21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. -Matthew 6:21
When I hear someone say, “The church just wants your money” I cringe. I know where they’re coming from though. I remember when I was in high school and not living for God, I passed a large church, my friend looked at me and said, “That’s a cult! They have video games and a basketball court in there!” I agreed with him and hardened my heart toward the church.
Then God rocked my world when I graduated and I started attending and serving at a large church. A church that just a few months earlier I would have labeled a “cult”.
7 years later my view of the church and money has completely changed. I can truely say that the BIBLICAL principles I’ve learned about money and the church has changed my life for the better. Which is why I cringe when I hear things like:
- The Church just wants your money
- The Pastor just wants your money
- The church could have spent that money on the Poor
- They don’t need that stuff, that building, a cafe, etc…
- If you work for God, you’ll never have any money
- I’m not giving the church my money
- If you’re a Christian, you have to be Poor
- Being poor is a virtue and it shows how humble I am and how much I love God
If you’ve said and agree with any of these statements, I’m going to challenge you over the next few blog posts. My hope is that you’ll be open to see what the Bible has to say on these issues and that you’ll change the way you see money, God, and the Church . . . because it matters. It matters not only for you and your famlies lives, but it matters for all the people God wants to use you to reach through your finances.
What other things have you heard people say in a negative context concerning money and the church?
