Be Content with your Present Level of
Income
Luke 3: 14
“And the Soldiers likewise demanded of him
saying. And what shall we do? And he said unto them. Do violence to no man, neither
accuse any one falsely, and be content with your wages.”
John the Baptist said something to the soldiers that I think
we should all heed. As he was preaching his dynamic message, the soldiers came
and said to him, “what shall we do?” and he replied, “… be content with your
wages.”
When you are not content with your wages, you will go
borrowing. One major reason why people do not have a right attitude towards
their expenditure is because they do not have a clear vision about their
financial future and therefore are never satisfied with their level of income.
A person with a clear vision knows that with careful and prayerful planning, he
can achieve his financial goals irrespective of his present earnings. A vision
driven man is not likely to be prone to greed or financial excesses. One reason
why people are not content with what they have is that they want to have what others
have. But someone with a vision who knows that he will have all he needs in
God’s own time will be relaxed. Another reason is that many fail to prioritize
their expenditure; they buy just about anything to satisfy their cravings or
the expectations of people. Before you know it, they are not able to meet their
needs and begin to look for extraneous ways to increase their wages. However,
it is common knowledge that no amount of wages can satisfy a man – be content
with your present level while trusting God for a promotion.
Where do you intend to be in say 10, 20, 30 years time or
more? You must have a vision as to where you are going and you should work
towards it. For example, though building a house in Lagos is expensive, if you
agree with your wife that you want to build a house in Lagos before you turn
45 and you work in line with your vision you will achieve it. It may seem impossible but our God does impossible things.
Remember that the Bible says that whatever you agree here on earth will be
sanctioned in heaven.
So, do you have a working plan or a financial plan? Or did I
hear you say, I don’t know? Then, talk to people who know so that they can help
you to come up with one.
Attitude to Money
If you do not have a right attitude to money then you will experience
poverty. In fact, if you do not take hold of your finances, and have it managed
properly while invariably growing it, you will have myriads of problems. I see
a lot of people who once were living in Lagos move back to their villages
because rents had gone up, property and food prices skyrocketed and they were
no longer able to make ends meet.
Remember the parable of the talents! Jesus said to the one
who hid his Lord’s money, “thou wicked and unprofitable servant.” Thereafter,
he commanded, “Take that money from him. Give it to those who know how to
handle money.” Let’s reason together, does his punishment not amount to
poverty? He was reduced to nothing. Finally, Jesus asked them to cast the
unprofitable servant into outer darkness where there would be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
A
young ruler came to Jesus and asked him, master, “What shall I do to inherit
eternal life” Luke 18:18. Jesus asked
him, “Do you know the ten commandments?” and he answered, “Yes.” Then Jesus said
to him, “Go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor.” The Bible
records that he went away sad because he wanted eternal life but was not ready
to part with his money. He also had a wrong attitude towards money.
In another instance, people were giving lands in the early
church and so a man named Barnabas sold his land and gave the money to the
church. Another couple named Annaias and Sapphira also decided to sell their
land and gave part of the returns to the church pretending that they gave all
in order to obtain the same blessing that accrued to those who gave everything.
What ensued was a calamity. The spirit of God accosted them and the two of them
died. They both died because of a wrong attitude towards money.
Then, there was a young man who sold his master for money.
His name is Judas. He betrayed Jesus and sold him for thirty pieces of silver.
He too died a horrible death. What I am saying invariably, is that, if you do
not have the right attitude to money, you will cut your life short in one way
or the other. It is either you are unable to feed yourself and you die early or
you are ill and you are not able to afford the medical bills.
It is not a question
of whether you are earning a huge amount or not. As a minister of God, I may
not earn as much as some of my counterparts in other ministries, but I have
learned to manage and multiply what I have so as not to depend on my salary
alone. I adopted this method so that I can also contribute to the growth of the
church. It is not how much you earn but how much you set aside for
investment. As a matter of fact, there
are those who earn huge amount but lavish it all on unnecessary things. You can
surpass them if you know how to engage your money to work for you. Keep your
expenses low and invest the rest. I advise that you go for financial training, or
what is called financial intelligence; Learn to invest in stocks. I recommend
you read my book, “The Way of the Rich”, which gives practical advice on how to
multiply money and become wealthy.
Femi Imevbore
+2348080929292
femiimevbore@gmail.com
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