Managing your money can be a real burden. You may have missed it, but in yesterday’s message, we uncovered the true secret to lifting this burden. True financial freedom comes from understanding that your money isn’t actually your money. It’s God’s money. Therefore, you are not really managing your money. You are managing God’s money as one of His stewards.
God has promised to provide for our real needs of food and clothing (Matthew 6:25-34, 1 Timothy 6:8). If He gives us anything beyond this, it’s so that we can use it for good (1 Timothy 6:18). This perspective changes everything. Your money is not your money, so it’s not a question of you deciding how much you’re going to give away. It’s all God’s money, and so you just need to decide how much of God’s money you’re going to keep for yourself, freeing up the rest for His purposes.
This principle is one of the reasons for why I don’t believe in tithing. The main reason is that we are in the New Covenant, and tithing, as a part of the Law of Moses, does not apply to us any more than the temple sacrifices do. But beyond this, a strict adherence to tithing encourages us to think about our money as being ours, and to imagine that we’ve done our duty once we’ve given 10% of it away.
It’s far better to see things in reverse. How much of God’s money do I need to survive on? How much of God’s money is He okay with me using for recreation, and even entertainment, as a part of Him richly providing me with everything to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17)?
Once we’ve answered these questions, then we get to figure out how to use the rest of the money God has entrusted to us to accomplish as much good as possible.
The same questions apply to our time. You belong to Jesus. You’re His. Therefore, your time is His. So it’s not a question of how much of your time you will give to Him. It’s a question of how much of God’s time you need to use for work, family, rest and relaxation, and other responsibilities. Then the rest gets used for Him.
As you think about these matters more, I’d highly recommend the following article written by Randy Alcorn. Randy has thought and written much about a godly use of money, and this article distills many of these wise principles into some practical next steps you can apply to your life today.
Are you ready to seriously re-think how you can honour God with the money He has entrusted you with? Prayerfully read and apply these words, and be prepared to experience a new level of freedom in your heart.
