Make God look good.
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
- Matthew 5:14-16 (New International Version)
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Ok transparent moment: I have this super janky purse that I've been carrying for far too long. It's old, the fake leather coating is literally flaking off and the gold on the clasp is looking bronzer by the day. I'm laughing even while writing and telling you this. Especially because I have absolutely no excuse for continuing to carry this purse. I have plenty of other purses and I could have been bought a new everyday purse to replace it. But I like it! It's so small and compact and forces me to not carry an arm and a leg around with me all the time.
Anyway, I was hanging with my neice and her parents the other day and, don't you know it, she found her way to my purse and was determined to play with it. So here I am, watching little black flakes fall onto the sofa like dandruff as she plays with the purse's chain and I'm so embarrassed because I'm pretty sure her parents see what's happening.
To top it all off, her mom jokingly asked me that night if I was going to get a new car this year (backstory: I drive a '99 Honda Accord right now..my baby is paid off though and she's a Honda so ya'll know she's gonna run until Jesus comes back lol!)
As you can CLEARLY see, I need to upgrade some things in my life. The funniest part about all of it is that this happened a few days after asking God about some money mindset issues I uncovered recently, so this felt like a well-timed illustration He orchestrated to show me His feelings on it.
In essence, I feel like He was affirming the fact that poverty just ain't ever a good look. Period. Not for me and definitely not for Him. No one wants a God that has His kids out here looking raggedy. We need our light to be shiny, not dingy.
Of course in this week's scripture, Jesus is speaking more about our behaviors than our possessions but you can't deny the visual aspect of what He's teaching here. People got whole eyes. And you, being the "light of the world" can't hide your physical appearance from their eyes. If you're struggling with whether or not God wants you to be wealthy, just read this scripture and ask yourself, has anyone ever looked at signs of poverty in your life and praised God? Boom there's your answer.
Now go make some money this week so you can give someone something to glorify God about. And trash that broke-looking thing you've been holding onto if you can lol I finally laid my old purse to rest after writing this 🥴
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Still hungry? Eat some more //
- Matthew 7:7-11→ Purely from a love perspective alone, why would a good father want his child to be poor?
- I'm going to share more perspectives that have been helping to shift my money mindset all February long. If you have any resources that have been helping you or questions you've been wrestling with, reply back and let me know so I can potentially share and/or address them.