Matt 6: 24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
Do you control money or does money control you? When money controls you, you aren't free to serve God as he calls you to.
Here is an interesting definition of being wealthy. 'You are wealthy when you earn more money than you spend!' Are you wealthy? A truly wealthy person has the ability to make choices to serve in ways that a person controlled by money can't.
According to this definition, that I personally really like, wealth is not about how much you earn, but how you have control over what you spend.
There are lots of people who earn heaps and spend even more and thus really are poor.
But let's go further. I believe true financial wealth is ... (1) the ability to spend less than you earn, and (2) the ability to give away significant amounts of what you earn to help others.
I believe a practice most people can realisitically achieve is this. Give away the first 10% of what you earn. Invest the next 10% in long term investments. Save the next 10% for special expenses such as holidays and the like. Then live on the remaining 70%.
If that seems too much then start with 1% in each area and seek to increase it by 1% every 3-6 months until you have control over money. If you are at 10% then consider going even higher by increasing by 1% each year.
Imagine if you could look back over your life and rather than consider how much you have earned and gained could focus on how much you'd given away to help others.
Imagine instead of seeking to be a millionaire you had a legacy of having given away a million dollars.
Discipleship Habit 07 Generosity
Discipleship Question: Are you generous in giving away to others?
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