"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also"

So today at church, our pastor talked about money. Oh brother, I’m sure some people thought, he’s begging for money.

But seriously, it wasn’t like that. He talked about how, we, the richest nation in the world (yes even during this bad economy) we are always looking to have “more”. More what? More stuff? I know my husband and I are guilty of it. Our Xbox broke, so we decided to go ahead and just buy a PS3 instead. Which meant buying all new games. Was that really necessary? Was that a want or a NEED? (OK-so for me, it’s a really big NEEEEEEDDDDD. I love video games. I think the only person who spends more time on the video games is my son. But I usually end up taking over his games…for hours). But really, this stuff happens all the time. Why do we, overall speaking, HAVE to have stuff? A lot of people blame it on all the commercials, which doesn’t help, but I’m beginning to think it’s really part of our nature. It’s that sin in us that is never satisfied. Shouldn’t we be content?


“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)


“But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. (1 Timothy 6:8)


Funny thing happened during my 9-month time of unemployment term…we were content. I think Billy and I were just so happy we weren’t in danger of losing the house or going without food that we were content. All our bills were paid and that was one of the periods of my life that I’ve been the happiest. All our needs were met and we were very aware of that fact. In turn, my marriage flourished, I reconnected with my kids, I loved staying home. I would probably still be out of work, but honestly, the job found me. Or, I should say, God gave me this job. And even though I took a pay cut, I LOVE my job. Well, I should say that I love the people I work with. I mean, come on, I fill out paperwork for a living. But the people I work with are some of the funniest, kindest people I’ve met. My faith in God has grown like it never has before. All of this came about, when I got laid off and we went back to bare minimum. Dude! We’re struggling more now than when my pay was half of what it is. ??????????? How is that?


So going back to the pastor’s message…


He went on to say that giving is part of the blessing God gives us. We are not cisterns, but channels. The more we have, the more we should be giving. Not just money, in all things. Time and money. As Christians, we should be the ones known as givers. Helpers, people who others go to in time of need. Are we?