A week ago,
a friend of mine who lives and works in North Central Regina came to our church
to talk about the needs that he sees every day.
It was interesting and sparked a lot of discussion about poverty and what
we could do to help change things.
Two days
later, my mailbox was flooded with “Black Friday” ads and sales on hundreds of
things that I don’t really need. As I
write this it is “Cyber Monday” (the online equivalent of “Black Friday”) and
there are even more deals to be found.
So what do
you do? I mean, on one hand there are
people all over the place who are barely scraping by and on the other hand I am
looking at a new welder and thinking “I really need that!” How much should I give away and how much
should I keep? Where does my
responsibility to look after myself cross the line and become “greed”? Questions like that keep coming and there
are no easy answers (at least none that are helpful).
In 1
Timothy chapter 6:3-19, we find some guidelines about how to handle money. In summary form, here is what Timothy is
told to teach: (1) Do not obsess over money
or pay too much attention to it.
Remember, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (verse 10). (2) If
you have lots, do not be arrogant and think that you are better than
others. Money is not God’s
scorecard. (3) Do not let money make you
feel secure. It is totally
unstable. Your only security is in
God. (4) Do good deeds and be “rich in
good works”. (5) Be generous and ready
to share. (6) Be responsible here, but
think more about eternity. Live in such a way as to store up “treasures in
heaven”.
What does all
that mean for you? I don’t know! Obviously, though, the goal is to find a
middle ground between being completely irresponsible and completely greedy.
However, since I think our default is to look after ourselves first, let me end
with a story.
A friend of
mine gave a large sum of money to a lady who needed it. He had bills to pay, but she needed it
more. That was 25 years ago. He told me the other day, “I have never once regretted
giving her that money!” Generosity never
goes unrewarded. “Your father, who sees
what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6).
I don’t have any easy
answers, but I think the discussion is worth having anyway, because, in the
end, we will not be asked, “What did you have?”
Instead we will be asked, “What did you do with it?”
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