2 - There are 4 main problems humans have with money:
1. The Attitude of Poverty
Today we meet The Prodigal:
11 To further illustrate the point, Jesus told them this story: "A man had two sons.
12 When the younger told his father, "I want my share of your estate now, instead of waiting until you die!" his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
13 "A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and took a trip to a distant land, and there wasted all his money on parties and prostitutes.
14 About the time his money was gone a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.
15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him to feed his pigs.
16 The boy became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the swine looked good to him. And no one gave him anything.
17 "When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, "At home even the hired men have food enough and to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger!"
Luke 15:11-17 (The Living Bible)
What is most noticeable about someone who has an Attitude of Poverty, is having a wasteful or spendthrift lifestyle.
This way of handling money is characterised by spending for luxuries instead of necessities, that is, spending for wants and neglecting needs.
Basically, this is poor money management.
In this story of the Prodigal, we see a full-blown Attitude of Poverty.
He wasted his money on parties and prostitutes: that is classic wastefulness.
The result of this was that when the recession hit, and all his money was gone, he ended up in the place where he could best assess his poor life choices.
The origin of his problem, however, had nothing to do with money at all.
The problem of the Prodigal was that he had no vision for his life, no long-term purpose for living.
If he had given some time, thought and prayer to what he would do with his life and his money, before he spoke to his father, the outcome of this season of his life might well have been very different.
Prayer:
Father in heaven,
help me to seek out the purpose for which You called me into the world,
so that all my decisions will be taken from a basis of sober thinking,
and not out of the Attitude of Poverty,
in the name of Jesus
who completed His purpose in his life, death and resurrection,
Amen. |
