The Money Issue

THE DAILY WORD
By Jim Seekamp

Friday March 7, 2008

God's desire for us is that we not worry about money so we can concentrate on listenening to and obeying the Holy Spirit inside us! God wants each believer to come to the realization that we are already rich whether we know it or not!

2 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV)
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

According to the passage above, Jesus, though He was RICH, BECAME POOR so that WE might become rich!

When did He do this? We know He was rich throughout his three and a half year ministry on earth; He had a money bag so full that Judas Iscariot thought nobody would notice if he helped himself to it:

John 12:4-6 (NIV)
4. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5. "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." 6. He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

Jesus' undergarment was so precious that the Roman guards who divided up His clothes among them actually had to decide by lot who would get it!

John 19:23,24 (NIV)
23. When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24. "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it."

That these Roman guards actually cared about his clothing enough to divide it up among them is amazing enough, but they ALL wanted His seamless undergarment!

All signs point to Jesus being a rich man during His ministry on earth; the only time we see him "BECOME POOR" is at the cross!

He was hung naked; with not even any clothes to call his own. The same cross where Jesus took our sin and gave us righteousness; the same cross where Jesus took our sickness and gave us health; that same cross is where He took our poverty and made us rich!

Some answer that by saying, "Well, it doesn't LOOK like I'm rich!"

That's because we are not to HOARD our riches, but to USE them! Whenever a need came up, Jesus didn't even have to go to His money bag; He knew where all the money in the world was:

Matthew 17:24-27 (NIV)
24. After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax ?" 25. "Yes, he does," he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" he asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes-- from their own sons or from others?"
26. "From others," Peter answered.
"Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him. 27. "But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."

God does not create money; that would be counterfeiting. Jesus knew that there was a four drachma coin in the lake and decided to use it for his temple tax! He also undoubtedly knew (and knows) where all the rest of the money in the world was (and is).

This story is an illustration of how rich a child of God really is! God created the earth, all the cattle, all the gold, and every valuable resource on the earth. It is ALL HIS:

Haggai 2:8 (NIV)
"The silver is mine and the gold is mine," declares the LORD Almighty.

God can at any time show us how to tap into that huge vault of riches at any time we need it to accomplish His will!

PRAYER
Thank You Father for Your wonderful, life-giving Word. Help me comprehend Your Word and rightly divide it so I can allow You to govern my life completely.
In Jesus Name, Amen.

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