Follow the Roadmap! Part 2: It’s YOU! 🚗

friend, yesterday we looked at three stops on an ancient road map for you whose destination is a place called contentment! Today, we continue to the last two, which has to do with the blessing of putting yesterday’s concepts into practice. If you missed yesterday, I invite you to click back a day and read that before going ahead. Ready? Buckle up and let’s go!

Road Map #4: It’s time to pay it forward!

“A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.” (Proverbs 22:9, NIV) 

When I started in ministry, Laurel and I made very little money. After taxes, we lived off even less! In our first years together, multiple family members died of cancer so we had been traveling back and forth to home and money was tight. I remember one night packing the car for another trip, wondering how we were going to afford the gas money. I remember praying about it: “God, it’s hard to drive a car with no gas.” I went back into the house for another bag and when I came back there was a little white envelope on our doorstep with just enough money inside for gas to get us home. God knew what we needed. Someone’s gift forever touched us.

Road Map #5: And lastly, friend, always choose integrity.

This is an aspect of stewardship that we rarely touch on. We just assume that people are honest. Solomon’s culture was based in the trade business. Merchants would sell goods by using weigh scales. They sold spices, gold, silver and the scales would determine the weight. The problem was this—some dishonest merchants would rig the scales to give false readings. 

The Bible says that God finds financial dishonesty or “rigged scales” physically repulsive, abominable, completely disgusting. Integrity is huge to God. 

friend, when we take inventory of how we steward our resources, God makes a way and changes our character. As you follow Him,  you will desire to become content, gracious, generous and full of integrity. You will be trusted with even more—and this is not always just with more money. God may lead you into leadership, ownership or use your story, just like he did with Solomon. All because you had an open heart and stewarded well.

I want to leave you today with the following question from the book of Luke:

“So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” (Luke  16:11, NIV)

You are a miracle!