Sunday Devotions - Just Enough

...give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, "Who is the Lord?" Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of myu God. Proverbs 30: 8-9

I was in the checkout line at WalMart the other day when I noticed one of the tabloids featuring a socialite sporting a 2 million dollar engagement ring. What a rock!

I started thinking how nice it would be to have that much money. I could get a bigger house, pay off college before it even starts, hire a housekeeper, go on a huge shopping spree. I could build myself a huge studio to paint all day and hire a nanny. All that money would be nice but would it really be worth it? Would I be able to keep my feet on earth being rich or would I tend to get too big for my britches? Would I forget that God is the One he blesses me with all I have; be it great or small?

King David had it figured out. In Proverbs he asks "give me neither poverty or riches." Some people and celebrities can handle great riches with ease and grace. Oprah, for example, has been able to help many with her wealth. Yet others have done great things with very little 'stuff'. Mother Theresa  owned virtually nothing. Possessions meant nothing to her. I once read that after she had won the Nobel Peace Prize that she laid it down  at a dinner afterwards and forgot about it. But look at the generosity and caring she shared with everyone she encountered!

God knows what we need and what we can handle. He knows where the delicate balance needs to be between poverty and riches at various stages of our lives. It doesn't matter what we have, great or little, but what we do with those resources, whether they are material or talents.

Dear Heavenly Father, Like King David, I ask you to give me neither poverty nor riches but the balance in between. Teach me to be a good steward of those resources which I am blessed with. Amen.

Sunday Devotions - What would you trade for money?

There is free publication I've found recently called Southwest Kansas Faith and Family. In the latest edition there was an article that I found very interesting that I'd like to share with you today.

by Judy Woodward Bates - DORA, Ala. (BP)

Would you trade your daughter for a new car? Your son for a bigger house? Your spouse for a corner office? You wouldn't, would you? At least, not intentinally. Yet there  are countless believers out there chasing the almighty dollar to the neglect of everything and everyone they claim to be loving and living for.

A woman I'll call Melissa was in a Bible class I was teaching. One Sunday she expressed a desire to stop working outside the home so she could be home with her children. "Then do it," I urged. "You can make it on your husband's salary, I'm sure."

And they could have. Her problem, though, was that she wouldn't be able to make the payments and pay the insurance on the new car her oldest daughter was driving.

So I issued her a challenge; Go home and discuss it with her daughter. So she did. Melissa told her that she was considering leaving her job to be a stay at home mom and that this would mean selling the new car and finding a less expensive used one. The daughter promptly declared that she would "absolutely die from embarrassment" if she had to give up that new car. In other words, the values Melissa's life had been teaching had rubbed off on her daughter. Her daughter was willing to trade her mom for that new car and insurance. 

What about you? What sort of values are you teaching? Say you wouldn't trade anyone you love for a material possession? Then go home and live like it. If it takes a smaller house or an older car or a lesser job to free up more time for what's really important, make the necessary changes. 

My parents are both with the Lord now and they had no wealth to leave behind for their children. But two things they had in abundance; love and faith. Had they left me money, it'd be long gone by now. Yet because they left me something priceless and timeless, I still have all of it and more. Their love and their faith led me to my own love and faith for Jesus Christ and for others. And nothing, including difficult financial times, can take that from me. 

When you draw your last breath, what will you have left behind - material wealth? Nothing wrong with that. but what about spiritual riches? I pray that your greatest legacy is one of faith in Jesus.  

Dear God, Help me to pass on Your values to my children. Help me to realize what is important to live for. Amen.