Love is an Orientation
Yesterday was Black Friday and I got up at 3:20am so I could go shopping and get everyone I loved something really special. I want to briefly give you my Philosophy of Money and Spending:
I give more to the Lord than I can “afford” and then I spend the rest blessing those really special people in my life that have already given so much.
You can’t take a dime with you into eternity, and what good is there in trying to hoard as much money to yourself as you can because “you want to live comfortably in retirement” or “just in case”. Retirement means your work is done – and a faithful Christian walk never ends until our last breathe is breathed. It’s an orientation; a lifestyle; a paradigm of understanding that is totally countercultural to what mainstream (as there are two types of mainstream – secular and religious) tells us. And when lived to the fullest, you’re not able to retire from it because it’s too ingrained, too normal to you, too much a way of life.
Our Kingdom Priorities are messed up because they are so inward focused. Jesus said the two greatest commandments are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”; and then to “love your neighbor as yourself.”
Where your heart and priorities are, that is also where your money goes. So mine goes to God first, and then to my loved ones next with very little left over – not because I spend so much but rather because what little I do make is given or spent on my top priorities. Is it any coincidence that right after Jesus tells everyone the two greatest commandments, He illustrates it with this.
Rich to me might not mean rich to you, but you better believe I’m fully rich in how I live my life. Scary? Extremely. But the strange part is that I’ve never been more content in my entire life.
Much love.
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