Finances

Exposing the Five Fallacies
About the Purposes of Money
by Os Hillman
This material appears courtesy of Os Hillman

A successful businessman once confided in another businessman known for his wisdom. "You know John, I've made a lot of money. I will soon be able to retire comfortably," said the man. "I can do just about anything I want," he said. "John," the wise businessman replied, "I've noticed that every time someone thinks they've built a tree that is so tall it almost reaches Heaven, God often decides to shake the tree." The minute we start trusting in riches, God will, in fact, "shake the tree" to demonstrate who is the source of wealth to turn us back to trusting Him completely. He did it in my life, and He'll do it in your life too. Because He loves us too much to allow us to continue down this destructive path.

When my father died at age fourteen and our family finances were affected, I developed a life message that said I would not allow myself to suffer financial need again. Over the years I worked hard to make this a reality. A stronghold developed as a result which was completely on the subconscious level that led me to build financial security at the cost of those who were close to me. All of this was even after being a Christian for over twenty years and attending church every week. As a result of coming to this awareness and dealing with it, I reviewed the many fallacies that I had fallen prey to and incorporated a new understanding of finances in my own life.

When Jesus came to earth, He came to do one thing -- the will of the Father. Obeying the Father was foremost in His mind. His obedience was because of His love for the Father. Jesus expects our obedience to be based out of our love for Him. (John 14:23,24) So, when we find that we are not seeking to obey God in the principles He has given us, we realize we have a love problem. We really have not come to the place where we love God enough to obey His commands.

Jesus understood that He was here on earth only to do the will of the Father. (John 5:19,20) As we look at our relationship to our heavenly Father and our use of money, it is clear from these passages that we, like Jesus, are here to do the will of the Father. This means seeking to live a life that is totally yielded to His purposes -- even in the financial area. This is the context in which we must view these common fallacies held about money.

Money, independence, and security are often the reasons many start there own businesses. There are five distinct wrongly held views about money that can get us into trouble. I discovered most of these first-hand. "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income" (Ecclesiastes 5:10).

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