I drive a give-to-the-poor-missionary-back-from-Guatemala Ford Escort dredged out of Paleolithic strata. The sun has scorched off paint in places, the lining is falling down onto my kids’ heads.
My son liked this car at the autoshop
So when a Porsche stalled in front of me on Pacific Coast Highway at a stoplight, something inside of me wanted to shout as I roared past: “Get a real car!”
Hmmmmmm. Where did this envy come from? I thought I was free from that.
Sin has a way to lurk in when you least suspect.
When you pray for finances, you need to be on your guard against envy. What is your motivation? To bless others or to bless yourself? To keep up with Jesus or to keep up with the Joneses?
God promises to provide, but many times our idea of provision falls squarely into the realm of “want,” not “need.” It became popular among Christians a number of years ago to call ourselves “children of the King.” The logical conclusion is we want to live it up like princes and princesses. The biggest problem with this reasoning is how Jesus, being much more a Prince than us, lived in poverty: The Son of Man has no place to lay His head (Matt. 8:20).
We can trust God to provide for our needs — and we ought to guard against confusing needs with wants.
Mustard Seed Budget 