Financial Blessing and the Heart of God

When God blesses you, it’s not just for your benefit. He wants the world to see how good He is through you.

If you’ve ever visited a third-world country, you have probably wrestled with conflicted feelings about your own life. When you encounter extreme poverty, it’s easy to feel extreme guilt about the abundant financial blessing we enjoy at home. But you have nothing to be ashamed of. God blessed you on purpose so that your life can be testimony of His love.

Sure, there is plenty to criticize about the way our Western culture approaches money. And if you struggle with greed, materialism or other financial sins, an experience with third-world poverty may stirring up honest conviction in your heart. But there is no reason to feel guilty or apologize for the financial blessing so common in the developed world. When we do that, we are despising things that God gave us for a reason.

Principles of Financial Blessing

God doesn’t arbitrarily hand out wealth to some people while subjecting others to poverty. Wealth and poverty come from guiding principles that God has built into the universe. And when financial blessing comes as a result of following those principles, God wants it to serve as a testimony to His goodness, power and love.
When a person commits to following God's principles, their integrity opens the door to many kinds of blessing. tweet this!We’ll dig into some scriptural evidence for this point in just a moment. First, though, I want to review a couple of key principles that help us put wealth into context. The first is that prosperity is a fruit of righteousness. God says wealth and blessing come from living in proper relationship with Him and with others. Sin, on the other hand always costs us money.

Does this mean that anyone who is struggling with money is living in sin? No. Does it mean that every Christian should be wealthy? No. It just means that when a person or group commits to following God’s principles, over time the integrity and faithfulness of their lives opens the door to many kinds of blessing, including financial blessing.

Here’s something else to keep in mind: Money comes from serving people. There is no legitimate way to make money without helping people. Every occupation ultimately revolves around service. You may do a ton of stuff for a few people, or a few things for a ton of people. Either way, you make money by helping your fellow man.

These ideas explain so much of why our societies have become prosperous. Much of the West was built on a heritage of faith and righteousness. And free trade and joyful service are at the foundation of our marketplaces. We have become wealthy because our societies have followed God’s principles and developed a culture of openness and service.
Wealth is intended to demonstrate God's goodness to the people around us. tweet this!

Financial Blessing in the Bible

Now that we understand how people and societies become wealthy, let’s talk about why God set it up this way. Blessing, prosperity and wealth are intended to demonstrate God’s goodness to the people around us.

Psalm 67 talks about this. Let’s examine passages in verses 1-2 and verses 6-7.

¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us—
² so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.

…and…

⁶ The land yields its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
⁷ May God bless us still,
so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.

God blesses us so that His “ways may be known on earth,” and His “salvation among all nations.” Later on, it says that as God continues to bless us, “all the ends of the earth will fear him.”

Financial Blessing Demonstrates God’s Love

The gifts God gives us aren’t just a reward for being righteous. They’re a tool  He uses to demonstrate His love and power to people that don’t yet know Him. You may live in abundance because you worked hard to serve people and to walk faithfully with God, but there’s more to it than that. God has blessed you because He wants to to make an example of you.
God has blessed you because He wants to make an example of you. tweet this!When God blesses us with anything, He intends for those blessings to speak of His goodness. All too often, though, we are tempted to take credit for His blessings. We use them to call attention to ourselves instead of to the Father who gave them to us. When we do that, we’re missing the point entirely. God owns everything, and the fact that He has blessed us is a testimony to His love.

So, don’t ever feel the need to hide your abundance or apologize for your blessings. Instead, use the great things  God has given you as an opportunity to tell other people about the wonders of His love.