More.
Nearly every car in the church parking lot having payments due upon them, the billfolds and purses of those within contain numerous credit cards, and few have the financial wherewithal within their possession to fulfill their obligations to those cards at the moment they use them.
Houses, and many of the items within them, that they consider theirs, but will not be, until by the sweat of their brow they have toiled long enough to make the final payment on them. But before that happens, something else will have caught their eye that will cause them to remain in that self-imposed financial bondage until they take their last breath here.
“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” (Phil. 4:11)
That state only arrives for these when the flesh, and the lust of it, is satisfied first, and my friends, it never will be, it never can be.
“And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.” (1st Tim. 6:8)
And their answer is “No.”
There is little wrong with having, there can be much danger in wanting, and one must consider, if there is no patience, no waiting on the Lord in regard to those wants, is there sin?
To those of you reading this who have not been patient, who have placed yourself in bondage to wants financially, do you ever feel as if you have presupposed on the goodness of God? Are your prayers now “Lord, I have done this, now bless me,” instead of what they should have been? “Lord, bless me with the knowledge if this is in your will or not.”
I have personally heard of people who complain that they may not have enough money for groceries that week who receive numerous packages each week of things they have ordered online. Those who live in fine, well-kept homes and drive nice vehicles to church each Sunday who receive certified letters requesting that they pay what they promised to pay for months ago.
I feel no compassion for them whatsoever when they complain to me about their financial woes.
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Gal. 6:7)
They profess a faith in Christ to provide their needs yet expect Him to pull them out of the fire that they themselves willingly walked into. And so, life is not lived in the pursuit of the face of God, but in the pursuit of more, and they presume upon Him the ability to continue sweating from their brow.
They suppose themselves to be heirs to the Kingdom of heaven, children of God, and their Father in heaven will not let them suffer, he wants them to have nice things, He understands that the accumulation of those wants makes them happy, and He would never remove those items from them.
Whose fault is it if they cannot continue in His rest?
Whose fault is it if that peace that passes all understanding flees from them every time they check their mailbox or emails, and see the bills piling up?
Who is at fault when fear enters into their mind when the words “repossession” or “foreclosure” is brought up in conversation?
“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” (James 4:3)
They pray earnestly, yet their prayers are not answered.
My grandfather used to say, “You stepped in it, you clean your own boots off.”
A life of self-imposed financial bondage will never be free to serve the Almighty as we should, the wants of the world is not the path to the straight gate.
Are those this short letter is about truly born-again? I will let you decide.
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4)
