He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.
Read Matthew 25:14-30. Who owns your money? Some of the more cynical amongst us might answer the tax man! But if we are being serious, I guess many of us would say, I’ve worked for it, I’ve earned it, my money is mine.
That’s not what the Bible says. The Bible makes it clear that everything we have belongs to God. That includes our money. His purpose for us is that we manage everything he has given to us - including our money. We are to be stewards of what belongs to him.
Everything we have is a gift from God. After all, it is God who gives us the strength and the energy to earn the money we do. It is he who has given us the mind and the intelligence to work. We don’t own our money, it is on loan from God.
On the face of it, this might seem unfair. But instead it is liberating! Once we realise our money belongs to God and that we merely manage it for him, suddenly all the worries we have, the stress and the pressure surrounding money, all disappear.
Managing the money God has entrusted to us is a spiritual discipline. How we do it, as we build the future together, is a sign of how spiritually mature we are. Let’s focus on managing God’s money well and grow more like his Son every day.
THINK IT OVER
Think about the following:
What role does prayer play in your financial decisions? Why do you think this might be important?