05/28/13
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
One would think that the sheer necessity of paying yourself first is self-evident. After all, you earned the money, by labor and effort. So, who is better suited?
Pay yourself, first, please! Forget the dumb stuff! Break off some for you, first!
The Bible supports this common sense notion. 2 Timothy 2:6-7 says:
6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.
7 Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.
Paying yourself first incentivizes work. It gives you an incentive, a desire, a reason to return to the rigors of work. Payment separates work from slavery. Paying yourself first separates labor from drudgery.
3 John 1:2
New
King James Version (NKJV)
2 Beloved,
I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as
your soul prospers.Earthly reward for labor enables health to the body and prosperity to the soul.
7 Who
serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a
vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does
not drink the milk?8 Do
I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same
thing? 9 For
it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is
treading out the grain.”[a] Is
it about oxen that God is concerned? 10 Surely
he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for
us,because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the
hope of sharing in the harvest. 1 Cor. 9:7-10
“What's
in it for me?” is not a selfish question. It is a very sensible! So
is the question: “Where is mine?” equally sensible, as this
scripture attests! Get paid!
Only
when you can and have helped yourself are you able to help others!
A
starving man needs help, as does a drowning man. Paying your self
first helps to ward off starvation and helps to prevent drowning
financially in debt.
Then,
when and after you have gained some measure of reasonable stability
and joy, must you seek opportunities to spread your joy and to
enhance your inner stability by helping others, be they persons,
causes, or charitable crusades.
6 Remember
this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever
sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of
you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not
reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful
giver. 8 And God is able to bless you
abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you
need, you will abound in every good work.
“Neither
reluctantly or under compulsion,” in 2 Cor. 9:6-8 above, means
nobody can dictate any duty, nor deliver any decree, respecting what,
if any, percentage of your money should be given; rather only “what
you have decided in your heart to give” is required. Unless you
are giving cheerfully, don't do it! Pray to God, instead, for
deliverance from bondage that robs you of your joy and good cheer!
Matthew
15:8-9 teaches you to guard against insincere talkers, who exploit
Jesus Christ for personal gain or aggrandizement, whose acts belie
their utterances:
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
You
are the pivot and the vortex after God, who made you, and all that is
or was!
That
is made very clear in the greatest commandment taught by Jesus Christ
in Matthew 22: 34-40:
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law,tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
“As
yourself” in the 39th
verse supplies the terms for “loving your neighbor.”
Jesus does not mention tithes or
money in this passage for a very obvious reason:
God
does not need your money!
PSALM
50:10,12 NLT
10 For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it.
10 For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it.
God's
love created us. God's love provides for us. God's love abides with
us. Amen.
1 John 4:16-21
New
International Version (NIV)
16 And
so we know and rely on the love God has for us.God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Paying one's self is “love.”
For
the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians
5:14
So,
too, is paying your neighbor after you pay yourself “love.”
James
2:8
New International Version (NIV)
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”[a] you are doing right.
New International Version (NIV)
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”[a] you are doing right.
Paying one's self first is the “royal law” rooted in love. Amen!
