God’s Plan For Money
Have you ever wondered what is God’s plan for money? The truth is, He certainly has a plan for money and in this article, we are going to touch on several key areas where God’s plan for money intersects with your life.
Money must be connected to purpose
Everything God does or creates has purpose and meaning. Money is no different. God has a purpose for giving financial blessings to His people.
“When wealth is divorced from mission, it becomes destructive.”
Pastor Caleb Adams | Christian Life Tabernacle | Memphis TN
Money is amoral. It isn’t good or evil in and of itself. Just like a brick can be used to beat someone up or it can be used to build a hospital, money is subject to the whims of its owner. Money isn’t intended to be hoarded by greed or used to manipulate others. Rather, it is God’s plan that money be used for providing for our needs and furthering kingdom mission.
Stewardship
The concept of stewardship is sprinkled all throughout the Bible. There are several facets to it. These include the fact that God owns everything, the importance of personal financial responsibility, and the opportunity to financially support the Kingdom of God.
“Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.”
1 Chronicles 29:12-14
From these verses, it is clear that our money or wealth is not our own. It all comes from God. Thus, we are His managers of the resources He has entrusted us with. Not only that but we have a responsibility to handle it the way He desires.
Providing for personal needs and desires
God desires to bless His children! This is a simple but wonderful revelation. God isn’t up in heaven looking down trying to find a way to squash you. Far from it! He gets glory out of helping us grow and succeed. He derives pleasure from blessing His children just as any parent finds joy in giving gifts to their child.
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Matthew 7:11
Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Luke 12:32
We see God’s plan for provision as early as the garden of Eden. Genesis 2 tells us that God planned the garden of Eden and in the garden, there were trees that produced food for eating and there were rivers of water. The bare necessities of survival were in place; Oxigen, food, and water.
From this, we can see that God designed our world to provide for our needs. As our example, He provided abundantly for humanity. He expects us as His children to do the same for those in our care.
“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”
1 Timothy 5:8
However, God didn’t stop with mere existence and just what was needed to sustain life. He also created trees that were pleasant to look uppon. He didn’t have to do that! In His infinite generosity, God didn’t just create a gray world of bare necessity. Far from it! He took great care to ensure that there was beauty and abundance beyond the basic elements of hand to mouth survival.
Taking it a step further, God put Gold in the land.
“The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.”
Genesis 2:11-12
This poses a very interesting question of why would God put Gold in the land if man had everything he needed? He already had his basic needs met. Why would He have included this unnecessary element buried in the earth?
If you recall, the first words Adam heard after being created was God blessing him and commanding him to be fruitful, multiply, and have dominion over the earth. God knew that as humanity increased, even if they had not fallen into sin, that they would develop into a powerful civilization.
Such a civilization would desire beautiful things and would also need currency to operate efficiently. Thus He created Gold and precious metals. So from the beginning of time, God put all the elements of success in the earth so humanity could fulfill His command. What an incredible testimony of God’s plan for money!
Again, while God does desire to enable us to provide for our needs and desires, He is firm that He won’t provide the means for our lustful passions.
“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
James 4:3
Thus, it is imperative to keep our desires in alignment with Biblical principles rather than fleshly lusts. When we do seek to be in alignment with God’s plan for money and be wise stewards of His resources we can live in the flow of God’s blessing!
Financing the work of God
The reality is that everything the church does requires financial backing. If there is going to be a building, there have to be people giving to the building fund. If there is going to be missionaries, there must be people willing to invest money in missions. If there is going to be preaching and ministry in the local assembly there must be tithe payers. If there is going to be a distribution of food to needy families, someone must donate time, money, and food for it to happen.
Considering all the things that the church does we can clearly see that without financial backing, it would not be able to function very well. Granted, there are cases in the Bible where God provided manna or sent ravens to feed the prophet, but as a general rule, the principle stands that God’s people contribute financially to the work of God. This is a major part of God’s plan for money.
This is why God instituted tithes and offerings. Some would say that tithing was part of the Mosaic ‘law’ and the modern church is no longer subject to give at all, much less any specific amount. The fact of the matter is, that Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedec before the law of Moses was established.
“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.”
Genesis 14:18-20
Furthermore, Hebrews 7 lets us know that when tithes are given to the ministry of the local assembly, they are received, not by the man or local church it is given to here on earth, but by God in heaven. This is an important concept because regardless of how the tithing funds are handled by human hands, we receive heavenly credit for our contribution.
This understanding refutes the argument of some who would suggest that all the ‘greedy preacher’ wants is more money. While it is true some have abused the generosity of others and even leveraged these Biblical truths to manipulate people into giving, that does not remove the moral responsibility of Christians to pay tithes. The principle still stands.
If you don’t feel that your local Pastor and/or ministry can handle church funds appropriately from a Biblical perspective, then why would you trust him with your soul? If there is that big of a concern in your mind in this area you might need to reconsider your choice of assembly.
The truth is if you withhold your tithes then you are essentially robbing God because you are holding back what is His portion for sustaining the work of the church and furtherance of the Gospel.
“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Malachi 3:8-12
This is a powerful scripture that lets us know that if we will simply follow God’s plan of tithing He promises to abundantly bless our efforts! Why would you not want to live in the blessing of God? Everything we have is the Lord’s and we are simply the stewards of His resources.
“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”
Psalm 24:1
Ultimately, God’s plan for money is that His people should be blessed financially (and spiritually) to the point that they can monetarily support missions, the maintenance of the local church, and the financial needs of the ministry. This concept is summed up nicely in the following verse.
“But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.”
Deuteronomy 8:18
The covenant mentioned here is the promise to Abraham that God would bless him and that through him the nations of the world would be blessed. We understand that the primary blessing of the Abrahamic covenant was Jesus coming to save the world, but we also recognize that there is a tangible component for financial blessing so we can provide for our own needs and have enough left over to help facilitate the furtherance of the Gospel.
Conclusion
Are you ready to accept the challenge of being a financial supporter of the Kingdom of God? Do you want to follow God’s plan for money? I can’t guarantee you will become rich overnight, or be surprised with a new luxury car in your driveway next week, but I can assure you that you will be abundantly blessed!
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