“God doesn’t need your money! He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and He owns the hills. He doesn’t need your money, but He wants your heart, and those two things are inextricably linked. Money issues are heart issues. Just as your face tells your body how to feel, your money tells your heart what to value.”- Mark Batterson
“A man embezzles from God when he makes use of this world without uttering a blessing.”- The Talmud
“For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine.”- Psalm 50:10-11 (NIV)
Mark Batterson concludes Chapter 14 of Please Sorry Thanks as he describes kingdom of God success. In God’s kingdom, He measures success by how much you give as well as how many people you serve. And gratitude enables you to flip the blessing.
For Pastor Batterson, the truest and purest form of worship consists of worshipping God with his own words in his own way. As a result, Mark keeps a gratitude journal. Because that allows him to capture his thoughts and make them obedient to Christ. Thus, for Mark, thanks becomes a spiritual discipline. Or, in the words of Kenton Beshore, “I want what I have.”
In conclusion, Pastor Batterson believes counting your blessings constitutes the best way to fix your focus. After you count your blessings, flip those blessings to others. Certainly, your external circumstances may remain static. However, your internal attitude changes. Because you’re filled with gratitude.
Hence, Mark exhorts:
“Thanks is the genesis and revelation of God’s blessing. It expands our interpretive horizon on all of life. Giving thanks to God and to others is the way gratitude comes full circle. But it also creates a virtuous cycle. . . . We are blessed to bless! When we give thanks, when we flip the blessing, we become a conduit of God’s blessing!”
Today’s question: How do money issues affect your heart issues? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Overview effect = big picture”