Thought of the Day !!

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.
Matthew 6:24 (NIV)

To me the biggest heresy of this age is prosperity gospel. God does not make people rich and healthy if they give more money to Him through a donation to this or that preacher. The people preaching that we can get whatever we want because God wants us all to be happy and to have good health and lots of wealth, which simply comes by having enough faith, will be judged much more harshly in the Judgment.

Jesus never promised us a rose garden. I recall times where he mentioned denying ourselves instead of getting for ourselves. He mentioned something about a cross that we should carry, which meant suffering. And if people just had to have enough faith to have the wealth of Job or the health of a young athlete, then many of my mentors and saintly shepherds must have been just illusions because they had their share of suffering.

Don't ever let money guide any part of your life. Never let wealth become more important than a means to get by...or even a means to enjoy life some out of a little excess. If our decision-making and our attitudes are guided by the principle of wealth instead of being the cross-bearing servant of God, then we become doomed.

Remember, money in itself is not bad. And spending some on ourselves should not bring about guilty feelings. But the love of money and the placing it above all other things is the root of all evil though.

"Earn all you can (or work very hard to make as good a living as you can without being lazy). Save all you can (not putting all in Cd's or 401k's, but not spending frivolously). And give all you can (Give away all you can to help others in need)."
* my commentary in parenthesis

John Wesley not only made this statement, but he lived it. I cannot promise I will be as good as father Wesley who died with only a few coins in his pocket, even though he received lots of money over his lifetime for his writings. But if we will be guided by this principle instead of our love of prosperity, God will be pleased.

In the love of Christ,
greg