LAW NUMBER ONE IS: DO YOUR BEST WITH
WHAT YOU HAVE.
It does not matter in God’s eyes how much you
have but how well you handle it.
Barnabas is praised for his large gift of land to the early church. The widow is lauded by our Lord for her gift of less than a penny. Someone said, “I am but one … but I am one. I cannot do much … but I can do something. What I can do … I ought to do. What I ought to do … by the grace of God, I will do.”
LAW NUMBER TWO IS: WHAT WE MANAGE IS NOT OURS.
I read recently about a strange thief in Hamburg, Germany. There was not a single brick, tile, screw, or nail in his neat little house that had not been stolen. Over a period of two years and by way of eighty different thefts, he acquired every square inch of his house at someone else’s expense. He even admitted that he had stolen the flowers blooming in his front yard. Day by day, bit by bit, he accomplished his theft.
His actions parallel the spiritually crippled behavior of many men and women. Day by day, they appropriate the things of God …. His air, sunshine, and food. They take everything He gives and use them for selfish purposes. Actually, they embezzle a life because they give nothing in return. In building their life, every single brick, tile, screw, and nail is stolen.
A constant warning from God’s Word is this: People who embezzle their lives from God are stuck with what they stole. Life management is to do your best with what you have. It is to know that what we manage is not ours.
LAW NUMBER THREE: THE THINGS WE MANAGE ARE NOT REAL.
The wealth of this world is not real because it does not last. The goods we manage now are temporary. Life’s largest blunder is to act as though this were not so. The Psalmist said, “Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue forever, their dwelling places to all generations. They call their lands after their own names.” This is sheer mockery. For, as the Bible says of one who lusts after the treasures of earth, “when he dies, he shall carry nothing away.”
Charlemagne was, at his request, buried sitting on his throne, wearing his crown, robe, and jewels. In his lap was an open Bible, and his dead finger was resting on Mark 8:36: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul.”
Successful life management is a matter of exchanging a life you cannot keep for a life you cannot lose. It is trading the temporary goods of this world for unending, secure treasure. No matter how much or how little you may have in ability, opportunity, or wealth, you can manage your life in such a way as to be really rich. (BOB JOYCE)