May 16th — THE HABIT OF WEALTH
May 16th.THE HABIT OF WEALTH
"Partakers of the divine nature." 2 Peter 1:4
We are made partakers of the Divine nature through the promises; then we have to "manipulate" the Divine nature in our human nature by habits, and the first habit to form is the habit of realizing the provision God has made. "Oh, I can't afford it," we say - one of the worst lies is tucked up in that phrase. It is ungovernably bad taste to talk about money in the natural domain, and so it is spiritual y, and yet we talk as if our Heavenly Father had cut us off with a shil ing! We think it a sign of real modesty to say at the end of a day - "Oh, wel , I have just got through, but it has been a severe tussle." And al the Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He wil tax the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we wil obey Him. What does it matter if external circumstances are hard? Why should they not be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we banish God's riches from our own lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it obliterates God and puts self-interest upon the throne. It opens our mouths to spit out murmurings and our lives become craving spiritual sponges, there is nothing lovely or generous about them.
When God is beginning to be satisfied with us He wil impoverish everything in the nature of fictitious wealth, until we learn that al our fresh springs are in Him. If the majesty and grace and power of God are not being manifested in us (not to our consciousness), God holds us responsible. "God is able to make al grace abound," then learn to lavish the grace of God on others. Be stamped with God's nature, and His blessing wil come through you al the time.