April 23
Poverty Thinking
You cannot two masters serve,
Life becomes a great big swerve.
God or money,
C’mon honey.
Decide if you have the nerve.
Did you grow up believing to serve God meant you had to be poor? As long as you had enough to get by that was all you needed? Or worse, you were undeserving of being wealthy?
Poverty thinking is one of the caftiest deceptions satan has caused the church to believe. Scriptures have been taken out of context to perpetrate this lie. A perfect example:
And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20)
Jesus was telling the scribe in this story that if he wanted to follow Jesus he needed to count the cost. It is true you will need to give things up, things that do not honor holiness but it certainly does not mean you will be poor and homeless. That is what I believed for a long time. My concept of Jesus was He had no home, no money, no friends. But look at what scripture says here:
He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali… (Matthew 4:13)
When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. (Mark 2:1-2)
Clearly Jesus had a home and lots of friends. He was well liked. He had a job and was a hard worker. He made money. When it was time to begin his ministry he was not broke. Ministry takes money. Judas, who betrayed him, was His treasurer. The danger is not the money, but the love of money. Judas loved the money. Clearly, Jesus being the Son of God (as well as Son of Man) could do anything without money but we needed Him to show us how to let money serve us for good and not evil. We are masters over money. The world is always trying to make it the opposite.
It takes courage to serve God.
We are programmed to trust money as our source of survival. Growing up there was never enough and you often felt you weren’t worth enough to have any spent on you. How can I trust God to take care of me? HE didn’t seem to take care of my parents. That thinking spilled over into adulthood and it has been a long journey to get free of it. As I serve God He keeps revealing it has nothing to do with being poor but everything to do with serving the God of more than enough.
It always comes down to trust.
Sometimes I miss the mark and revert to my old ways of thinking. I settle for less than what I could have. That old poverty mind-set tries to get me to believe I am less than enough and so deserve less. That thinking overflows into all areas of life as well, not just money. Take my book for example. I started writing a few years ago. I adjusted some things to stay on target but have not completed it yet. The poverty lie wants to dictate, “You don’t have enough drive, vision, skill and on and on to complete a book.” On my own I probably don’t but I trust the One who can help me be more than enough to finish it.
Today let’s remember who we serve.
If you have never made God your master, get up the nerve to do so. Ask Jesus to be your Lord. Trust Him with all the courage you have and ask Him to lead you in all truth.
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
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