With Christmas approaching, one of the things on my mind, especially since it's showing up in commercials, is one of my all-time favorite movies, "It's a Wonderful Life." This Frank Capra film with Jimmy Stewart became something of a Christmas tradition for us. And, since it's a tradition, we always watch the black-and-white version. :-)
I first saw the movie on Christmas Eve some 30+ years ago. It's the typical story of a good guy who struggles his entire life, never accomplishes his big dreams, and fails to realize just how wonderful his life has really been. And one of the more typical themes in the movie is the battle that goes on between George Bailey, the hero of the story, played by Jimmy Stewart, and the very wealthy, but warped and frustrated, Mr. Potter, played by Lionel Barrymore.
George works hard his entire life helping people escape the clutches of the evil Mr. Potter. His life is one of sacrifice for the greater good, while Mr. Potter is only thinking about lining his own pockets with money he extorts from the poor working class citizens of Bedford Falls. It's a story that shows up in a million different ways in millions of stories. And what are we supposed to learn from this story?
Well there are a couple of messages we can glean from it. One is that good, hard-working, people are generally poor. They sacrifice their entire lives for the good of their fellow man, and are usually only appreciated late in life, if at all.
The other message is that rich people are unhappy, dubious, and very evil. They will stop at nothing when it comes to taking money from other people. Their wealth is unearned, and comes through the sweat and toil of the huddled masses.
We watch movies like this (which I still really enjoy watching), and read books with similar themes and then wonder why it is that we have problems overcoming our own thoughts of lack and poverty. Our culture tends to romanticize the struggles of the poor, and teaches us that there is something noble about poverty.
But the Bible paints a very different picture. The second half of Proverbs 10:15 says, "but poverty is the ruin of the poor." When we look at poverty around the world we see that it is the poor who are exploited by tyrants and extremists. When was the last time that a truly affluent young man, someone who had worked hard to create a good life for himself, strapped a bomb on his body and blew himself up to wipe out a handful of "infidels"?
I suppose that there may be some spoiled rich kids who don't appreciate what they have, who look for meaning in things like that. But someone who learned how to make a great life would not be swayed by the ravings of a religious extremist.
It's easy to see the poor as victims and the wealthy as the perpetrators. And the unfortunate thing is that this too often the case. There are those who got their wealth and power through evil things that they did in their pursuit of money and influence. Which is why 1 Timothy 6:10 tells us, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."
And I know that some will quote Jesus' sermon on the mount and say, "Blessed are the poor." In Matthew 5:3 it says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Jesus is not teaching that the poor have a special door, or reserved seating, in heaven. It's the poor in spirit, those who recognize their spiritual need, who will find the kingdom of heaven.
And there are those who will look at the story of the rich young ruler, the man who walked away sad when Jesus told him to sell his possessions, and say, "But Jesus said, 'It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven.'" But just like Jesus didn't give the poor a special invitation, He didn't exclude the rich.
The problem with this young man was that he didn't believe in heaven, all he believed in was his life on earth. He was not willing to part with his possessions on earth even though Jesus had promised him treasures in heaven. When it comes to going to heaven, the amount of money in your bank account really doesn't matter. The only thing that is important is your faith in Christ's atoning death and the promise of eternal life.
We have all been taught things about money that make it hard for us to become truly abundant when it comes to our finances. We think that money isn't important, or at least that there are more important things in life, but that doesn't agree with what Jesus taught. He taught us that our attitudes and use of money determine whether or not we would be able to enjoy the true riches.
That doesn't mean that everyone needs to be, or that God will make everyone, rich. What it does mean is that our beliefs about money, how we think about it, have a dramatic impact on us. We should look to the Bible to help us develop the proper thoughts and beliefs about the importance, and role, of money in our lives.
There are two general ways of viewing money. One is to look at it with what is called a poverty, or scarcity, consciousness. Which is just a fancy way of saying that someone's beliefs are based on poverty and lack. The opposite of that is to have a prosperity consciousness, or a mindset, a set of beliefs, that is based in abundance.
Both of these mindsets are ways of looking at the world. They effect how we see money, and probably many other things in our lives. Since John 10:10 tells us that Jesus came to give us life and abundance, we should be looking at our beliefs and developing a prosperity mindset. And while that won't guarantee that we'll have a ton of money, it will mean that we will be better able to be faithful with all that God has given us.
Where do we start with our beliefs? What are some of the most important things that we should believe that will change our attitudes about money?
Believe in Abundance
The first thing is to get away from scarcity thinking. This kind of thinking says that there is only so much to go around, and that in order for me to have more, someone else has to have less. This kind of thinking can have a negative impact on people no matter how much money they have. In other words, both poor and rich alike can have a belief in scarcity. It is this belief that causes people to think that they have to lie, steal, or cheat in order to take what they want.
The Bible teaches us about this in James 4. James is writing to people who covet what others have, and who are willing to do anything in order to take those things from those people. Their beliefs are based in poverty and scarcity. They miss the truth of God's abundance, so rather than asking to receive the blessings that God has for them, they forcibly take what others have.
This poverty mentality is the cause of war. If we hate war, which we should do, then we need to start teaching the world about God's abundance. People who understand that there is more than enough, and that God can bring increase to us out of His riches, will never feel a need to covet what others have, and they will never start a war.
How do we develop a belief in abundance? Start with memorizing 2 Corinthians 9:8 which says, "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."
I like to personalize that verse a little bit by rewording it. I remind myself that God makes all grace abound toward me, and I have everything I need and more, so that I can abundantly give.
Another thing that we can do is to start paying tithes and offerings. The principle of tithing is really a statement about our belief in abundance. People who tithe are saying, "I believe that God supplies my needs. So I give to Him, through my tithes and offerings, and He opens the windows of heaven so that I can receive more." (Malachi 3:8-12)
We should not be tithing out of some false sense of obligation, but because we recognize God's abundance. He will bless our finances and give use more, so that we will be able to give even more, which just creates a wonderful cycle of increasing blessings.
And one more thing that we can do is to meditate on abundance. By that I mean that we should spend time each day just thinking about, and thanking God for, the abundance that is all around us. It doesn't matter what your circumstances are at the moment, you can be thankful for the gift of life, God's abundant love that He demonstrated when Jesus died for our sins, and the incredible abundance of His creation.
When we look around at nature, we see that no two pine trees that are exactly alike, every snowflake is unique, and every person is a special, one of a kind, creation, we then realize that we are surrounded with proof of God's abundance. Everything in this universe shows forth the glory of God's handiwork. And if you've ever seen shows about deep-sea creatures, you will realize that even in places that we've never gone before, there is such an abundance of different animals and plant life that proves God loves to create.
Something that you can do to help remind you of the abundance in nature would be to take a walk in the woods. Maybe you can't physically go out in the forest, but you can close your eyes and imagine a walk down a beautiful, shaded, tree-lined path and just soak in the air, imagine the smells, and enjoy God's creation. It will lift your spirits, put a smile on your face, and remind you that God is an abundant Creator.
When we start thinking about limited resources, or limited opportunities, or limited blessings, we need to change that thinking. Those thoughts come out of our hearts; they come from a poverty consciousness that believes the lie that God cannot provide. God can and will give us all that we need if we will just trust Him. It's not easy when we're facing a pile of bills, but those bills will never get paid as long as we believe that God can't, or won't help us. The first step is to replace our scarcity beliefs with a firm conviction about God's abundance.
All of This and Heaven Too
Something that has become very firmly entrenched in the minds of many Christians is the idea of earthly suffering leads to eternal bliss. And while I do believe that we are looking forward to an eternity of joy in God's presence, I disagree with the idea that God's purpose for us here on earth is to make us suffer so that we'll look forward to heaven.
When Jesus talked with the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, He told him that he would be able to turn his earthly possessions into heavenly treasure. I sometimes wonder if the streets of heaven are lined with gold because people here on earth figured out that they could use their money to bless the poor, and thereby exchange their temporary riches for permanent wealth.
When we read the parable of the talents, see my earlier post on an Introduction to Prosperity, we see that the master entrusts His wealth to His servants. The master's expectation is that His servants will use the wealth, which will cause it to increase, and that more will be created for Him, the master, to enjoy. The blessing that comes to the servants is that they get to enter into the master's joy.
Earth is not a waiting room. We aren't supposed to be sitting here waiting until we finally get to go to heaven, but we are to take full advantage of the time to do a couple of things. And when it comes to money, we are to learn how to be faithful with it, causing it to increase, so that we can return it all to God. After all, it's His money anyway. I know that some people think that most of it is ours, but really all of it is His.
God uses our suffering, and the blessings that He brings into our lives, to help us change and grow. Paul said, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (1 Corinthians 4:17-18)
Everything that happens in our lives while we are here on earth, in other words all that happens that is temporary, is working something in us that will last us forever. We won't take what we have created here on earth with us into heaven, but the person that we become while we are here will be with us for eternity.
When it comes to being rich in this world, Paul wrote and said, "Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life."
A person who thinks in terms of poverty and lack will think about money in very limited ways. To them, money is a means of getting what you want on earth. They fail to realize that money is a lot more than bits of metal and paper, and that there is a very real spiritual component to money. There is an eternal aspect to money that we miss if we don't look at what the Bible teaches us.
People with a prosperity, or abundance, consciousness know that God is expecting them to increase the wealth that they received from Him. He is expecting them to be faithful with it here on earth so that they will grow from servants to rulers, like the two servants who multiplied their talents in Matthew 25, and that what they do with their wealth will impact how they live for all eternity.
As Steve Bow says, "God's gift to you is more talent and ability than you will ever use in one lifetime. Your gift to God is to develop and utilize as much of that talent and ability as you can, in this lifetime." The only part that Steve is missing, is that the benefits to us are that we not only get to enjoy all of this while here on earth, but we also get to enjoy them for all eternity in heaven.
Pleasing God
Hebrews 11:6 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
The person who has a poverty consciousness will struggle with this verse. They don't really believe in God, because they don't believe in who He really is, a God of abundance. And their focus isn't on the rewards God will give them because they worry too much about how they will get the stuff they want right here, right now.
A person who has a prosperity consciousness will be able to please God because they have a more accurate picture of Him. They know that it is God who supplies all their needs, and that His riches in glory will never fail. They are convinced that God will pour out His blessings on them, and their lives proclaim God's power.
People who are fully aware of God's abundance live their lives with a confident expectation of heaven. They are faithful here on earth because they understand God's rewards.
When we have a belief in abundance, we will share our wealth rather than hoarding it. And even though we will enjoy our possessions, we will never focus on them. We recognize that we are simply conduits for God's blessings. God wants to meet the needs of a hungry and impoverished world, and He does that through His people. We are the branches and He is the vine. His power flows into and through us to the world, and everyone is blessed in the process.
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