DAY 259

DO NOT WEAR YOURSELF OUT…OVER MONEY

Proverbs 22, 23 & 24 and 2 Corinthians 8

The Proverbs talk a lot about not getting caught up with wicked people and wicked things. It lists them. It tells us about adultery, and paying too much attention to food. It reminds us that being lazy is not good. It exhorts us to be honest, to not steal. And it talks a lot about money: not desiring it, not pursuing it, and not getting it in illegal ways.

Do not wear yourself out to get rich, be wise enough to desist

Money: we need it and the church needs it. Paul is bringing a monetary gift to the believers, the church, in Jerusalem. He knows however that the “kiss of death” for an evangelist is to be viewed as “doing it for money.” How many televangelists have you heard about who have fallen hard over money. But it is even more important than Paul, or anyone else’s reputation – it is about the Gospel. The Gospel is about self-giving, it is not to be self-serving.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Now you might be thinking that Paul is trying to “guilt them into giving” but I do not think that. Yes he has told them about the other church in Macedonia, and yes he has pointed out what Jesus has done for us. But let me tell you most people do not like asking for money, yet we know from experience and from the proverbs, that it can have a powerful hold on us. It takes practice to learn how to give away more than you think you should. John Wesley wrote the last “part” of a person to be converted to Jesus Christ was their wallet. It is hard and it is difficult for the church, for Paul, to ask, because he is walking that razor line of looking like he is going to benefit…he is not, just look at his life.

So today, think about where you stand with money. How generous are you? What emotions do you have when the preacher asks you to give? The reality is that does not need your money…the reality is you need to not let it have a grip on you, for if you do it will wear you out.