The Good and Bad of Loving
From Livestream
by Pastor Nave on February 05, 2017
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses (I Timothy 6:6–12, KJV).
We are told to love in this world, but we need to learn to love the right things. Scripture admonishes us to be content with what we have although the culture around us tells us we don’t have enough. In all actuality, if we have clothes on our backs and food in our stomachs, we have all that we need in this life. But, our flesh has a desire for more—everyone can love money and almost everyone does.
The love of money is a doorway to our life, allowing spirits of lust, pride, greed, comparison, and selfishness to attack us spiritually. When these spirits grab hold of us, they get into our relationships and affect our decision-making. The love of money is like a disease—it spreads to affect everything (Matthew 6:22–24).
Riches don’t belong to us, but to the Lord. Anything that is put in our hand is temporary; money is a tool to bring God glory in our life. We should be diligent with how we use money (Proverbs 27:23) and use it for God’s kingdom (Proverbs 21:5).
God’s plan for us is to follow a “pay-as-we-go” strategy. While we shouldn’t be compulsive with our spending (Proverbs 14:29), but we should allow God to tell us how to use it! If we spend money unwisely and go into debt, we’ll be subject to lenders (Proverbs 22:7) and locked down as to where we can give in the Kingdom of God.
We cannot teach ourselves to give, but we must allow God to give us a spirit of giving. We have convinced ourselves that we don’t have any money to give, and it’s because we’re giving our money in all the wrong places. Scripture tells us that if we give, it will be given back to us in a greater measure than what we gave (Luke 6:38). Certain blessings will not come into our lives until we let go of the blessing God’s already put into our life through our finances.
We must tithe unto the Lord to help the house of God operate (Malachi 3:10). And, we’re also called to give free-will offerings to those around us. We should give and support others when we have the ability to do it (Proverbs 3:27). We miss the will of God so many times in our life when God wants us to give and we refuse to do so.
Giving is not something only a few are called to do—all that have been blessed by God are called to give. In our giving, it’s not about how much we give, but about our sacrifice. We cannot always give out of our abundance.
Money is very personal to all of us, but we must allow God to be the Lord over our finances and our expenses. We can never completely please the Lord in our walk with Him until our finances are in the right state and we’re completely submitted to Him.
Let’s look for a treasure in Heaven and not on this earth (Matthew 6:19–24). We cannot serve the Lord and money in our life. Instead, let’s decide to allow God to be the Lord in our life—in every area. When we do, our finances will reflect His direction and will be about His Kingdom,
