Drawing Closer To God

All of your relationships with your spouse, family and friends are important, but temporary. Your only eternal relationship is with God.

We need the bonds of family and friends to help us thrive in this world, but they pale to the significance of your relationship with the Lord. You may be thinking, “True, but what’s that have to do with finances?"

For Christians, faith and our finances have everything to do with our relationship with God and the Bible gives us three principles to connect the dots. First— God created everything and therefore He owns everything. Colossians 1:16 reads, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” Second— God gave us everything we possess. James 1:17 tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” So God owns everything … but He’s given us resources to use temporarily as his stewards. Last— God is not distant and detached. He wants a close relationship with you. James 4:8 reads, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”

We draw near to God by obediently following His law. With over 2300 verses in Scripture about money and possessions, God has made his desire quite clear. He wants us to manage money according to His principles.

Our friend Howard Dayton points out that wisely managing money and the other resources God has blessed us with deepens our fellowship with Christ. Having a close relationship with Jesus is another way to describe what the Bible calls “true riches.”

In Luke 16:11, Jesus indicates that God uses money as a test. He says, “If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” Jesus is saying that how you handle money affects your spiritual life. If you manage it well, according to biblical principles, you’ll naturally grow closer to Christ. If not, your fellowship with the Lord suffers. Biblical money management is a very practical way to improve your spiritual life, but sometimes things get in the way. Two kinds of disobedience keep us from handling money God’s way and growing closer to Him. The first is passive. It’s just plain laziness. Some people don’t want to take the time to organize their finances, make a budget, and track their spending. Doing those things might only take a few hours a month. Still, it’s just too much to bother with.

Worse, that same person will spend more time than that watching TV every night. As a result, intimacy with God suffers.

Another person has a different obstacle to growing closer to God. It’s an active or willful disobedience. For that person, money and possessions compete with Christ. Jesus tells us clearly how that will turn out. In Matthew 6:24 He says, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” There are also people who think they can surrender every part of their lives to Christ except money. They might be quite good at making money, paying their bills on time, saving and investing, but they refuse to give Christ lordship over their finances and to follow all of the Bible’s teachings.

They may stumble over tithing or other giving to God’s Kingdom in other ways. They have the resources, but they don’t want to give. Again, their intimacy with Christ suffers.

Finally, there’s the person who’s not following biblical financial principles but thinks his relationship with the Lord is just fine. To him we might say, “What you don’t know will hurt you. What are you missing out on? You might think finances aren’t interfering with your relationship with God, but how would you know? If that’s you, commit to the Lord in earnest prayer and then follow through managing your money and possessions His way. You’ll find what you need to get started by downloading the free FaithFi app. It will not only give you three ways to set up your budget based on the envelope system— It also has the best Christian financial content you’ll find anywhere to help you grow closer to God by following His principles. Here’s a challenge: Do that for three months and see if your relationship with the Lord is more intimate, if you feel His presence more fully in your life and affairs, then let us know. We’d love to hear how it’s working for you! You can also listen to a related podcast on this topic.