Domelle – Old Paths Journal

Money Mindsets

by: Dr. Allen Domelle

Psalm 62:10
“Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.”

Whether or not we like it, money is a part of life. You cannot pay your bills without money. You can’t enjoy your time away with the family without money. Money is necessary to function in life. Your mindset concerning money will affect your Christianity. There are many mindsets that you should have concerning money, but I find four important mindsets that influence every part of your life. Let me show you these four mindsets.

First, don’t live for money. If you live for money, it will influence how you treat people. 1 Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil…” Money in and of itself is not evil, but when you live for money because you love it, it will cause you to hurt others just to get it. Many good people have been ruined because they loved money. It is interesting that this verse didn’t say that the rich were evil. There are rich people who don’t love money; therefore, they don’t hurt people to get it. You can be poor and love money, and that will cause you to do what it takes to get it, even if it means you have to hurt someone. Be very careful about having a mindset that lives for money. That mindset will lead you to become an evil person.

Second, don’t be willing to do anything for money. Proverbs 16:8 says, “Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right.” You must put boundaries as to what you will and will not do to earn money. Many people have allowed money to change their purpose of life only to backslide on God. It is always better to have a little money and be able to live righteously than to earn much money and stray from God. If you have to miss church to earn money, stay in church and trust God to supply your finances. If you have to withhold a part of your tithe to invest in something to make more money, miss out on the investment opportunity and tithe. Go ahead and earn money, but don’t earn it at the cost of your Christianity.

Third, don’t let money determine your joy. The verse above says, “…if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.” If money doesn’t determine your joy, you will be joyful no matter the status of your income. It is sad when you hear about people committing suicide when the stock market crashes. The only reason they would do this is because their joy comes from money. Don’t let money determine your joy, let your joy come from serving the LORD and you will find that you can be content with whatever He gives you.

Fourth, make God your treasure and He will take care of your treasure. Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” If serving the LORD is your true treasure, you will find yourself investing in God. Moreover, when God is your treasure, He will take care of it. Verse 33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” God is the securest bank in which you can put your treasures. His interest rate is excellent. Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom…” Nobody can give you a return on your investment like God. Friend, God will bless you if you make this your mindset.

Five Steps to Spiritual Decay

Jeremiah 7:28
“But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.”

What a powerful statement, “truth is perished.” The word “perished” means: to wither or decay; to waste away; to come to nothing; to be rendered useless. In other words, God was saying that Israel didn’t suddenly die, but they died a gradual death. Israel didn’t go from being the most powerful nation in the world to a nation that perished overnight; no, it was a gradual death. For God to say that truth perished, He is saying that there was no more hope for Israel. Hope is gone when “truth is perished.”

A Christian never suddenly dies spiritually. Every Christian who has died spiritually has died a slow death. They died slowly by allowing truth to perish. The Christian died a slow death when truth wasted away in their lives and became nothing to them. There are five steps Christians, churches and nations take that lead to the spiritual decay.

First, no conscience leads to spiritual decay. Verse 10 shows Israel’s lack of conscience. They stole, murdered and committed adultery, and the next day went to church and declared that God wanted them to do these things. When a Christian comes to the point where sin doesn’t bother them, they are beginning to walk down the road to destruction. You must ask yourself, does your sin bother you? You are on dangerous ground when you can sin and it doesn’t bother you.

Second, no conviction leads to spiritual decay. Israel wasn’t convicted of their sin. A lack of conscience always leads to no conviction. If you can sit through preaching or read the Scriptures and are never convicted of sin, you have started the journey of spiritual decay, which will lead to spiritual death.

Third, no response leads to spiritual decay. It is sad that God sent preachers to Israel, “But they hearkened not…” Someone has to be able to tell you what to do. There has to be someone who can look at you like Nathan looked at David and say, “Thou art the man.” To say that nobody is going to tell you what to do is to reveal the spiritual decay that has set into your life. Friend, don’t harden your neck to truth but respond to it.

Fourth, no boundaries leads to spiritual decay. Israel walked “in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart.” You can use Scripture to justify your wicked actions, but that doesn’t change the truth of Scripture. Stop justifying sin and start repenting of it. Without the boundaries of God’s Word, you will walk down the road to spiritual decay and eventual death.

Fifth, no direction leads to spiritual decay. Israel “went backward, and not forward.” When your direction is worldly instead of godly, you are headed down a road to death. When you look to the world for your direction of holiness instead of the Scriptures, you are spiritually withering away.

Is truth perishing in your life? Friend, you never suddenly die spiritually. It will always be a slow death through decay. Don’t let truth perish in your life. Keep God as your focus, and respond and repent when He reveals your sin through the Scriptures or preaching.

Four Steps to Honor

Proverbs 4:8
“Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.”

In the verse above, God gives a promise that the person who exalts and promotes wisdom and understanding will become a person of honor. When you think of a person with honor, you think of a person who has integrity and morals. A person with honor is a person who has lived in such a manner that people trust them and hold them in high esteem.

One thing every generation lacks are people of honor. It seems as if many are out for themselves and their agenda, and they are willing to sacrifice their honor to achieve it. It really doesn’t matter if you get what you want if you lose your integrity to get there. You have accomplished nothing in life if you had to lose your honor and integrity to attain the promotions and wealth you have accumulated. In Proverbs 4, God shows four steps a person must take to achieve honor.

First, you must have boundaries to guide you. Verse 4 says, “…keep my commandments…” The commandments are the boundaries by which you live. Every person needs commandments to guide them along life’s way. These commandments must be clear and simple. If a parent wants to rear their children to become a person of honor, they better be sure to set rules in the home. You will never obtain honor without boundaries to keep you from doing things you should not do.

Second, you will never get honor without performance. Verse 4 continues to say, “…keep my commandments, and live.” Living is performing. I’m all for people having boundaries by which to live, but boundaries are set to help you while you perform. For instance, there is no purpose of an out-of-bounds line in basketball if you don’t play the game. That line is there to help you perform. God’s commandments are established to help you perform better. Performance creates accomplishments. If you want to become a person of honor, you are going to have to get up and start doing something. Honorable people are people of accomplishment, and people of accomplishment are people of performance. You earn honor by doing something.

Third, awareness is a key to honor. Verse 11 says, “I have taught thee in the way of wisdom…” Awareness is learning how to do things while you perform them. Sadly, I’ve watched many people do something who can’t tell you how they’ve done it because they are not living in awareness. While you are practicing what you are supposed to do, be sure to be aware of what you are doing so you will know how to do it on your own. You will never become a person of honor if someone always has to hold your hand while you perform.

Fourth, direction keeps you honorable. Verse 11 continues by saying, “…I have led thee in right paths.” You better keep your direction right if you want to keep the honor you earned. Many people became a person of honor, but they lost their honor because they didn’t keep their direction right. What is the right direction? The right direction is to continue doing what brought you to honor. Don’t be a person of change or be given to change. Keep walking the old paths, and as the verse above says, “embrace” them. You will find that honor is a result of embracing these four actions.