Embryonic thoughts on Money

First of all, I’ve heard that some of you have found it hard to leave a comment. So, this weekend in Threshold we are going to explain a couple easy ways to do that.

Also, just so you all know, I’m planning on doing a new blog entry every Monday, so you can count on that (and feel free to get on my case if I don’t). And I’ll do a new quiz/poll every few weeks, with the results/answer posted when the poll closes.


Ok, so for a blog…
Last weekend in Threshold we talked about money. As I shared then its not a topic that is comfortable for me to talk about because I feel like there’s some pretty heavy baggage when it comes to preachers talking about money. And rightly so, since I think there has been straight up abuse of power and manipulation by Christian leaders, and I’ve experienced some of it myself.

With all of that aside I was glad that last weekend we got some good stuff out on the table, mainly answering a BIG question about money: WHOSE IS IT? We saw Jesus paint a picture through the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) that everything (including money) belongs to God and he has made us trustees of His resources in order that we may experience his Kingdom in our lives and further His Kingdom in the world around us.

This is a radical idea to me. I’m wrestling with what this will look like. It is a 180% shift from what everything around us in our culture teaches us. From “its MINE”, to “its HIS” has massive implications. Every purchase becomes a spiritual activity because we are saying it is how God would use his money (that’s what trustees do right, they act on behalf of the owner).

This feels a bit overwhelming to me, on the other hand its exciting when I notice that the root of the word Trustee is TRUST. God trusts us enough to give us the chance to make a contribution to the bringing of his will into the world through the way I spend money. That’s a pretty cool thought. He trusts us enough to play an important role in His plan.

Yet, if this is going to mean anything it has to do something practical in my life. I know that for me one thing the idea of being a Trustee of God’s stuff has got me amped to do is to keep better track of what I’m spending. If I don’t keep track, money has a way of just disappearing and then there is really no way to decide if it’s a good decision for God’s stuff or not, but as I keep better track through a categorized budget I can see what is going on and thus make adjustments we (Dawn and I) feel led to.

But this doesn’t make it worry free, even today Dawn and I argued for like an hour about money stuff, but after we kissed and made up, I still felt like its something worth making the effort to get good at, because as Jesus said, a lot is on line when it comes to money.

What about u? How does the idea of Trustee land on you? How is God challenging you practically?