That's why when people ask me, "Craig, if I don't have margin, should I wait until I
have margin to start tithing?" I say, "No, baby no!" You start tithing now, because it
breaks the very thing that led you to a margin-less life. It builds faith and you will see God's
hand and His work and His provision, as you put Him first, returning 10% back to God in
the form of the tithe. You will see His blessings.
2. When you put Him first in your finances, you will become supernaturally content. When
you seek Him, when you pray, when you ask for His divine direction and His wisdom for
what you do with the resources He entrusts to your care, you will become supernaturally
content.
Proverbs 15:16; what is the first word in that verse? Would you say it aloud? One, two,
three..."Better!" Say it again....what is it? "Better!" Is it worse? No, it is better
to have how much? "It's better to have a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth
with turmoil."
There are very few people in our society today that believe that is true. That is the Word
of God and it is absolutely true. Better a little with God, better a little with margin.
Better a little with peace than big houses, nice cars, great wealth with turmoil. Better
something paid for than something nicer with the stress of debt. Better a little with the
fear of the Lord than what everyone else wants, with what everyone else has. Great turmoil!
Better! Better! Better! Better! Better! Believe it! Live it! Better! Better! Godliness with
contentment is great gain! Great gain! Big win! Great gain! The world says more will
make you happy. You can never get there! God says happiness is contentment with what you
already have! Better! Better! Most of you say, "Oh, I don't think so!" You've never
tried it! Better! Better! When you believe that, you are not normal! You become weird!
You start doing things where people look at you going, "What's he smoking? Why are you
selling that big, nice house for and down-sizing?" You have no idea what it's like to have margin.
It's better!
Why are you driving that older car, when you could have a new one with the nice leather
and better? Why are you cutting up your credit cards and paying cash? When you realize it's
better, you become different! You start doing really weird things, you start paying cash
and budgeting, you tattoo Dave Ramsey's face on your shoulder! You are going around and
going, "We've got margin, yes we do! We got margin, how about you?" I mean, you feel it!
Your like, "Wow! This is better! It really is better! It really is better!" It's better
to have money to give. It's better. It's better that when something breaks down, you don't
break down, because you have got the ability to pay for it! It's better! It's better to
see someone in need and be able to help out! It's better to be praying about what to do
with the extra, than never have any extra! It's better to live in your paid for place,
with peace in your marriage, than live in the big place and be about to divorce because
you can't get your spending in line. It's better! It's better! It is better.
When you seek God first, when you get closer to God, guess what happens? You don't need
those things, because God is enough. You are not driven with trying to fill your life with
something out there, because God is enough. It's a spiritual problem. It's a spiritual
problem. Better, better. When you seek Him first, when you tithe, when you put Him first,
you will experience His presence, His provision and His blessings. You will become supernaturally
content.
3. You will end up with more of what matters. You will, you may not have what everyone else
wants physically, but you will have what no one else has spiritually. You will end up
with more of what matters.
Proverbs 8:18-19; God was talking about wisdom, which is really Himself, He says, "With me
are riches and honor. With me are lasting wealth and success. My fruit is better than
fine gold. My gifts are better than the finest silver."
He says that the things I give are better than the things of this world, when you seek
Him first, instead of filling your life with the things that don't really matter, you will
fill your life with the things that truly do matter, and it will be better! When you
have time margin and financial margin, you will spend time with people that you love,
you will invest in the things that are the most important. You will be rich relationally.
You will be rich spiritually. You will be rich in the things that matter most when you
put God first. Here's what's going to happen; instead of just consuming more for me, you
are going to start contributing, and you are going to find out how powerful that is, because
it's truly more blessed to give than to receive. I can tell you this, I do not have a single
emotional consuming story, I don't. I can't tell you, I walked in a store and the boots
I wanted, they were 30% off! Praise God! I thought they were going to be full price!
They were 30% off! I don't have a single story like that! Not one! But, when you talk about
giving stories, I will get choked up every time. If I ever sat down in the early years,
when Amy and I committed 30% of our income, and we were making less than $30,000.00 a
year, for three years 30% of our income, we returned to God to the church, to help the
church get off the ground. I will get teared up every time I will tell you that! If I told
you about the first time we gave a car away to a single mom; the joy of that! If I told
you about the kids that we sponsor through Compassion International in different countries,
and the very first one named Stacy in Haiti, who was unfound, and was discovered alive
this week, the girl that we have been sponsoring. Better! Better!
I can tell you this, Amy and I have not always worn new clothes, because for years we purchased
used. Dead true story. We have not always gone out to restaurants whenever we wanted
to. We have not always lived in a nice home, but we have always put God first with the
tithe, and we have always had margin. Yet, when I preach passionately, it is because
I ache for those who ache in the bad trade, giving up the blessings of margin, for the
things of this world that do not last. When you put Him first, you will experience His
blessings. You will be supernaturally content, and I promise you, you will have more of what
truly matters. The choice is yours. It is not an income issue. It is a lifestyle issue.
The choice is yours, you first, or God first? Putting God first is better.
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