Three Signs of Spiritual Maturity Part 3 - How Do You Spend Your Money?

Three Signs of Spiritual Maturity Part 3 - How Do You Spend Your Money?

Just as a reminder, this three part blog found its genesis in a statement made by Lon Solomon, my senior pastor and boss, ““You will find out a lot about a person’s spiritual maturity based on how they handle the word “no,” how they respond to crisis and loss, and how they spend their money.” We’ve addressed the first two in my last two posts. I want to reflect on the third sign of spiritual maturity (or immaturity) – how a person spends his money. Can this really be a sign of spiritual maturity?

There’s no doubt that the act of giving is a sign of spiritual maturity whether we give of our time, our gifts and talents, our money, or our possessions. So, in this sense, the giving of money is just one of many signs of spiritual maturity under the proverbial umbrella of “giving.” In fact, Paul writes about what it means to be a giver in his second letter to the Corinthians:
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written: “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-9)
This passage clearly explains the difference between the mature and immature believer. An immature believer holds tightly to his or her money and worldly stuff. A mature believer, however, not only holds loosely to his or her money and possessions but generously gives.

Here though is something that I think is often overlooked when discerning our own spiritual maturity. According to this passage Paul says that if we give under compulsion, we may be giving but we are still reflecting a spiritual immaturity! The mature believer gives with a “cheerful” heart. The question then is, “Do I give my money to God and his work with a cheerful and generous heart or do I give out of compulsion?”

How do you handle the word “no?” How do you handle crisis and loss? How do you spend and/or give your money?

Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)
Todd Phillips
www.toddphillips.net

Here’s today’s passage from Colossians for those of you who are reading along with me in preparation for my sermon series from the same book starting Sunday July 2, 2006:

Colossians 2:6-15
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.