What did the title of this article say to us? Easy come, or easy go? Do we want God to let the money flow into our bank accounts without any work on our part, or are we good with letting our cash pour out to reach others in need?
Easy come, easy go, supernatural income, or godly outflow?
Jesus said we shouldn’t fill so much time worrying about the cash in our accounts. God will provide for his children. In Matthew 17:25, Jesus catches Peter out on this.
The background for this verse is the Temple taxman. He’s come to Peter, asking, “Dude, don’t you guys pay the tax? Everyone has to man up.”
Peter, the man who was to deny Jesus three times and go on to become the rock on which Christ’s church was founded, automatically answered, “Yes, we’ve got it covered.”
Except he didn’t. Jesus called him on it, asking, “Peter, my friend, now think about this. Who pays the taxes in the kingdom, the king’s children or the people under the king’s rule?”
In Verse 26, Peter thumps himself on the head. “Duh, Jesus. Not his kids. What king would do that?”
This is what Jesus was good at, turning difficult concepts into easy ones by explaining them in a simple, easy-to-understand way. Peter got it immediately. Jesus and his disciples were by default sons of the king, and as children of God, no tax was due. Question answered. Easy money, as simple as pie, once we’re in the know.
Yet Jesus had one more important concept to get across to his beloved disciple. We find that in Verse 27.
“Least we should offend them…”
Jesus sent Peter off to catch a fish, a very special fish, one that would have a coin in its mouth, enough to pay the tax for both Peter and Christ. It wasn’t that Peter and Jesus owed the tax. Rather, Jesus didn’t want to cause offense, even if it meant he followed through on a ridiculous rule he wasn’t required to adhere to.
Easy money, sometimes flowing into our pockets, and often leaking right back out into the offering plate or to help the needy of this world. The church tells us we owe ten percent. Our government taxes us even more. Then there’s all the other hands out to take what we’ve earned.
Christ says we aren’t to cause offense one way or another.
Finances should be the easy part of our Christian walk. The money should be simple. It can be if we open our hearts, open our hands, and let God give us direction. The cash will flow in and flow out, going just where God needs it to be, and doing just what he needs it to do.
Easy come, easy go. Let’s not make money the problem. Let’s let it be the solution. It can be when God is in control.
Jesus was less about money than he was about how easily money could be used to further the good works of his kingdom.
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Code: FGO.L.24.15b.vp.kjv