“Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
Every power as Thou shalt choose.”
Verse 4 of Frances Ridley Havergal’s hymn above beautifully reflects the guidance in God’s word about how we are to live. The words express a desire to consecrate one’s possessions and abilities to God, to be used by Him as He chooses.
The last chapter of a very tiny, old book on my bookshelf is titled “How should we then live?” On Sundays we come to church. We enjoy the sound of the choir and the organ and say as we leave, “Wasn’t it lovely? It was marvellously satisfying. I felt the music through my body as though I was an instrument myself.” Then we go out to morning tea, our homes and our week ahead. But, after Sunday worship we are called to live and to give. To give freely of our wealth, our silver and gold, our intellect and gifts. We are called to give and not count the cost.
In Matthew 6:19-20 Jesus teaches about our orientation to wealth saying: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Jesus is saying God has to come first, and money second. He warns against giving priority to “stuff” – houses, clothes, food and holidays - which grab our spending power. Sometimes the things entrusted to us by God to support our lives have become, in effect, our god. Jesus’ challenge is to focus our hearts on God, that our treasure might be in him.
Some Christians think that God will bless them in financial terms for what they give. In the Matthew passage Jesus is speaking about the focus on treasures. Jesus himself had nothing. His devotion to God drove him to the cross. Jesus demonstrated the commitment to God that we are called to show. Once we focus our hearts on God and are grafted into him and truly his followers, we will give our wealth to God where it will never wear out. Our treasure is in heaven. Our wealth is safe with our Father.
