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How tightly do we grip our stuff?
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CopyPASTOR'S ANDERSON
Tabernacle Baptist Church
George
As flu season quickly approaches, millions are lining up to be inoculated against the yearly influenza. As the reports of the HIN 1 spread, many speculate about the potentially deadly effects. As critical as these influenza's may be - none compares to 'Afluenza'. The deadly virus of affluence that has reached pandemic levels in the Church! Afluenza has seized Christians worldwide and effectively neutralized millions.
Fact: We own lots of stuff!
Very real possibility: Our stuff begins to own us.
Warning: The accumulation of material wealth may be hazardous to your spiritual health.
The Apostle Paul to Timothy, People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.'
The Bible talks more about money and possessions than heaven and hell combined. There are 500 references to prayer, 500 to faith, but more than 2000 to the topic of the stewardship of our wealth. Out of the 3 8 parables, 16 deal with how we handle our stuff. One in every ten verses in the Gospels deal with how we handle our money.
While the church is often silent on the subject - Jesus can't stop talking about it.
Christ knows there is no better indicator of one's spiritual life than the degree to which we grip our stuff (or I should say 'how tightly our stuff has a grip on us'). The Bible warns its readers repeatedly that the love of money will leave you spiritually bankrupt. Seeking goods before seeking God is a hopeless maze that will keep us from knowing Christ!
Many of Christ's toughest words are warnings about money's power pull, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God?" Christ doesn't say, 'You can't serve both Satan or God.' Jesus says, 'You can't serve both money and God'. It's not improbable -it's impossible! Yet, that hasn't kept us from attempting to pull-off the impossible.
Cure: To release our grip on our possessions and fully cling to Christ with a complete heart. God wants us to move from 'Self-Sufficiency' towards 'Christ-Sufficiency'. Material possessions are not bad. Everything we have and own is a gift from above. But when God's gift becomes our god, we turn the blessing into a burden.
Copyright 2009 Sioux County Index-Reporter, Hull, Iowa. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.
© 2009 Sioux County Index-Reporter Hull, Iowa. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.
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