FINANCIAL INTEGRITY

Footsteps to Zion//

Rev. Paul Caram in his book “True Christianity” has said, “how we handle money determines whether or not we will succeed in our Christian life” -- and he is right!

How we manage our money reveals a lot of hidden things in our hearts! It tells us what we really value in life, whether we possess self-discipline and faith, and much more!
The problem lies not with how much money we have, but how we manage and handle the money that we have.
There are at least three key issues that need to be addressed in a Christian’s life when it comes to money:


1. CHARACTER and RIGHT ATTITUDES.

Some of the things that should be developed in our lives include:

A. Submission - have we surrendered to God the FULL control of our money? In actuality, it is HIS money, and we are but stewards. The question is not how much of our money we will give to God, but how much of God’s money should we keep for ourselves. We should develop an attitude of seeking God for every purchase we make. We should ask and depend on God for wisdom in handling our finances.

B. Self-Control and Discipline - We should allow God to cleanse us from our tendencies to buy impulsively even items that are on sale. By the strength of the Lord, we should not submit to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.

C. Contentment - 1 Timothy 6:6 states that “Godliness with contentment is great gain”. Happy is the one who is content with what God has given him! Always desiring for the best/newest/latest/coolest/most beautiful things in this world will breed discontent and envy. We should cultivate gratitude in what the Lord has given us.

D. Generosity - We have to be cheerful givers, for God delights in such. As we give to others, the Lord Himself will bless us, like it is written in Proverbs 11:25 “The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself”. We should be encouraged to support the financial needs of those who are in ministry.

E. Faith/Faithfulness - We have to be faithful to the Lord in our giving, and we need to have faith when we give. We should not think that we will not have enough money for ourselves if we give our tithes and offerings to the Lord! Such a heart reflects a lack of faith and trust in the God who could supply all our needs.


2. TITHING

The Bible is very clear about this in Malachi 3:8-12. A curse comes to those who do not tithe (Not tithing is robbing God and robbing ourselves of God’s blessings) and blessings come to those who do. Faithful tithing helps cleanse us from selfishness and disobedience.

Jesus said we should tithe in Matthew 23:23 so tithing is not just an “old testament thing.” Tithing could either go to the storehouse or church (Malachi 3:10) or to the Levites/those in ministry (Number 18:21,24). We should not limit our tithing to just TEN percent, as we can also see some examples in Scripture of those who have given more than 10%.

If we are comfortable in our giving, maybe we should ask God if it’s time to raise it up (or maybe God has been saying it all along and we are not just listening!). Our tithes are different from our offerings! We should offer both cheerfully to the Lord.


3. WISDOM IN MONEY MANAGEMENT

We should ask God for divine wisdom in handling our money for we will surely fail if we employ human means!

We should be faithful in paying up our debts, and we should “owe man nothing” (Romans 13:8). We should not spend lavishly on ourselves knowing that we still have to pay others.

If our credit card does not work for us, and we end up working for the credit card, maybe we should immediately stop using it. We should learn to save, budget, and purchase wisely.

We should not be wasteful of our resources. We should not overspend.

We should have the humility of having the contentment of not having the finest of everything.

 May the Lord grant us the grace to be faithful in handling our money. And as we are faithful in the little, may we be entrusted with much of His true riches. Amen!

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