One of the most important questions we can ask ourselves is,
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How can I use my money wisely?
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God tells us we need to adopt two attitudes:
One of the most important questions we can ask ourselves is, “How can I use my money wisely?” God tells us we need to adopt two attitudes:
First, we should be grateful. Ecclesiastes 5:19 says “wealth and the good health to enjoy it is indeed a gift from God.” This gratitude will, in turn, lead to joy. Ecclesiastes 7:14 tells us, “when life is good, enjoy it.” So are you grateful and glad, or are you gloomy and greedy? Are you always focused on getting more, or do you enjoy what you have? Many of us are so busy gathering and hoarding that we have no time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. A tombstone in England says, “She died for want of things.” Her husband’s stone next to it says, “He died trying to give them to her.”
Let’s be grateful for what God has given us, and, out of that attitude, let us be generous. The simplest way I know to develop a generous spirit is to look at life from a more eternal perspective. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 tells us “not to trust in money, which will soon be gone, but in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Use your money to do good … be rich in good works and give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this you will be storing up your treasure as a good foundation for the future.”
Let me give you an illustration of why this is good advice. Suppose a law was passed tomorrow that said within the next year the whole U.S. economy was going to change and when it did, our official currency would become the Mexican peso. At the time of the change, the U.S. dollar would become worthless. Now the catch is that no one will know the exact day this is going to happen; it could be any time within the next twelve months. If this were to happen, what would be your strategy? Wisdom would dictate changing most of your wealth into pesos as soon as possible, keeping only enough in dollars to meet your daily expenses, because when the currency changes, all your dollars will become worthless.
This is the same principle God is stating in the passage from 1 Timothy. One day your time on earth will be done. And while you don’t know exactly when that day will come, when it happens all the wealth you have accumulated will be worthless to you.
Someone was once overheard at a funeral asking, “I wonder how much he left?” That’s an easy question to answer: he left it all!  And so will we when we die. But on that day there will be a great exchange; the only wealth we will have then will be that which we sent up in advance. And we translate our earthly money into heavenly currency by doing the two things those verses tell us to do: we should begin using what we have now to further God’s purposes on earth and we should share generously with those in need. Proverbs 19:17 says, “When you help the poor you are lending to the Lord–and he pays wonderful interest on your loan!” If you like those terms, then invest your money!
