit work on the things that affects our souls so that God can help us have the most fulfilling life here on earth.
Happy Friday! Xxx
[1] Howard Dayton reference.