Financial Wellness Part 2

I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Acts 20: 35

Would you understand what the times require of all Christians in reference to the souls of others? Listen, and I will tell you. You live in times of great liberty and abounding opportunities of doing good. Never were there so many open doors of usefulness, so many fields white to the harvest. Mind that you use those open doors, and try to reap those fields. Try to do a little good before you die. Strive to be useful. Determine that, by God’s help, you will leave the world a better world in the day of your burial than it was in the day you were born. Remember the souls of relatives, friends, and companions; remember that God often works by weak instruments, and try with holy ingenuity to lead them to Christ. The time is short: the sand is running out of the glass of this old world; then redeem the time, and endeavor not to go to heaven alone. No doubt you cannot command success. It is not certain that your efforts to do good will always do good to others: but it is quite certain that they will always do good to yourself. Exercise, exercise, is one great secret of health, both for body and soul. “He that watereth shall be watered himself” (Proverbs 11: 25). It is a deep and golden saying of our Master’s, but seldom understood in its full meaning – “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

– J. C. Ryle, Holiness as referenced in the KJV Devotional Bible, Hendrickson Publishers, 2011 Edition.

The true secret to financial wellness lies in these word’s from Christ, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Why? Because giving out of a pure heart is unselfishness in action. Jesus wanted the rich young ruler to give all that he had to the poor in order to manifest a changed heart. Had the young ruler surrendered and put into action what Jesus commanded, out of a pure heart, he would have experienced the “unsearchable riches of Christ.” He would have been free of the bondage that selfishness had placed him underneath. The widow giving her two mites was, by contrast, one of the most unselfish acts recorded in the Bible. She had nothing, but she gave all!

If we are to be financially well, our hearts and souls must be spiritually well; free from selfishness; free from sin. At the root of all sin is selfishness. At the root of holiness is unselfishness. It is written, “Be ye holy: for I am holy.” God himself manifested his holiness by giving that which was most precious to Him, his Son, to a world that didn’t (and still doesn’t) deserve Him. Yet He was unselfish because He loved (and still loves) us. He gave … He wants us to give in return! The most valuable asset that we have to give is not our money but … ourselves! What Jesus really wanted the rich young ruler to give was himself.