BYM ONLINE DESK July 2018 English Emagazine | Page 3

July 2018
All through the Bible, we find that those who
lusted after money or worldly possessions were not
able to use them.
God never said that He would make us rich, but
He promised us Eternal Life. This is the promise of
the New Testament. However, money has the power
to make us forfeit this blessing. Hence, we need to be
careful.
Money can do many things and can be very
useful. But we should never run after money. Love
for money should be rooted out from our hearts.
2. Lack of Faith
We put our faith in God for all our needs like
sickness, children's marriage, job promotion, transfer
etc., but when it comes to the need for money, it
seems as if we hesitate to put our faith in God.
Mat 6:24 - “No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.”
The Word of God says that we cannot serve
both God and money. Mark the stress on the phrase,
'NO ONE.' Either we will trust God or trust money.
Both cannot co-exist.
We find a classic example in the life of
Abraham. After he helped the king of Sodom to
defeat the enemies, the king offered a generous gift to
Abram.
Note the following verses:
Gen 14:21-23 “And the king of Sodom said to
Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for
yourself.” But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I
have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a
thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest
you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.'”
Abraham had enough faith in God to reject the
gifts. He trusted the Lord who is the source of all
blessings. He also knew well that only God's
blessings can bring peace. All other blessings give us
sorrow and difficulties (Pro 10:22).
We find another incident in the book of Acts:
Acts 4:34 “…for as many as were owners of lands or
houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what
was sold ..”
Act 5:1,2 “But a man named Ananias, with his wife
Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's
knowledge he kept back for himself some of the
proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at
the apostles' feet.”
In the New Testament Church, a new custom
began to spring up. People started to sell their
properties and kept the proceeds at the feet of the
Apostles. I think it was a big decision for Ananias and
Sapphira to sell their own property. Today, we do not
have such practices. They took a right decision, but
they withheld a part of the sales proceeds. Why? May
be due to fear of the future?? Or maybe they thought
that if something bad happens, the amount shall serve
R
O F I N T E G
victory at Jericho. They were confident of winning
the city of Ai. But what they failed to realize was the
fact that they had lost their financial integrity. God
gave them into the hands of the people of Ai and they
were defeated. Thirty-six Israelites were killed in the
battle (Jos 7:6). Because of this defeat, the whole of
Israel was dem oralized. All this was because of the
sin of one person, Achan. He took for himself a
beautiful cloak, 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of
gold weighing 50 shekels (Jos 7:21). The judgement
was pronounced and all those things along with the
whole family of Achan was burnt. What a terrible
judgement!
*2018*
|PAGE 3|