Balancing Faith & Finance

The Balance of Faith and Finance

The Bible teaches a lot about faith. It also teaches about stewarding finances. On the one hand we have the well known mustard seed analogy. On the other hand we have the parable of the talents and the faithful servant.

As Christians we are caught between a bit of a rock and a hard place. In this instance, the rock is the faith and trust that God is our provider, just as His name, Jehovah-Jireh, implies. The hard place however, is in stewarding perhaps insufficient income to meet all the demands of our Christian life, including the part that many feel cause to ignore, the giving or tithing part.

I recently wrote about a closed fist. This is symbolic of a closed wallet but has more visual impact. A closed fist never gave anything to anyone – only an open hand can give anything because it can offer and then allow whatever is on offer to be taken.

Our main problem is getting that balance right between giving to God and providing for ourselves. However, the Word says to “bring the whole tithe into the barn” and He will bless us to overflowing. He even tells us to “test Me on this.” Malachi 3:10

This is not an easy lesson to learn but, once tested with a pure heart, is easiest to follow. We know folk who do not tithe and who struggle every day. We also know several, especially young couples and families, who tithe and always seem to have enough. It really isn’t a balance of ‘have I got all I want?’ but more a balance of God supplying every need. We learned the lesson the hard way – as most seem to do. But we remembered a family who would always have their needs supplied no matter how the circumstances looked at the time. They never told anyone but God of their needs and they never went without. Their need was always met – even to the extent of supplying for unexpected visitors !!

God really is Jehovah Jireh – God my provider. Maybe we all need to learn the lesson the hard way. That way, it stays learned but we get the balance right.

We just need the faith to trust His Word.