Your Money and Heart are CONNECTED

Most of us have heard:

Matthew 6:21 "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

For a while a just brushed that off and agreed with it but was never convinced that this was so. I can prove this and then I will talk about how that changes the way we should look at things.

Wherever our money goes a piece of our heart goes too. I just bought Clemson Football Season tickets for the first time in my life. I have gone to every home game since I was in 7th grade but never paid for them. I love going to games and anticipated each trip to Death Valley, but the anticipation has never been like this. I am emotionally connected to the Tigers now that I have dropped my $600 to support the team. I am invested in what happens. I am "bought in."

Or a better example might be if you have invested in stocks before. When you put money behind a stock and you see that 3 digit ticker symbol run across the bottom of the screen on CNBC your heart jumps with it. Your heart goes up and down with the stock. It is connected. The same thing happens when gambling. You are now invested into the game and connected to the team that you are cheering for. It could be two teams that you care nothing about, but suddenly you are rooting a team as if you grew up watching them throughout childhood.

Anyway, my point is Jesus was not lying when he said that our heart and money are connected. Well, how does that affect the way I live life or plan my money? Most people just want to have enough money so that THEY can be "happy." The realization to that is happiness is never brought on by more money, all that comes with that is being discontent because you want even more money. You are chasing a rabbit that can't be caught. Think about it, if more money is what brings happiness then celebrities would be the happiest people imaginable, but after seeing them self destruct over and over again you realize that the money that they have does not bring their happiness...or as Michael Scott would say, "mo money mo problems"

I honestly think the key is contentment in what we DO have. Most of you have just turned me off and stopped listening because of how cliche this sounds, but it is TRUE and I think this is one of the things that ring true with the statement of money and heart being connected.

There is something spiritual and free that happens when you give. Especially when you give to someone who is in NEED. Even people who to not have a Christ Follower background agree with this.

Whats going on when you do not give is you are thinking about yourself. This enhances greed which causes you to WANT more money to be happy and never get there. The shift that I think happens when you give is you stop thinking about yourself and therefore since your money and heart are connected your greediness begins to diminish. By you giving your money, your heart is affected greatly and this will allow you to be content with what you have.

I'm basically saying, "you should give, its good for you." I recommend giving at least 10% of your income away. If you are a Christ Follower, by Biblical standards you should be giving this minimum amount to the local church that you call family.

If you are reading this blog chances are you are in the top percentile of the world in riches. We have a lot to be thankful for, you should be very content with what you have been blessed with. I know that money problems affect everything in life so I cannot urge this message to you enough. If you think, "I'm going to be happy when I have more money", when you get more money you are still going to feel that.

I challenge anyone reading this to really evaluate if you keep telling yourself this and if that is true to take steps in order to shift your paradigm of thinking. A good way to start is to GIVE.