The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. PROVERBS 9:10
A little boy comes to his father: “Daddy, I can’t get this piece of my model car to fit. I know it goes right there, but there’s just not room.” After walking his son back through the directions, they discover together that the problem part should have been glued in on step four—but the little guy is nearly finished. “See what happens? They tell you to put this piece in early because they know there won’t be room once the others are assembled.” Sometimes when life’s pieces don’t fit together, it may be because we skipped the first step. And the first step to gaining wisdom and God’s knowledge is to fear the Lord. The word beginning can mean either “the first part” or “the main part.” In both cases, the practical message is the same. The first step, and the continual priority, in fitting all the part of life together is to honor, revere, and worship God. Why? Because all knowledge and wisdom come from God, and we must seek answers through Him if we are to find them at all. If you’re stumped with a part of life that won’t fit, humble yourself before the Lord. That’s the first step in living life skillfully. Dr. David Jeremiah Morning and Evening
We all have a part in the furtherance of the Kingdom of God, those who are in Christ that is.
You're not saved so that you can go out into the world and do your own thing.
You aren't saved in order to profit from this world and spend it solely upon yourself.
Many go into the Christian life thinking that is why God blessed them in that way.
If you are indeed in Christ and God indeed blesses you in abundance. The last thought you should have is how you could spend all that on you. The Biblical examples say to be wise in what we decide. Seek wisdom from God in all that we want to do.
Many countless Preachers have preached on money. On wealth. Malachi is a popular book that they take you to in regards to it.
In today's world the lottery is huge. What would you do with a million dollars? Most already have a list. There's no thought to consulting God in that regard.
God can bless all believers with wealth, with prosperity of a kind not seen since the days of King Solomon. It's the wealth that's the problem it's what it does to people.
We can become people we are not. Look at the times Jesus sent His Disciples out. A key thing is in the list of items they are told NOT to take. No money.
Look at the story of Gideon. Look at how the people would have been if they had brought about the victory. Look at what the Lord Jesus said to him. He kept whittling down the amount of people untill but a few where left to go into battle. Pride has its roots in prosperity too.
Pride blinds people to the needs of others. We also live in a deceptive world. You have thousands of people intentionally living as though they are poor, begging for money, yet when followed to where they live you find they are more well off that most middle class people who are struggling to get by.
Money and property can change people in ways they themselves would not see coming. King Solomon was the most wealthy man alive. He indeed wrote a lot in regards to wisdom. Yet wealth blinded him to what his thousands of wives were doing to him. He was straying from God. He strayed from what God said of marriage being between 1 man and 1 woman. He started the process of causing a great fall in Israel. Subsequent generations would be embroiled in Civil War, in judgment by God.
Wealth isn't necessarily a bad thing, but wealth must be bridled like the tongue of mankind. We can easily begin living as though those around us don't matter. We can begin living as though the truth that millions per day are dying without Christ and opening their eyes in Hell. We lose the perspective that we are still here to serve our Savior.
What would I do with such money? First is to pray about any next step. Second would be to be obedient to Scripture. Get out of debt and to owe no man anything as it says in Proverbs. Third is to strive to continue to be that person Jesus has spent my entire life creating to do that work He has prepared for me. This isn't to say that temptation wouldn't be there to do otherwise. Temptations aren't just a group from the 60's and 70's. They are everywhere and not just in regards to wealth.
You and I need to keep in mind that judgment is coming from God. People are still in need of a Savior which is Christ Jesus our Lord. Wealth is both good and bad. Some can be shipwrecked by it. Some can be of great assistance to the cause of Christ with it. All need to consult Jesus about it.
Just because you are blessed in something doesn't mean that it immediately follows that your being blessed is meant for you to spend it on you. The example of Job goes both ways. If you can consider it. King Solomon went through the opposite of what Job did. Rather than have every single thing removed from his life to get him to curse God and die, Solomon was blessed beyond measure and we see the result. He fell away from that relationship he had with Jesus.
Pray for your discernment today. Solomon began his reign by asking God for that. We see what happened when he stopped asking...he fell away from God.
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