Our relationship with our wallets

During Lyndon Johnson’s tenure as President of the USA, on the wall of the Oval Office in the White House office hung a framed letter written by General Sam Houston to Johnson’s great-grandfather Baines, more than a hundred years earlier. Baines had led Sam Houston to Christ and Houston was a changed man – no longer coarse and belligerent but peaceful and content. The day came for Sam Houston to be baptised, an incredible event in the eyes of those who knew his previous life-style and attitude. After his baptism Houston stated that he would like to pay half of the local minister’s salary. When someone asked him why, his simple response was, ‘My pocket book (wallet) was baptised too.’

What we are talking about here is a discipleship issue. It is a Lordship issue, ‘Thank you, Lord for saving me - but you want to be Lord of my money, too?’ Well, yes! That’s what the Bible says. It is an obedience issue and it’s not secondary. It’s of primary importance, particularly in our culture which is dominated by the God of money - which is why Jesus said, ‘You cannot serve money and God’. It gets right to the heart of where we put our priorities.