Honoring God with Our Wealth (D)
HONORING GOD WITH OUR WEALTH
Few of us are well acquainted with the extremes that the apostle Paul knew: “I know what it is to be brought low, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have been very thoroughly initiated into the human lot with all its ups and downs, fullness and hunger, plenty and want.” In whatever measure we have experienced these, the Lord has given us opportunity to learn the vital disciplines of possessions.
The first lesson is that things are given by God. “He did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all; and with this gift how can he fail to lavish upon us all he has to give?” (Rom. 8:32).
The second lesson is that things are given us to be received with thanksgiving. Faith looks up with open hands. “ You are giving me this, Lord? Thank you. It is good and acceptable and perfect.”
The third lesson is that things can be material for sacrifice. This is what is called the eucharistic life. The Father pours out His blessings on us; we receive them with open hands, give thanks, and lift them up as an offering back to Him, thus completing the circle.
This lesson leads naturally to the fourth, which is that things are given to us to enjoy for a while.
Nothing has done more damage to the Christian view of life than the hideous notion that those who are truly spiritual have lost all interest in this world and its beauties. The Bible says, “God . . . endows us richly with all things to enjoy.” It also says, “Do not set your hearts on the godless world or anything in it.” It is altogether fitting and proper that we should enjoy things made for us to enjoy. What is not at all fitting or proper is that we should set our hearts on them. Temporal things must be treated as temporal things—received, given thanks for, offered back, but enjoyed. They must not be treated like eternal things.
And there is a fifth lesson: All that belongs to Christ is ours. As Amy Carmichael wrote, “All that was ever ours is ours forever.”
We often say that what is ours belongs to Christ. Do we remember the opposite: that what is His is ours? That seems to me a wonderful truth, almost an incredible truth. If it is so, how can we really “lose” anything? How can we even speak of His having the “right” to our possessions?
“Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine,” the Father says to us. That is riches.