I tried to make it short. Sorry. I did cut alot though.
So we as people that live on earth and call ourselves followers of Christ have a problem. It is a continuing battle as to how to live in the Kingdom and use our money. We as Christ followers want to do the best thing possible with our money. At the end of the day we want to no longer have homeless people wanting food. We no longer want the orphans to wear clothes that don't fit or match. We no longer want the single mother to work three jobs so she can give her 4 kids enough food to barely stop their hunger for a short time. We want these things. Yet we also want a light coat for when it is kind of cold and a heavy coat for when it is real cold. And we want to go see that new 007 movie. And we want to drink starbucks instad of the off brand. And we want the 12oz stek instead of the 9oz. And we want the nice trash bags that don't rip. And we want socks that match each one of our ten pairs of shoes.
See the battle? Within our community we talk about lines and what is okay to do for ones self. Because doing something for ones own self is not wrong. Let me repeat. SPENDING MONEY ON ONES SLEF IS NOT WRONG. I will never call anyone out because they bought something. I cannot. It is not my job to know what is selfish and what is pure. But one thing is certain. Jesus talks alot about money. The entire Bible speaks alot about money. Most of the Christian community agress that money is simply a tool GOD gives us to use for his Glory.
In the old testament we find GOD giving the people the laws of Jubilee. Yes I know that we are no longer under the old laws but we still need to get to the heart of them so we can understand who GOD is and what he wants us to have a heart for and what he himself has a heart for. The Jubilee laws in a nutshell were several things for his people to realize he was GOD and not themselves and that they all were his people. One aspect of the laws called for one a year of no work and only rest for his people. A year of blessing for his people to set their minds and hearts back on GOD for a year while living off the 6th years crops that GOD blessed for this reason. A year of unity between GOD and man. We as humans easily begin to get sidetracked and GOD knew this. So if we rely on him for food and money then chances are we are in good shape. But this year of Jublilee was not only a call to rest but a call to forgive any debts one was owed or owed themselves. It was a year of realotment of lands that one had lost in trades or hardship. If followed out then every family would have all their land every seven years and a fresh start. Its easy to fight poverty when an entire population decides to fogive debts every few years and relocate the land to the orginal owners so they can have a fresh start.
Lets get back to this battle I was talking about. So we see early on GOD designs a way to combat not only poverty but the idea of chasing after money as lifestyle. GOD puts the lifestlye of forgiveness and provision for each other before a lifestyle of gaining land and money. Many times when I think about this I wonder where the line is that is okay for me to spend on myself. Natural question because we are people linving on earth. And even harder when we live in America. That question of where the line lies is the wrong question. The parable where Jesus talks of the talents given to the people where the first two doubled it and the last hid it and did nothing shows us that with what we are given we are expected to produce something with. Money is a gift from GOD. Yes. We are expected to do stuff with that money. Yes. We are expected to live off that money. Yes.
Lets look at it with the idea of Jubilee in our hearts. When we know that GODs heart for us is not money but forgiveness of people. When we know GODs heart for us isn't to get bigger jobs that produce more money but to fight for realotments for the good of the people fighting hardship. When we know these things we have to prodice fruit from these ideas. The parable of the talents is not simply one of money but one that relates to knowledge of GOD and his kingdom. If we know things and how they should work we are required to do something with them.
Stewarship is a principle that is often used to defend the idea of bank aaccounts and money. Many use it simply to lie to themselves. But others are truly chasing after the Gospel and fight the battle of stewardship. That is a common battle we all fight. Lets look at what the word really means though. The idea behind the word stewardship isn't one who is wise with what they got but one who uses what is given to them with the best interest of the person who gives it to them and themself. I cannot believe for one second that GOD feels we are best using his money to buy ourselves a new car when our old one still works well. I cannot believe GOD feels we are best using his money best ot buy ourselves a bigger house due to the fact that we need more room. I cannot belive GOD feels we are using it best when we are using it to have our own child when we could get a child out of pverty and oppression. I believe GOD feels we are best using his money when we first set a line for ourselves and live under that line while using all the other money for his kingdom. We are called to first seek the kingdom and belive GOD will provide for us. When we first give not out of the excess we are given but out of the necessity of others we will find ourselves making the line of spending on ones self tighter and tighter. The question of where that line is, is one that stems from wondering how selfish one can be. I want to have a spirit of asking how slefless can I be. And that is the questions we must all want to ask ourselves if we want to truly chase after the kingdom.
If you want to hear more on my basis for this or what i mean please feel free to ask. I already went longer than I wanted yet also cut mroe than I wanted.
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