Using money to make a difference
by Diana Kabeizi
If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be you warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? James 2:15-16
This month, we are looking at money being our influence, and this could either be negatively or positively. When we look up the verb influence in the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, we are told it means to affect or change how someone or something develops, behaves or thinks. In most cases when people start getting more money than they previously earned, their lifestyle changes. Money also influences their tastes, the friends they hang out with, the places they visit and even the way they spend their time.
Many friends of mine have admitted to me how starting to earn their own money has changed their lifestyles. Esther, a close friend of mine, told me how she no longer went to some eating joints she used to go to as a student. She confessed to me how she once went to one of her former favourite fast-food takeaway joints when she was still a student and in her words “it smelt like urine”. After a thoughtful silence, she confirmed what I was thinking too; she thinks it’s so because she can now afford to go to more expensive and exquisite places, which she could not afford as a student since she was living on transfer earnings! I also admitted to her that soon after I finished university, my hairdresser changed. “They never used to wash my hair with enough water at the campus salon” I told her. We laughed about the old university times when we could not afford to go to some places and I concluded that indeed starting to earn our own money has changed our ways of life.
The Bible in Deuteronomy 8:18a “But thou shall remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth” reminds me that I should be thankful to God who enables me to get money contrary to the popular belief that Christians are not supposed to have lots of money. However, I will use the money that the Lord has given me to:
a) Bless others and thus have a positive influence-I’m often reminded that it is not enough to say to my friends who are in need how I will pray for them and quoting all the scriptures like “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19), but also to share with them what the Lord has blessed me with.
b) Avoid wasteful living-The ‘prodigal son’ story in Luke 15:11-32 provides us an example of the son who after his inheritance, in Verse 13 “And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living” changed his lifestyle by careless living. An important question to always ask, is how I’m spending my money? The Bible tells us in Romans 14:8 “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord;…” Are we using our money in a lifestyle that brings glory to the Lord?
c) Save and invest-“A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; But the simple pass on and are punished” Proverbs 27:12. Paul encouraged the Corinthians in 1 Cor 16:2 “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come” to set some money aside for God’s work. You must be prudent and set money for future use and this will enable you to provide for you own (1 Tim 5:8), thus influencing the future!!
d) And finally whatever you do with your money do it as unto the Lord “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.” Col 3:23.
Blessings!!
Check out these similar posts:
Recent Comments