"I don't have money." Really?
We're all familiar with the parable of the talents (currency not gifts) in Matthew 25. I was reading through it seeking a certain portion of it and when I found it, I was pleased it said what I had thought it said and off I went. Two days later, we opened up the same text during service and bam! I saw something in that verse I hadn't seen two days before or ever before because, like I said earlier, we're all familiar with that parable.
Verse 29 is that verse that jumped out at me.
"For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."
That last sentence is the one that struck me. How can you take something from someone who doesn't have anything? Read that verse again. The thing is, this person does have, that's why there's something to take, but he considers what he has to be nothing. I immediately thought of the widow that needed help with her debts. When asked what she had, she had said she had nothing at all, except a little oil. This can mean this was the only thing she had but it can also speak of the way she viewed what she had, very close to nothing.
In that parable this man who had one talent (a talent is said to be worth more than $1000) taken from him hadn't used it to make more as the others had, he had hidden it. When questioned about his actions, he said he was afraid. I thought about this and the way we handle money, I thought about the truth of this principle. I then realized why the rich get more rich (those who don't gain it through greed and corruption) while the poor get more poor. The rich have, and they are unafraid to use what they have to gain more. Look at that guy with the five talents; the Bible says after he received his talents immediately put his money to work and gained five more. Speak to any person you consider to be wealthy and observe their attitude when it comes to investing, it is not something they think too long about.
Dave Meyer's principle with money is: Give some, save some, spend some. Those first two elements are both investments, one storing up treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal; the other an earthly investment. The last is the easy one, the one we all like, the one no one teaches how to do. Isn't it funny that we need to be taught how to save yet have never been taught how to spend, and we're obviously better at the latter?
My pastor once said, if you're a believer and you're poor, you're poor cause you want to be. It sounded offensive and insensitive at the time, but the more he explained how resourced we are for wealth, I understood and agreed.
So, what do you have? What are you doing with your 'nothing'? It's all about how you view what you have, if you see what you have as a seed and not bread, you will sow it instead of consume it.
Verse 29 is that verse that jumped out at me.
"For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."
That last sentence is the one that struck me. How can you take something from someone who doesn't have anything? Read that verse again. The thing is, this person does have, that's why there's something to take, but he considers what he has to be nothing. I immediately thought of the widow that needed help with her debts. When asked what she had, she had said she had nothing at all, except a little oil. This can mean this was the only thing she had but it can also speak of the way she viewed what she had, very close to nothing.
In that parable this man who had one talent (a talent is said to be worth more than $1000) taken from him hadn't used it to make more as the others had, he had hidden it. When questioned about his actions, he said he was afraid. I thought about this and the way we handle money, I thought about the truth of this principle. I then realized why the rich get more rich (those who don't gain it through greed and corruption) while the poor get more poor. The rich have, and they are unafraid to use what they have to gain more. Look at that guy with the five talents; the Bible says after he received his talents immediately put his money to work and gained five more. Speak to any person you consider to be wealthy and observe their attitude when it comes to investing, it is not something they think too long about.
Dave Meyer's principle with money is: Give some, save some, spend some. Those first two elements are both investments, one storing up treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal; the other an earthly investment. The last is the easy one, the one we all like, the one no one teaches how to do. Isn't it funny that we need to be taught how to save yet have never been taught how to spend, and we're obviously better at the latter?
My pastor once said, if you're a believer and you're poor, you're poor cause you want to be. It sounded offensive and insensitive at the time, but the more he explained how resourced we are for wealth, I understood and agreed.
So, what do you have? What are you doing with your 'nothing'? It's all about how you view what you have, if you see what you have as a seed and not bread, you will sow it instead of consume it.
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