Many of us are now preparing for giving (and getting) during this Christmas season. In addition to shopping for those we love, likely we have also given gift ideas to those who love us for things we desire.
In Matthew 7 Jesus reminds us in our own parallel as we “know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give what is good and advantageous to those who keep on asking Him.”
Notice how He said “good and advantageous”. That means God—because He loves us, will not add things which will ultimately harm us. Remember, since He knows the future then He knows what things will be good and what things will not be good for us to have.
There are “things” all of us want, and what God desires is for us to place that “thing” in its proper order—which is far below Him, so that our affections are not strongly attached to the things of this world. In 1 John chapter 2 God has cautioned us not love the things of this world, as it is passing away.
Are you sometimes confronted inside with having to get that “thing”, even if it involves spending money you really don’t have and going deeper into debt? As it relates to the bottom line in our finances, how we manage our handling of optional, discretionary and impulse purchases will have the greatest say in reducing our debt level and eventually becoming debt-free.
In Isaiah 55 it is written “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for what does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness (the profuseness of spiritual joy). Because God created us, He knows what will ultimately satisfy us – and that is closeness to Him.
We can think “I just have to get that new (phone, car, clothes, device, service, etc.) thing”, or that “I just have to get it now, I can’t wait”. God knew we’d deal with these impulses and through Paul gave us the proper mindset we need to be overcomers and that is in being content.
Choosing to be content is the wise choice. In Philippians 4, Paul tells us “I have learned how to be content in whatever state I am. I know how to live humbly in straitened circumstances, and I know also how to enjoy plenty and live in abundance. He received his contentment from Christ. It is in this reliance that will provide patience, enabling us to turn away from choices of spending money we do not have that plunge us into debts.
Jesus spoke lovingly to us in Matthew 6 to not be worried or anxious about what we will eat, drink and wear, but instead to aim at His kingdom and His righteousness, and to meditate on the attitude and character of God. He said this from a position of authority, promising that in doing so first, that all these things will be given to us as well.
Who else can make such a promise than the One who created the Universe and all that is within it?
“THINGS WHICH THE EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND THE EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND WHICH HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN,
ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, who obey Him, and who gratefully recognize the benefits that He has bestowed].”
God Bless you and may He show Himself greatly to you,
Paul
