Dollars and Sense: God's Economic Plan for All Seasons

Christian stewardship is a spiritual and practical discipline…a management responsibility which applies to every facet of life. As believers and worshippers, we are accountable to God for how we exercise that managerial responsibility over all of our resources, especially our time, our spiritual gifts, our opportunities, and our finances.

In recent weeks on Wednesday evenings, I have been sharing a series of life application messages about Ethics for the 21st Century. This past Wednesday evening, we focused on Dollars and Sense: God’s Economic Plan for All Seasons. Although economic trends in Florida were adversely affected by the sequential series of devastating storms in 2004-2005, the negative trends in Florida have been compounded by nationwide trends indicating higher unemployment, a depressed housing market, and higher fuel costs. Recession conditions exist in Florida and around the nation. And although we do not know how long the recession conditions will last, we do know that God’s economic guidelines are good for all seasons, including seasons of feasting and seasons of famine.

God’s plan for economics begins by calling us to a positive and proactive attitude toward working, managing, and giving. The prophet Malachi probably has the most emphatic words to say about giving: Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it Malachi 3:8-10 NIV0.

In his book, Full Disclosure: Everything the Bible Says about Financial Giving, Dave Bell writes that "Stewardship is not just an opportunity to enter into God's service but an opportunity for God to enter into you.” I believe that for those who dare to practice biblical stewardship, giving becomes a fun part of our management responsibility. Paul gives us a vivid description of a believer’s attitude toward God’s economic plan when he writes, Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver ( II Corinthians 9:7 NIV).

Herb Mather, author of Don’t Shoot the Horse (Until You Know How to Drive the Tractor), contends that "The vertical relationship to God and the horizontal relationship to neighbor come together in the act of giving.” In other words, that cheerful spirit of managing and appropriating our resources for kingdom purposes cultivates within us a passion for mission and ministry.

Here is a brief summary of the life application points we discussed last Wednesday evening:
*Understand that all resources are a trust from God.
*Prioritize your tithes and offerings.
*Do your work with integrity.
*Provide for your family through a carefully managed budget.
*Be ethical and honest in all transactions.
*Limit credit liability and strive to eliminate debt.
*Invest in the future through a savings plan.

As you put God’s economic plan into practice, you may discover that plan provides spiritual and tangible stability for all seasons.