Now, I have never been a "car person;" that is, I certainly drive one, but I’ve never coveted a particular model or brand. Besides, I’m married to a man who won’t even buy one unless he can pay cash for it. Did I mention that I drive an 11-year-old Integra and HE drives my mother’s old ’93 Buick? Well, anyway—I had never coveted any particular kind of car—until a dear friend got her Jaguar. Don’t get me wrong; I didn’t want her car—I wanted my OWN Jag! I am too mortified to tell you how many times I looked in the Classified Ads, just to see if a gently pre-owned Jaguar was for sale and how much (gulp) it was.

Shortly thereafter, we lost our beloved son Houston. Suddenly, I could not have cared less if I ever saw another car, much less owned a Jaguar. Why is it that it sometimes takes a heartbreaking, devastating tribulation for us to examine our priorities? The world tells us we must have more and more, spend and spend—not one day at our house goes by but what we do not receive at least one credit card offer, and frequently, it’s more like three or four. Yet do I reflect on the Greatest Purchase of all? That of my precious Savior on the cross, Who paid the terrible debt of my sin, enduring the terrifying wrath of the Almighty Consuming Fire and the wrenching separation from His beloved Father?

God does NOT hate money! One has only to consider Abraham and David and Solomon and Job, to whom God gave twice as much after his afflictions ended. Indeed, it is God who designates wealth in the first place! Just check out 1 Chronicles 29:12 ("wealth and honor come from YOU…"), and there are numerous more instances where God has blessed His people with riches. Certainly, we have only to look around us to see tremendous evidence of God’s financial endowments. But along with those blessings, He gives solemn accountability to use them to His glory.

Now, does that mean NOBODY should be driving a Jaguar? Or buying a boat? Or riding a four-wheeler or one of those little speed-demon single-person boat-things? Heavens, no, and it would be worse than absurd even to suggest such a notion. I believe that we get into serious trouble when we obsess over these toys. God demands but 10% of the bounties He bestows—but the remaining 90% must be carefully and judiciously weighed. Instead of buying myself (and OOOH, how I hate to write this!) another yellow hat, could I not just as easily send a nice check to French Camp or Chamberlain Hunt? The point is, have I tended to God’s business before I tend to my own frivolous (ouch) desires?

And worse than that yellow hat, am I willing to go into serious, grab-you-by-the-throat DEBT just to pay for some extravagant plaything that I simply "must" have? Oh God, my Father, crucify my greedy, grasping nature, my selfish obsession with my earthly appetites! Place in me the mind of Christ, that I may use Your abundant blessings in ways that are pleasing to You, glorify You, and serve Your people?

Let me be careful here, lest I be misunderstood. Is God sitting on His Great White Throne, shaking His mighty finger at me when I cast loving eyes on that yellow hat? Well, mercy! He’d have to take back I Corinthians 11:5 and 6, if that were the case! What our benevolent and gracious Lord IS very clear about is that He is the Source of all wealth and power, and if we allow His gifts to obscure His face and to ignore His will for how we are to use those gifts—then will it be harder for a rich man to enter the gates of Heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle—then will riches reap destruction—then will a man who has riches without understanding (be) like the beasts that perish. (Ps 49:20).

Whether God has seen fit to pour out fortune upon us or whether He keeps us on the edge financially, HE will supply all our needs—monetary AND spiritual—and His riches in Glory are beyond our meager imaginations! Let us magnify Him profusely and, like Paul, learn contentment in all situations, accountability with His gifts, and a fervent desire to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

—by Margaret Tohill
Member, Stewardship Committee