William MacDonald: Disciples give their reserves to the Kingdom and place their trust in God

“God’s will is that our lives should be “a perpetual crisis of dependence on him.” We defeat his will in our lives when we lay up treasures on earth.

The life of faith does not follow automatically when a person becomes a Christian. It requires deliberate action on our part. This is especially true in an affluent society. The believer must put himself in a position where he is compelled to trust God…

It is only as he gets rid of his reserves and other false supports that he can truly launch out into the deep…

God pours out his choices blessings on those who are anxious that nothing shall stick to their hands. Individuals who value the rainy day above the present agony of the world will get no blessing from God…

How utterly in keeping with this age of grace it is for us to sell our prized possessions–our diamonds and other jewelry, our original paintings, our antique furniture, our sterling silver, our stamp collections–and put the proceeds to work in the salvation of souls throughout the world.”

William MacDonald in True Discipleship (Kansas City: Walterick Publishers, 1976) 92-93, 108.

“Wealth takes away the sharp edges of our moral sensitivities and allows a comfortable confusion about sin and virtue. The difference between rich and poor is not that the rich sin is more than the poor, that the rich find it easier to call sin a virtue.”

Henri Nouwen in Gracias!: A Latin American Journal (Harper and Row, 1983) 159.

“Wherefore do you applaud yourself in those vain and silly conceits, as if you were withheld from good works by fear and solicitude for the future? … Yea, confess what is the truth…

You are a captive and slave of your money; you are bound with the chains and bonds of covetousness; and you whom Christ had once loosed are once more in chains. You keep your money, which, when kept, does not keep you…

Why do you watch in loneliness over your riches? Why for your punishment do you heap up the burden of your patrimony, that in proportion as you are rich in this world, you may become poor to God?

Divide your returns with the Lord your God; share your gains with Christ; make Christ a partner with you in your earthly possessions, that He also may make you a fellow-heir with Him in His heavenly kingdom.”

Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200-258) in On Works and Alms 13.

“I continually find it necessary to guard against that natural love of wealth and grandeur which prompts us always when we come to apply our general doctrine to our own case, to claim an exception.”

William Wilberforce as recounted in 1001 Quotes, Illustrations and Humorous Stories for Preachers, Teachers, and Writers, ed. Edward K. Rowell (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997) 178.

“Affluenza is a strange malady that affects the children of well-to-do parents. Though having everything money can buy, the children show all the symptoms of abject poverty—depression, anxiety, loss of meaning, and despair for the future. Affluenza accounts for an escape into alcohol, drugs, shoplifting, and suicide among children of the wealthy. It is most often found where parents are absent from the home and try to buy their children’s love.”

David McKenna in “Financing the Great Commission” in Christianity Today 15 May 1987: 28.

“If you wish to leave much wealth to your children, leave them in God’s care. For he who without your having done anything, gave you a soul, and formed you a body, and granted you the gift of life, when he sees you displaying such munificence, and distributing your goods, must surely open to them all kinds of riches…

Do not leave them riches, but virtue and skill. For if they have the confidence of riches, they will not mind anything besides for they shall have the means of screening the wickedness of their ways in their abundant riches.”

John Chrysostom (c. 349-407) in Homily on Romans, 7.

“Reserves are crutches and props which become a substitute for trust in the Lord. We can’t trust when we can see. Once we decide to provide for our future, we run into these problems. How much will be enough? How long will we live? Will there be a depression? Will there be inflation? Will we have heavy medical bills?

It is impossible to know how much will be enough. Therefore we spend our lives amassing wealth to provide for a few short years of retirement. In the meantime, God has been robbed and our own life has been spent seeking security where it cannot be found.

How much better it is to work diligently for our current necessities, serve the Lord to the maximum extent, put everything above present needs into the work of the Lord, and trust Him for our future.”

William MacDonald in True Discipleship (Kansas City: Walterick Publishers, 1976) 96-97.

“Ironically, giving isn’t a cause for insecurity but a cure for it, because it turns our hearts towards the only One worthy of our complete trust, and it fulfills the conditions of seeking first His Kingdom so that we can depend on him to provide for us materially as well (Matthew 6:33).”

Randy Alcorn in Money, Possessions, and Eternity (Tyndale House: Wheaton, 2003) 337.

It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. Psalm 118:8

“Undoubtedly, the reader has been tried with the temptation to rely on things that are seen, instead of resting alone on the invisible God. Christians often look to man for help and counsel and mar the noble simplicity of their reliance on their God…

If you cannot trust God for earthly needs, how can you dare to trust Him for spiritual needs? Can you trust Him for your soul’s redemption and not rely on Him for a few lesser mercies? Is God not enough for your needs, or is His all-sufficiency too limited? …

Is His heart faint? Is His arm weary? If so, then seek another God: but if He is infinite, omnipotent, faithful, true, and all-wise, why do you waste your time seeking another confidence?

Why do you comb the earth to find another foundation, when God is strong enough to bear all the weight that you can ever build upon Him? …

Wait only on God, and let your hope come from Him…Let the sandy foundations of earthly trust be the choice of fools; but like the one who foresees the storm, build your house upon the Rock of Ages.”

Charles Spurgeon in Morning and Evening (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2001) reading for evening on March 7.

“Earthly goods are given to be used, not to be collected. In the wilderness God gave Israel the manna every day, and they had no need to worry about food and drink. Indeed if they kept any of the manna over until the next day, it went bad. In the same way, the disciple must receive his portion from God every day. If he stores it up as a permanent possession, he spoils not only the gift, but himself as well, for he sets his heart on his accumulated wealth, and makes it a barrier between himself and God. Where our treasure is, there is our trust, our security, our consolation and our God. Hoarding is idolatry.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship (New York: SCM Press, 1959) 175.