I want more!

God has been speaking to me lately about money (mammon/treasure). If you’re anything like me, this is your cue to stop reading this post and move on to the next one. I would do this b/c I feel like I know what’s coming next “stop acquiring nice stuff or get rid of the stuff you have and give it all to the poor.” I don’t want to hear this message b/c I’ve still got a really long list of stuff I want that I don’t have yet. Can you relate? Well, it’s up to you if you want to keep reading.
I’ve had the opportunity to hear several messages on stewardship and I’ve begun studying Matt 6.19 – 21 as well as Luke 12. They’re both fantastic passages with AMAZING application to my life in Athens, GA right now.
Luke 12 is Jesus giving us two big warnings. He says “be on your guard against hypocrisy and greed.” The way I received these was:
1. Sean – you need to be fully aware that everything you say and do privately will one day be made known publicly. So, be very sure that you’re pursuing consistency in both realms. I’m so sad to say that it was the religious leaders of Jesus’ day who were the hypocrites. God, please help me not be that leader in my generation.
2. The second warning is against greed. It’s really interesting that Jesus says we should “be on our guard against” these things. It’s as if they’ll attack us and we need to be ready for the attack. I don’t normally picture greed and hypocrisy attacking me. Anyway, moving on. Jesus says “a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of His possessions. Then He tells a fantastic story of a guy who was blessed with a great crop and he saw the blessing as his chance to be a fat cat. The guy fell for the lie that the field and the crop it produced was his instead of Gods. So, it only makes sense that he would think it was all for him. Jesus said this was tragic b/c he was going to die that night and he would have missed an incredible opportunity to store up eternal treasure with the blessings God had loaned him. The call was to be “rich toward God” instead of storing up things for ourselves.

Here is where this impacts my life. I recently recognized that my current salary is more than 3x that of my very first real job. For this I’m very thankful. At the same time, at each bump in salary, my family has increased our standard of living. Now, I’m not saying this is a bad thing. Especially when our first home was a beautiful used 14x60 singlewide mobile home. It was a thing of beauty! However, I do sense God asking me “how much is enough?” I hear Him saying, “Sean, how much home do you need? In what kind of neighborhood? What kind of furnishings? What about your car? Vacations? Clothing? Eating out? Entertainment?” I really feel like I need to answer these questions. But even more importantly, I feel like I need someone in my life to whom I give these answers and also give them permission and opportunity to speak into my life when or if I begin to make financial decisions that contradict these standards. I’ll just be fully honest here. I can pretty easily become a high-maintenance guy who lives like a fat cat. I often have strong desires for really nice stuff and nice experiences. I’m not saying these desires in and of themselves are bad. Actually I think they’re probably a huge indication of my longing for glory. I long for the place where there is no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. I long for the day when I’m in God’s all satisfying presence and my heart explodes with joy. I think these are my real longings. I just often believe the lie that a new laptop or cell phone or pair of shoes or TV will give me this same satisfaction. When I do this I begin to fall for the lies of greed and ownership.

It’s really cool that Jesus goes on in the rest of this chapter and talks about our temptation to worry, fear, and set our hearts on our needs for food and clothing. 1 Tim 6.8 is a good cross-reference here. He says God is really good at providing these things. We see this in how He cares for birds and flowers. So, the call to you and I is to sell our possessions, give to the poor, seek His Kingdom, and store up treasure in heaven. I’d say we’re incredibly courageous people if we can receive this challenge from our loving Savior and choose to trust Him.

I’d appreciate your prayer that I would recognize that I’m a steward, not an owner and that every investment I make into the things of God really is an investment in heaven where there is no risk and high return. If I believed this it might dramatically change the future of my life. Thanks for journeying with me.