Verse of the day: Proverbs 28:22 A man with an evil eye
hastens after riches, And does not consider that poverty will come upon
him.
The
subject of material riches is one that gets all kinds of reactions from
Christians. For a born again believer this should not be a great difficulty. I
have seen Christians actually get angry having conversations about giving. I
have even heard too many of God’s children even misquote 1 Timothy 6:10 and say
that “money is the root of all evil”. That is incorrect. The verse tells us
that the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Proverbs 28 is reminding us of
this very thing. I will say right up front that it is not wrong or evil for a
Christian to be blessed with riches, if God so desires to bless him/her with
it. This verse tells us that “a man with an evil eye” is what spoils the
blessing. In other words, a covetous person who goes after riches is what is
not pleasing before God. 1 Timothy 6:9 tells us that those who will be rich
fall into temptation, a snare, many foolish and hurtful lusts, and will end in
destruction. When we read Scripture, there were men of God who had wealth, and
God did not condemn them for it. As a matter of fact, God gave Solomon riches
because his primary desire was to gain wisdom from God to lead His people (2
Chr 1:11-12). Will some of God’s people experience hardship and poverty? Yes
they will. Jesus Himself did not choose to be born into a wealthy family. God
also does not command us to give everything away and live in poverty, although
there may be those times He calls us to trust Him and sacrifice what we have in
order to serve Him. Sadly, too many Christians cannot seem to find the balance
when it comes to material riches and money. God is clear that He loves a heart
that is giving, and the Lord Himself said that, “It is more blessed to give,
than to receive” (Acts 20:35). He wants us to prove Him in our giving and see
if He will not bless us abundantly in return (Mal 3:10). Here is where many go
astray and give with the wrong motivation. The person who loves riches, and is
covetous, gives for the sole purposes of trying to gain riches in return. Our motivation
for giving should be simply because God desires that we give to the poor, and
be a help and blessing to those in need. He wants us to give to the work being
done in the local church because of a desire to see souls saved. When we give,
we must do so by faith, trusting that even if God asks us to give our last
dollar, He will take care of whatever needs we may have beyond that (1 Pt 5:7).
The bottom line is that not every Christian is going to be wealthy, and not
every Christian is going to live in poverty. God can bless us with much or
choose to have us live depending on Him for our daily bread. In either case, we
should always be ready to use whatever God blesses us with to be a blessing in
the life of others. When we love money more than we love God, we will fail to
allow Him to use us in the way He desires. God desires that we be a people who
have a bountiful eye and gives to the poor (Pro 22:9); and He desires that we
give cheerfully (2 Cor 9:7); regardless of whether or not we are wealthy.
Rather than focus on gaining riches, we need to make the things of God the
priority, and let Him choose whether or not He wants to bless us materially.
Know this, that regardless, He will always provide exactly what we need, even
before we ask (Mt 6:24-34; Mt 6:8).
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