Master Your $$$ Before it Masters You
Jesus made it plain when He said, “No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24, NIV). Yet, many people serve money without ever consciously choosing to do so.
By not learning how to manage our money, we become a servant to our finances.
So many of us have a heart that wants to boldly serve God, but we end up serving money by default—simply because of our situation in life.As we learn how to manage and control our finances, we begin mastering our money. And in the process of mastering money, it becomes possible to make money. We can learn how to cause an increase of finances in our lives so we can fully serve God.
I still remember the first time I no longer had to think about my monthly or annual budget. What a freeing experience! Now I’m not saying that I don’t ever have to manage money; I just no longer have to think about whether or not I’ll make it from week to week, month to month, or year to year.
The best part of mastering my money is that I now have so much more time to focus on true riches only found in God. I also have the financial freedom to immediately do what God says. It’s wonderful! It’s possible! And anyone can do this!
The Middle Man
Money is a representative of a certain quantity of corn or other commodity. It is so much warmth, so much bread —Ralph Waldo Emerson If we’re going to learn how to master money, we first need to define and understand what it is. So what is money? In simple terms, money is the middle man. I love the quote above by Emerson. He’s telling us that money is representative of other things—whether that be corn, movie night, or diamond rings.
In reality, money replaces the need for us to carry around chickens and bushels of apples to buy things. Thankfully, we don’t have to bring a quarter of a cow to the grocery store to buy supplies for dinner. We have this freedom because money acts as the currency in the middle. In its truest sense, money is our medium of exchange. At least the vast majority of us in the United States, don’t get paid for work in the form of apples or chickens. We’re paid in the form of money, which is a good thing!
Money is also a representation of what we trade for our time and value. We work. We get paid. In other words, we put our life’s energy into our work, and in return, we receive money. Money is also the standard placed on the value of things. Therefore, we’re able to take an item and assign it a dollar sign with a specific amount attached to it. This tells us what the item costs, and more importantly, what the item is worth.
When we put money in this light, we can suddenly see how it’s not really a big deal. It’s not something much emotion should be directed toward. Loving or hating money is neither here nor there.
It’s what we do with money that becomes worth talking about.
The Good Samaritan's Resources
No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he only had good intentions; he had money as well. —Margaret Thatcher, UK Prime Minister Sometimes we want to do good for God—or for people or other things—but we’re hindered by our lack of resources. If we don’t have any resources, we’re stuck. As Margaret Thatcher said, the Good Samaritan didn’t just have good intentions, he had resources that empowered him to take care of a person in need. We should have that same goal in mind when we seek to obtain more resources.
Years ago, I was on vacation with my wife in Hong Kong, and we stayed at an amazing spa. It was stunningly beautiful! Our deck looked out over Victoria Harbor, and it was close enough to the shore that we could hear the waves lapping up. During our stay, I discovered an old bookstore nearby and began thumbing through random books.
I came across this quote by Felix Dennis: “I was put on earth to get rich, to collect the money that already had my name on it, and then give it all away.”
Wow, was all I could think!
The law of connection, which we’ll talk about later, says that God has a treasure chest of divine connections for each person. These divine connections are what I call “kairos moments.” Kairos is an ancient Greek word meaning right, critical or opportune moment. In other words, finding this quote in Hong Kong was a God-opportune moment or a divine connection for me.
Philippians 4:19: And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
I believe God has prepared a great capacity for every person on this planet. We each have a purpose on this earth. We also have resources and money out there that God has readied for us. He has a treasure chest of divine connections for each one of us, and the Bible makes it clear that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). He will do for one what He will do for another.
When we see people with great resources and remember that God is no respecter of persons, it means there are great resources out there for anyone. If there are resources for Billy, there can be resources for you. Somewhere in the world, there’s money with your name on it. I don’t know about you, but if money has my name on it and God put it there for me, I’m going after it!
Everything, however, hinges on the last part of the Felix Dennis’ quote above: “…And then give it all away.” It’s not about heaping wealth upon ourselves. It’s not about us having barns. In Luke 12, we see that it’s okay for us to have barns, but it’s not okay to build bigger barns. Of course, God wants us to have resources; He wants us to be blessed. But the idea is that we are blessed so we can be a blessing (Genesis 12:2).
Isaiah 45:3: I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the Lord, who calls you by your name, am the God of Israel.
Notice it says, “… hidden riches of secret places.” This means there’s money out there that has your name on it!
I want to reveal to you what I call the “secret sauce” to finding these riches God has for us.
There’s money out there with your name on it, and there’s no reason for the world or the wicked to have it all. I found the money with my name on it, and now I’m at a place where I can give it away.
I want to help you also get to that place. I want to open your eyes to see hidden riches of secret places. It’s time for the body of Christ to let the eyes of our understanding be unveiled so we’re able to recognize, understand, and know we can be the master of our money!
Why does God give you the power to get wealth? That He may establish His covenant. Where will God establish His covenant? On earth. The covenant has already been established in heaven, therefore, we are to be busy establishing the covenant here on earth. Again, Jesus told us that we cannot serve God and money. But as we establish God’s covenant on earth, we serve God, and we master money, and we help countless people.
Billy Epperhart
