~ Luke 16:11 (NIV)
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(Due to time constraints today, please allow me to replay my VOTD from a year ago. Thanks!)
I was just talking yesterday to a friend about stewardship --being a good steward of my time on the job. It's not because my boss is looking over my shoulder to see if I'm on a personal call or sending personal emails...it's because God is watching. And it's not like I envision Him looking down on me, saying, You shouldn't be doing that. I just sense it in my spirit that I need to be honorable toward my employer who is paying me to do my job...not to chit-chat with my friends. God's Holy Spirit works within me to steer me, to prompt me to do the right thing.
I was also convicted recently about spending too much money eating out. Simple enough -- I have a girl in college, and I talk alot about the financial sacrifices that is costing me. And yet, because I had been so lazy not to go to the grocery store and stock my kitchen properly, I was eating at the hospital cafeteria . . . twice a day! Talk about overspending! I rationalized it for a long time. But God was talking to me. Poor stewardship.
Although these kinds of things don't touch on how I use my time and money toward God's endeavors, I think they are linked. When I allow God to mould me to His thinking and His patterns for living, my mind is more centered on Him. I spend more time praying and thinking about what's important to His Kingdom. When a financial need arises in the church body...someones car broke down, or they're laid up from surgery and need some meals brought in...I could have resources available to help out, if I've been wise in the way I manage my money. If I stay focused on work while I'm at work, then my stress level is lessened and I'm more available to participate in Kingdom things after work, instead of coming home and crashing on the couch from mental exhaustion.
It's a mindset thing. Are we living for us, or God? How we use our time, talents, finances, even our mental energies is an indicator of what takes precedence in our lives.
Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. ~ Jesus, in Luke 9:23-24
I think it is possible to abandon oneself and live for God, all the way. Money? It's just money. Time? A new day rolls around every 24 hours. We are given so much by God! Doesn't He deserve to be honored with how we use those resources? Jesus never taught us to be selfish, interested only in what's good for "me". He Himself wrote the manual on selflessness. Look at what He did for you and for me...
...He was all about the Kingdom.
How about you?
Love,
Joelene
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