I’m a senior and I tire more easily than you. I tire of prosperity preachers who shamelessly urge people to live right and get rich. I also tire of preachers who teach about money with a controlling agenda to increase your giving to the church. Yet I do believe that an understanding of economy within God’s frame of reference will lead to generous, responsible charitable donations.
When that was recorded, it was an agrarian world with an economy based upon agriculture. Wealth was measured by the number of animals one possessed. Yet listen to God. “Every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.” Psalm 50:10. “Every” and “all” are convincingly all-inclusive descriptors used by God to assert his claim that he is the Creator and owner of all the wealth in the world.
If he spoke comparable words today, he might state, “Every commodity, every iPhone app, every fast food franchise, every dollar earned, is mine.”
That makes one rethink the inbred assertion, “What’s mine is mine!” I am responsible to God for how I spend the money that comes into my possession. David, Israel’s heroic Old Testament King understood how this principle shapes a person’s perspective and perceptions. In I Chronicles 29:12-16, upon completion of an expensive and beautiful temple building, David is quoted as saying to God in a prayer, “Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.”
If he spoke comparable words today, he might state, “Every commodity, every iPhone app, every fast food franchise, every dollar earned, is mine.”
That makes one rethink the inbred assertion, “What’s mine is mine!” I am responsible to God for how I spend the money that comes into my possession. David, Israel’s heroic Old Testament King understood how this principle shapes a person’s perspective and perceptions. In I Chronicles 29:12-16, upon completion of an expensive and beautiful temple building, David is quoted as saying to God in a prayer, “Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.”
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