by: Fred Mundie, Financial Counselor
Jesus Christ tells us to obey everything He has commanded. Matthew 28:20. When Abraham obeyed God, He told Abraham ". . . through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed . . . ." Genesis 23:18. God promised many blessings to His people after he led them out of Egypt if they obeyed him, but He warned against their disobedience. Leviticus 26. God is so adamant about obedience that He commanded parents to have their disobedient son’s stoned to death. Deuteronomy 21:18. With all of these and many more passages, why do we keep ignoring His Word? If we are obedient to God, He trusts us, and like any good parent, He will give us more rope and allow us to go a little further. Jesus was very clear in Luke 16, v. 10, when He said "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much."
Obedience is a behavior–it is something we have to set our mind to do and carry it out. Larry Burkett said financial planning is 80% behavior and 20% head knowledge. I agree with Larry, and I also know from experience that with most people, their behavior is what gets them in trouble every time. It is not the big, bad bank, or even the fact that they lost their job. They THINK the world is against them, but that is not the case. Their behavior put them in a dire financial position, and a change in their behavior is the only thing that will bring them out.
If we would behave like Jesus, we would be obedient to God ALWAYS. If we would be obedient to God ALWAYS, we would listen to His sound financial advice contained in the Bible. So why don't we listen to Him and do what He tells us to do with the money we are entrusted with? Because we are conditioned from a very early age to misbehave financially. Did you know there are over 2,000 references to money in the Bible? I believe there are so many references to money because God knew we just would not "get it" when it comes to good stewardship. Why else would He talk about one subject so much?
How we can learn to behave in this area will be covered in future installments. For now, read the above passages, and find others on your own that relate to obedience to God, and begin to condition your mind to be obedient to the one and only true living God and his son, Jesus Christ. You have to walk before you can run; you have to float before you can swim; and you have to be obedient to God before you will find happiness and contentment in your financial situation.
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