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Showing posts with label Wealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wealth. Show all posts

Friday, February 6, 2015

Grace-Onomics: Net-Worth Does Not Equal Self-Worth




Just say the name "Rockefeller" and anyone in the USA immediately equates this name with one of the wealthiest families in the history of this country.  John D. Rockefeller co-founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870 with a few others just when the gasoline industry was in its infancy.  Little did anyone realize at the time just how much the world was going to need gasoline.  
  
As the industry began to boom, Mr. Rockefeller became the first billionaire in the world.  He eventually left the company and lived in retirement for the last 40 years of his life.  To his credit, he became the inventor of what is known as philanthropy, strategically giving a majority of his wealth away to endeavors such as medicine, education and scientific research. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller)
 
Eileen Rockefeller is one of his current day heirs.  She is the great granddaughter of John D.  In an interview by Mo Rocca with CBS, Mrs. Rockefeller made a statement that is worthy of every person's consideration.  At one point during the interview, Rocca said that most people would like to have the problems Mrs. Rockefeller had.  Take note of her response.
 
"There is no question that the privileges have way outweighed the responsibilities, the difficulties. But where I think I feel common ground with everybody watching is that we all suffer from something growing up. And it doesn't matter if we have money or don't have money; we suffer in our own ways. And the net worth of our bank account is not nearly so important, ultimately, as the self-worth."  (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/growing-up-rockefeller/2/)
 
For we who are in Christ, of all of the people in the world, we should jump up and say, "Yea".  Our self-worth is based not on our net-worth but on our heavenly-worth.  Everything in this world is ultimately valued by what another is willing to give for it.
 
For example, imagine that you had a diamond and wanted to know its real worth. Who would you go to?  You would go to an expert jeweler.  Let's say you do that and she tells you it is worth $1 million.  That would be quite a diamond, wouldn't it?  Now, ponder this question. What about us?  Where do we sometimes go to determine our worth?  Well, the reality is that we go to our spouse, friends, marital status, finances, job, sports, personal performance, religion and more in looking for our answer.  Yet all of these places are very finicky.  The best place and only fulfilling place to go is to our Creator.
 
When He looks at we who have placed our faith in Christ, He has made our worth clearer than The Hope Diamond.  He says, "To me, you are worth my son Jesus Christ.  I gave Him for you." Talk about authentic self-worth!  That is fantabulous times a zillion! You are the pearl of great value spoken about in Matthew 13:45-46.  "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it! "
 
I challenge you this week, to believe in your self-worth in Christ by agreeing with God and by confessing what He says is true about you over and over out loud.  
 
Father, because You gave Your son Jesus Christ for me, You have proven that I have great worth in Your eyes.  So, because You say I have great worth, I agree with You that I have great worth.  

         
For the Freedom of Others,
                  
                               Mark Maulding 
                                                   
(on behalf of the GLI staff)    

All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but it can always be shared with others! 


Thursday, January 29, 2015

Grace-Onomics: Turning Debt into Wealth



In the world of investing, there are basic economic principles you must abide by to gain more money.  For example, the average person must invest at least a little money each month if they have any hope of having any savings for retirement.   Most financial engines predict that a 25 year old who invests $100 per month, will have close to $120,000 at retirement. 

I have friends older than me who have never put any money in retirement personally or through their work.  It concerns me because if you start investing $0 at age 25, you will have $0 for retirement.

But in God's kingdom, there is something I call Grace-Onomics because it doesn't follow these principles at all.  In fact, in
Grace-Onomics, many things are the complete opposite of economics.

For example, we have spiritual debt which we all owe God.  This debt is a result of us investing our lives in sin.  Sin is the lifestyle of relying on ourselves rather than Jesus Christ according to Romans 14:23c
For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.   As a result, we owe God for every moment we have not lived by faith in Him.  We can't begin to imagine how often this has occurred!

When we come to faith in Christ, we give Him our investment in sin which is our debt.  Because He operates from grace, He provides returns that are the opposite of economics.  In economics, if you give your debt to your creditors over and over, you will receive the return of bankruptcy with 7 - 10 years of bad credit.  But in Grace-Onomics, for our debt we give to God, He provides us amazingly positive returns.  In this case, the return we receive is His infinite wealth of forgiveness.  His forgiveness is not only for our past debt but also any debt from our present or future sins.  This gift of infinite forgiveness did not come without a cost, though.  It cost God the death of His Son, Jesus Christ on the cross.  Hebrews 9:22 ...all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.  Jesus removed our debt.  Then when He was resurrected, He brought with Him this infinite wealth of total forgiveness for us to receive.

That's a pretty good deal, even better than one Warren Buffett, a genius in the investing world, could provide for you.  We give our debt to God and He returns to us forgiveness which has no limits!

Some people have wealth but never enjoy it or bless others with it.  Hetty Green inherited $5 million at age 30 and turned it into $100 million by the time of her death, making her the richest women in the United States in 1916.  Yet, she apparently never enjoyed any of her wealth, nor did she allow anyone else to enjoy it.  She refused to use hot water, wash her clothes or provide her son, Ned, with decent medical care when he broke his leg.  He eventually had to have his leg amputated as a result!  (Forbes Special Issue; The 2014 investment Guide II and Wikipedia)

You and I have the infinite wealth of God's forgiveness in Christ.  (Eph. 1:7)  Let's first revel in it but not only for ourselves, let's pass it along by forgiving those who owe us love but have given us indifference, owe us acceptance but have given us rejection and who owe us respect but have given us shame.  (Eph. 4:30-31)   This incredible forgiveness is not only for us but for others, too.

Why don't you stop for a moment and ask God if there are any sins you haven't believed Jesus died to forgive either for yourself or others.  Then jump into the wealth of your gift of forgiveness in Christ by faith.  But don't stop there!  Ask Him if there is anyone you haven't forgiven. Then before God, tell Him you forgive them, for that "thing" they did.

For the Freedom of Others,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!