Huddled around a table with a group of men from Living Hope last Saturday Kent Turner posed a pretty deep question & he was not about to let anyone answer with some gerneral, surfaced level answer. He asked, "If I gave you $5 Million today how would you spend it?"
At first I was reminded of how I answered such questions in the the past. Thinking I was super spiritual I would say something like, "I would just give it all to God" or "I would use it all for missions." But the very next moment the wheels in my brain began to turn & I felt the Spirit of God jump start my heart with the questions, "Joseph, if I give this money into your trust what would you do with it? My vision is big, have you laid hold of it? The vision that I have given Living Hope is big, how would you use this to contribute to the vision of the house I called you too?" Just then I pulled out my phone to take notes & I began to sincerely think through the question as I was waited for my turn to answer...
A couple of the guys began to answer with real vague ideas or say something like, "I would just give it to the church." But when someone answered in that manner Kent would challenge them & say, "So you would just turn over all the stewardship of what God gave you to somebody else? You sure that is what God would want you to do? How much would you give to God & how much would you keep for other things? Give me numbers? Why would you give, save or invest in those way? Give me details..." He clarified that he was not saying don't tithe or give to God, but if God gave you the money you better know why & where you're giving, saving & investing.
Pastor Benjamin has often said that if someone were to come up to him and give him $1 million, $5 million or $10 million he would know exactly what to do with it. He would sit me down & share his plan in great detail. In the past I would think, "That's coo, but I don't see someone giving me $5 million so I don't really need to think through this now. When somone gives me the money then I will think & pray about it..." How foolish is that way of thinking???!!! Why would someone put something into my trust if they didn't think me worthy of stewarding it? Why would someone put something into my trust if I would just squander it? Sometimes things seem so far out of our reach that we don't dream of them or prepare for them. Not this time, not anymore! I serve a big God & I'm going to believe, think, dream, speak, live & prepare like it. Let's just say that by the end of the night I had a pretty detailed plan of how to spend the $5 million...
The way we handle the material, physical or finanicial is a mere reflection of how we handle the spiritual.... How do you steward what God has given you? How do you steward His love, grace, faith, patience, mercy or His Spirit? How do you steward your time, finances, relationships, homework or house? If someone gave you $5 million would you have a plan for it? If God gave you deeper mysteries of the kingdom would you be ready to steward them? It is not a question of if you have been given a trust or not, the question is do you know what it is & are you stewarding it... Jesus said, "He who is faithful with little will be made rulers over cities..." You can't expect God to give you cities if you won't show up to class or work on time. You can't expect to become the boss of your job if you're not willing to wipe the water mess on the sink in the bathroom.... The $5 million dollar question really isn't, "what would you do if you were given $5 million dollars?" The question is, "what are you doing with what God has already given you?"
(((DISCLAIMER-I‘m Not Crazy)))I’ve thought about this question my whole life, even when I was little, I would imagine picking up a belief case with millions in it. I’d plan out every detail and even write down who I’d help and so on. I can honestly say, I’ve always believed that God was going to bring me into some BIG money by the time I was 30 for sure! I thought it was the whole Bathing Buddies product, but it didn’t pan out. As my 30th Birthday approached, I started writing out my “Oprah Extreme Giveaway”! This year I turned 30, and I stated crying out to God, where is it!!! So I told everyone, all I wanted for my Birthday was lotto tickets or a drawing into this million dollar house contest. NONE OF THEM HIT!!! Then God quickly revealed to me that, if I were to help people, in giving money, buying house, paying off debt, why in the heck would they need God, when they got Christine? It would cripple their progress not only academically, financially, but spiritually. They would start really living beyond their means and have no drive to progress in life. This changed my perspective completely and I’ve come up with a new plan. I’m still waiting on my millions and yes I play the lotto (((dont get religious)))!Oh, another thing, I’d tell NO ONE I had the $$$ but you, cause you can keep a secrete.
ReplyDeleteBuy a big, but manageable house.
Pay off Debt
Buy an apartment complex
Put $300K in Annuities
Give the rest to 3 churches who feed the Sevier Family
Appetizer ( New Hope )
Main Course ( Living Hope)
Dessert (El Shaddi )
* Then I’d buy you a car, cause the good Lord knows you need some wheels!!!
I'm thinking this is how I approach my relationship with God. I listen to the Holy Spirit, I believe, I Research, I plan, and I wait!!!
ReplyDeletethat's so good! i was really challenged by the whole 'just give it away thing...' God really been speaking to me about stewardship & about how many times we don't value what is just given to us... I'm learning this more & more especially when we go overseas. When we just give handouts to those whose character, maturity & spirituality can't handle it, we end up doing more damage than good. We can even add to the corruption of people by trying to help them.... if a child is not ready to drive it would be foolish of the father to give him the keys to a brand new BMW & put him behind the wheel.... good stuff sis! it's going to happen! and God does know I need a new car ;o)
ReplyDeletePowerful word! I'm grateful for you and your blog.
ReplyDelete