"Money Money Everywhere, but Not Enough for Me"

Call me crazy, but the first thing I want to talk about is money. Yes, the old greenback. Money: The thing that makes billions of people get up each morning at an ungodly hour to go someplace they can't stand. Money: The cause of more fights in marriages than anything else in the world. Money: what makes someone like Donald Trump able to host the MISS AMERICA PAGENT! Jeez! If that doesn't say something about the influence of money over people's sanity, I don't know what does. I mean for crying out loud, the guy looks like a beakless duck! Anyway, as I was saying. Have you ever noticed how the money you need never seems to be around when you need it! Or at least, it's never there in my case. For some reason, the harder I work, and the more I try to save, the more expenses seem to arise. A bogus traffic ticket here, an extra college class there, car trouble. It never seems to stop, and the more I try to work to pay for all these things, the farther away I seem to get from being able to save for the future. It started getting me a little depressed recently. I can never seem to get ahead. Even buy some of the basics, I.E. a new printer because my old one doesn't work with my new computer. (yes, I realize the irony of what I just said, but be patient.)

Back in February, I remembered a verse from the Bible. Yes, you knew this was coming as I did say I am a preacher. Anyway, the verse is Malachi 3:10. It says: "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD almighty "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." I continued reading on through 11 and 12 as well to make sure I was getting the whole context. (This, by the way, is a common mistake made by people who want to make the Bible say what they want to hear, rather than hearing what it has to say.) After reading it, I realized that this was the only place in the Bible where God says "test me". So I decided to do just that. I felt that if God promised to throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out blessings, He would. I began to try and outgive God. , I have been giving faithfully to my local church and God has blessed me with over 300 dollars that came out of seemingly nowhere. However, I said I had continued reading. I noticed that immediately following verse 10, it talked about God protecting the fields of the faithful, and other nations calling them blessed, "for (Israel's) will be a delightful land."

I had to sit on that one for a while, but then today I realized that it is not about you giving God a 20 and getting back a 50. So what is it about?
Money is the absolute hardest thing for a person to let go of control over. People freak out when it comes to their cash. You could almost say, they worship it. They idolize it. Those who don't have much constantly seek to get more. People who have a lot, use it. Now, don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with wanting to improve yourself financially, nor is there anything wrong with having money and enjoying it. But, it happens too often that a person will put their money, or lack thereof before God. God asks for an offering to show Him that you care less about your money than you do Him, and that you're willing to trust Him that He'll take care of you.

I am not going to sit here and lie to you, and say that I've got it right 100% of the time. In fact, over the last couple weeks I've been stressing out more about money that even school! However, I do know that I need to sit back, keep working diligently, know the difference between a want and a need, and trust that the Lord will provide.

Tonight, after work I began stressing out over something that needs to be paid for by the first of the month. In addition to my semester at Lindenwood, I've been taking a class at UMSL that LU does not offer so I can graduate with a degree in Public Speaking. Unlike Lindenwood, since it was a single class, I was able to receive no financial aid, and am having to pay just over 900 dollars for this one class. I've been working long and hard and paid off half of it, but other expenses came up and I feared I would be unable to make the final payment. Then I remembered something. Three days ago, I had gotten a credit card, with a very special promotion: 0% APR for the first 6 months. This was definately a gift sent from God before I even knew I needed it. I will be able to pay the bill now, and will have NO trouble paying off the card IN FULL within the next 2 months INTEREST FREE! God, you do provide for all our needs. We just need to stay faithful in our giving, and trust in you to provide. Now, if you could just help me figure out Seminary... that'd be awesome!

For any of you still reading, HOW IN THE WORLD WERE YOU ABLE TO STAY FOCUSED?! I was writing all this and had a hard time concentrating. Jeez, you must be a better person than I am.

-The Sailing Preacher