Day 9 - Sin Doesn't Pay!

SCRIPTURE:
To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. - Ecclesiastes 2:26 NIV

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
In the earlier days of learning God's system of tithes and offerings, I was invited to teach a home Bible study by a women's group. One week I felt particularly strong about teaching on tithes and offerings. At that time, we were living in an 1800's farmhouse and we were living week-to-week. Our needs were being met, but we were just barely squeaking by.

The following week, when I came to the Bible study, one of the ladies confronted me. She said she had shared the teaching with her husband and he had said, "How come they tithe and struggle and we don't and we are doing much better than they are?" Now they were nice people, following God just wasn't a priority in their lives. In front of the entire women's group, I had to account for our model of God's Kingdom in our finances. We were still learning and I answered something to that effect as well as that it may seem like someone prospers for a season without God but, in the long run, living a life apart from Him results in destruction.

It was awkward and I felt embarrassed to a certain degree. I felt like a colossal failure at representing God. I continued to teach for a season on raising children and other topics, but this one area really bothered me. The enemy had successfully shamed me to try to keep me from teaching about finances. Each time I would pass the home where that study had occurred, I would remind the Lord that, for His name's sake, we would continue to learn until we could represent Him correctly.

I must confess that the words spoken at the Bible study would often ring in my head and tempt me to get discouraged, but I decided that, regardless of our financial condition, I would not stop seeking first His Kingdom and His righteous ways for living.

Eventually, our understanding of Kingdom laws grew and so did our businesses and income. Through faith and patience, we were able to build our dream home and to see the fruit of a wonderful family and marriage. Sadly, this was not the case for the family that had questioned God's principles. Just as I had explained to those women that living a life apart from God results in destruction, that family saw the fruit. Their finances declined, and - worse - their relationships went through many struggles and heartaches. I never felt happy to see this happen, but rather remorseful that they had chosen to "tip" God rather than live for Him.

Thinking on those days, I wonder, what if I had allowed the discouragement I felt to dissuade me from the truth? We both would have reaped the consequences of deception. Persecution for the "Word's sake" is promised to the believer, but we must hold fast to the truth until God hands us the place of exaltation for His name's sake. Satan hates for people to know the faithfulness of God and tries to make us quit trusting and following God using any means necessary.

ACTION: Resist the temptation to compare yourself to others who seem to prosper without God. Don’t be deceived into believing that they are doing better than you are. That is a deception that will prove to be a lie over time. Instead, rejoice when you are persecuted or put-down for believing His Word. He will prepare a table before you in the presence of enemies (and well-meaning critics.) Forgive them.

Celebrating Freedom Together,
Pastor Drenda Keesee