NUGGETS: 'Spending' isn't just about buying things
When we think of spending, our mind automatically goes to money. When we spend, we no longer have what we spent. We only have the commodity we purchased with the thing we spent. Yes, we spend money but there are many things we spend other than money. Time and emotions are other purchasing powers of spending.
When we spend time, all we have is what we spent the time doing. If we spend time watching movies, pornography or news, all we have is the indelible imprint in our brain and the knowledge of that program. If we spend our time playing video games, all we have is our brain filled with the commotion of the cause and results of the game. Also it can add to the stronger muscles in the hand and arms. If we spend our time in a bar drinking, the commodity we have as a result is usually a hangover. You get the idea. Well, if we spend our time in the word of God we have purchased the Word imprinted on our brain. If we spend time helping people who need help, then we have help stored in heaven for when we need help. If we spend time loving people in Jesus, we have that same kind of love returned to us. Time spent on loving God brings a return of commodities we can’t even name. The promises of God are unreachable. Time is something, once spent, we can never get back. So how we spend it, is very important.
Then there is the valuable energy of emotions as a means of trade. Spending emotions in anger is such an investment, the percentage of return grows into rage and sometimes on into murder. That is starting off kind of strong, but I want us to see emotions are like the stock market, it pays dividends. Spending our emotions on stress causes us to purchase damage to our bodies. The medical science field has proven stress is the biggest killer of our bodies. Stress anxiety and fear are all responses to a lack of trust in God and His abilities in our life. Now, if we spend our emotions on the school of learning and developing the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:20). That kind of investment cannot be beat. God’s returns are not like any other investment. In His investments there is always profit.
Now back to our first thought in spending, money. We have already seen how the law of spending works. They call it the law of reciprocity. The world calls it, “what goes around comes around.” With money it works the same way. If we buy things with our money, then all we have is things. I like things as much as the next person, yet I have lived long enough to know, The more things you buy, the bigger place you need to put them, the more time it takes to care for them. That takes more job hours with no time to enjoy the things. Now if we spend money like God told us, He said he will open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings we can’t even contain. [Mal.3]. Solomon could have ask for riches, instead he ask for the wisdom of God and God gave him wisdom and riches. It does not take a rocket scientist to see that doing things the good way, the God way will put us on top of the heap. The Bible is His instruction book. If we are failing to come together right, then we need to read the instructions. Try this in 2012.
>> Linney is a nondenominational pastor in Stanton.
