Giving God Control Part 3

This is my last post on Giving God Control by following what He says through scripture. There are so many other verses we can talk about but I have narrowed down a few as they are fresh bread to me

Matthew 10:16 "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."

This sounds very un-Jesus like, but we can take it very practically and I believe it to be wisdom that we can take in our daily lives. The context of this passage is Jesus sending His disciples out to preach the Gospel. His advice was not to go where the wind takes you and THEN you will be provided for; he's saying "I have already provided with you what you need, don't get ripped of."

Practically speaking this means that we are called to read the fine print. It is wisdom to not put yourself in a position that you will be taken advantage of. I'm laughing right now because recently I did this and it was so obvious that it was my fault because I put myself in a position to be taken advantage of. Another practical example is debt: HAVE YOU READ THOSE CREDIT CARD CONTRACTS!! If you did you would see things like "We reserve the right to change the account terms for any reason" In other words, "Dear Customer - You have NO rights!"

Bottom line, Jesus says make every effort to not be taken advantage of, be shrewd as snakes. However, the verse also says be "innocent as doves." I was about to leave that last part out but I do not want anyone to misunderstand this passage of scripture. While we are making sure we are not taken advantage of, we are also called to NOT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OTHERS. I know this is a no-brainer but it needs to be said because I know first hand of people who got the first part of that passage down but trample over people in the meantime.

Matthew 25:14-30 Parable of the Talents

Man I am not saying it is wrong to try to make money. In fact I say the opposite. What I really harp on is what you do with that money once you get it. Like my example yesterday, when you get stuff be missional with it. Our lives are 100% Jesus, not 98% Jesus and 2% HDTV.

I am an advocate of investments and in Matthew 25 the Parable of the Talents shows that Jesus is too. A talent in this example I believe is a days wages, maybe more. God gave us "talents," it is wisdom to turn them into more talents. It is simple. Do not bury them, this is what is known as hoarding. Live with an open hand. Yes it allows money to go out of your hands, but with an open hand it is also easier for money to go into your hands. When you are tight fisted neither is possible.

Along with that parable, the guy who sits on what God gave him is punished, the guy who multiplied his talents(money) is told he did good. And I honestly believe this is not supposed to be because we can have more "stuff" because after all you cannot take a u-haul with your hearse. But I believe that it WILL advance the Kingdom by doing so. Its as simple as living on mission in every area of your life and that includes your money.