Daily Edifier: Take The Money and Run

Take The Money and Run

“Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” (Ephesians 4:28)

Woody Allen’s first movie as actor/writer/director in 1969 is Take The Money and Run about the life of an incompetent, petty criminal named Virgil Starkwell. The funny thing is God also wants us to take the money and run, but run toward those who have needs via those who are preaching the gospel. Too many of us are just happy to have enough to meet our own needs because we are too selfish to think about the needs of others who may not know God.

We could ask God for a fortune, keep some to meet our needs, and give the rest to support God’s work. But that doesn’t even occur to some of us because when it comes to money, we’ve been programmed by a world that says get all you can, can all you get, and sit on the can. That attitude has hindered the work of God on earth today. It has caused preachers to set aside their mission to get odd jobs just to survive. It has deprived churches of funds for operation and arrested the growth of ministries that could have reached many millions more for God. The simple fact of the matter is that it takes money, lots of money for the mission, to preach the gospel of salvation so that billions of lost souls will get saved.

It takes money to buy airtime on TV, to produce Word-based programming, to build websites, to print Bibles, to support and train pastors, teachers and missionaries, to build churches, orphanages, Bible schools, water wells, and hospitals, to provide food, medicine, shelter and clothing to the poor so they can see the love of God in action before they can receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Jesus knew that, and His ministry had so much money coming and going that He had to hire a treasurer named Judas.

Jesus didn’t hoard money for Himself, He gave it to meet the needs of others. He had such a reputation for giving that on the night of the Last Supper when Judas left abruptly, the disciples assumed that Jesus had sent him out to give to the poor. Jesus never built an empire for Himself, He was the greatest giver who ever lived, and we need to start doing what He did. Don’t refuse the wealth God wants to transfer to us from the sinners just because we don’t need it. Dare to receive it, stop working for a living and start working for a giving. Don’t be like Woody Allen, discover the purpose of wealth as we take the money and give to support the preaching of the Word.

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