Update #94

“Do not worship any other god, because I, the LORD, tolerate no rivals.” Exodus 34:14

“Well, we rely on it.” She said.

“You might, but I don’t” I responded.

“We all do” she quipped back.

“I don’t…I don’t rely on money.” I don’t have faith in money. Money changes, it isn’t stable year to year, decade to decade, century to century. Money in itself doesn’t give back. I don’t have confidence in money, in mammon. I have confidence in God.

Do you rely, have faith, have confidence, bet, depend, lean, look to, or believe in money? If you do, hear this: If money is your god, if mammon is what you trust – then you have money as an idol and you worship mammon instead of God.

God will have no idols put in front of him. If you are worried about your bank account, your stocks, your portfolio, or what the market is doing, then you have an idol. If you follow the ticks of the Dow and have heart palpitations when it drops, you have an idol. If you rely on money as your first defense – “oh, I have enough in the bank to cover that”; “oh, I can pull from my IRA”; “oh, I can cash in some stocks – I’ll be ok,” you have an idol.

Where do you turn when you first find yourself in a financial crunch or crisis? What is the first action you take? First call you make?

God wants to be your first, your only…and your financier. God wants to be the one to whom you talk when a sticky situation arises. God wants to help you decide what to do with your money. Maybe he doesn’t want you to cash out your stock portfolio to solve a financial calamity – maybe he has something else in mind and wants you to use that money another place.

As I have written earlier God is unchanging (see Update #88) – he is the same yesterday, today and forever, and he is all sufficient, all knowing, all seeing, everlasting, and creator (see Update #80) among many other things. Who else would you want in control of your finances!

The conversation triggering this whole missive shocked me. The other person is a solid Christian who is incredibly generous not only with her time, but with her money and possessions as well. I wouldn’t have thought for a second that mammon could be an idol of hers; further discussion revealed it was.

This got me to thinking – how many other well meaning, well intentioned, generously giving Christians also have the mindset they need to rely on money, on an income, on a human provider to get them what they need? My heart hurts at the thought. Relying on anything but God is equivalent to bondage – you are tied to it, worry about it, and feel you need to “manage” it to have peace.

This is not what God intended. He wants to be our provider; our “Jehovah Jireh” the Bible calls him. Being tied into God doesn’t bring bondage – it brings freedom, abundant life, joy, and peace…which are hallmarks of his Kingdom (see Update #81). This sounds so much better than anxiety, worry, fear and control...give me joy and peace any day!

Updates:
Living – My condo in Redmond, WA is still for sale http://www.michaelmenin.com/ (view my listings) – it’s the “Sammamish River” one.
Work – I am heading to Indonesia in June – partly with our team, partly to do some client work. I am excited to go back! Dr. G, Felly, OM Errol, Titik, Heru, Handoko…here I come! Oh, and we have secured all our team leads for this round – Whoo Hoo! Thanks for praying.
Health – Spring is here and with it, wild weather. My ankle has been a bit cranky with all the barometer bouncing but hopefully this season will be short lived.
Social – I am helping friends coordinate their wedding next month – I am so looking forward to it!
Finances – Again, God is so cool. I chatted with him about having to fundraise another round to cover my upcoming travel and on the ground expenses and donations have been coming in (thank you, thank you) – I haven’t even sent out a formal letter yet! Go God!

Requests:
Work – We are finishing training and prepping for travel. Please pray for our consultants. They are facing increased work demands, decreased cash flow and want to finish with excellence. Travel – that I find a sweet deal on an air ticket from San Francisco to Jakarta.

Finances - If you would like to sow into what I am doing see the footer info at http://www.denaandrews.blogstpot.com/ or contribute at http://www.repurposing.biz/ for more information.