This past Sunday, as part of our ongoing conversation of "When Faith & Life Collide," we discussed "Faith & Money" - how our faith impacts our everyday decisions and attitudes toward money, our finances & our possessions. I have to admit we had a lot of blank stares back at me :-) which tells me what we were discussing was hitting home with most people (good or bad). I think we are uncomfortable talking about our finances because we believe: A) my faith & my money have nothing to do with each other, B) we have a preconceived notion that the church is always asking for our money, C) our finances play such a large role of our everyday existence (a negative role many times) that we don't like focusing on it or talking about.

I think our finances and our spiritual lives are more intertwined than most give credit for. Why else would Scripture & Jesus talk about money & possessions more than any other topic (including more than prayer, heaven or hell)? How we approach money impacts our spiritual lives and vice versa (at least that's the way it is supposed to work, right?)...

So we're faced with a choice - having a "Get It" (Acquiring) mentality toward money, or having a "Give It" (Releasing) mentality. What do these look like?

GET IT (Acquiring) Mentality
As Americans, we're good at consuming, and even more so, accumulating 'stuff' in our lives. Just look around at our overcrowded boxes, drawers, closets, garages - heck, many of us have to even get an extra 'storage unit' just to hold all of our crap. 'Stuff,' just like our money, is really a-moral - that is, it is neither right or wrong by itself. It is only when we consider how we look to acquire it or how we look to spend it that the issue takes on good/bad characteristics.

Consider that in order to acquire more, we are forced to do one of two things:

1. Work more - so we spend an extra hour or two at work to either get more done, or, more likely, to impress those we are working for/with. We work 60-70+ hours a week either in an effort to get more or out of some false guilty obsession that we 'need' to.
2. Go into debt - Like Dave Ramsey says, "We spend money we don't have to buy things we don't need to impress people we don't like." It has become to easy to fall into the debt trap - with Americans averaging 8 credit cards with an average balance of $8000.

When we have a 'Get It' mentality toward money & possessions, we begin to cease to exist as consumers & become the 'consumed' as the stuff in our lives begin to crowd in on us.

GIVE IT (Releasing) Mentality
As in most things, the Bible paints a contrasting attitude that Christians should have toward the money & things around us.

"8 Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need.  9 Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year of release is close at hand. If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the LORD, you will be considered guilty of sin. 10 Give freely without begrudging it, and the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. 11 There will always be some among you who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share your resources freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need." Deut 15:8-11, NLT

This generous spirit means we will be both more generous with God (not just in bringing our tithes to Him, but in our overall approach to money before Him) and more generous with others. God has a special heart for those who cannot help themselves. In Scripture we see Him calling His followers to reach out & care for the sick, the orphaned, the widows, the oppressed - to be a support & help to those who need it most.

Within the Body of Christ, there really should be no need. When we approach our finances in such a way where we recognize & acknowledge that everything we have is God's anyhow & is meant for His purposes, we become a lot more loose-handed & give generously to those who need it.

I would encourage you, as you face the financial pressures in your life, to recognize God's hand in all that you have, to bring your money & possessions under His control, as much as everything else in your life, and allow Him to bless you when you begin to have a generous spirit.