Money is the currency of Christian Hedonism.

In Bible, it is clear of 2 consequences that the money can bring you to:
1. To destroy you.
“Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” 1 Timothy 6:9

2. To secure eternal life.
“They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may make hold of that which is truly life.” 1 Timothy 6:18-19

The root of all evil is not the money but us, who settle for the love of money instead of the love of God. We should live for greater gain than the slick money lovers do.
“Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment,” 1 Timothy 6:7

What kind of mentality shall we have towards money, our currency as Christian?
However, it is different to work hard for earning more money for God to meet our needs and other’s needs, but it is wrong to desire for more to have material luxuries.

My definition of needs is things that are necessary. If you need a car, a normal Toyota may do. But some people buy a Porsche with number plate like 8888, which cost a large sum of money with personal purpose. This is an extreme example, but we know clearly what our motives are when we purchase food, shoes, bags…etc.

“If we have food and clothing, with these we will e content.” 1 Timothy 6:8
When we have God near us and for us, we don’t need extra money or things to give us peace and security.

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:5-6

According to the website of Mission Frontiers:
(www.missionfrontiers.org/newslinks/statewe.htm)
1. The total global church member annual income is US$12.3 trillion.
2. Of this, $213 billion (1.73%) is given to Christian causes.
3. Of this, $11.4 billion (5.4% of 1.73%) goes to Foreign Missions.
4. Of this, 87% goes for work among those already Christian; 12% goes for work among already evangelized non-Christians, and 1%, $114 million, goes to the unreached.

Yet, according to the “Annual Statistical Table on Global Mission 2002”, there are still 1,645,685,000 people are not evangelized, which is 26.5% of world population.
How much do we really invest in the heavenly treasure that will not rust and no thief to steal? Where does our money go?

Our calling: A Wartime Lifestyle
Our life should be simple necessities of life. The criterion for essential should not be primitive “simplicity,” but wartime effectiveness.
There is a war going on! We don’t have the right to live a life as a child of King since King Himself is stripped for battle. It is more helpful to think of a wartime lifestyle than a merely simple lifestyle.

"Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” Ephesians 4:28

There are 3 levels of how to live with things:
1. Steal to get
2. Work to get
3. Work to get in order to give

Why does God bless us with abundance? So we can have enough to live on, and then use the rest for all manner of good works that alleviate spiritual and physical misery. Enough for us; abundance for others.

Living on the brink of eternity
Our final summary emphasis should be this: In 1 Timothy 6, Paul’s purpose is to help us lay hold of eternal life and not lose it. Paul never dabbles in unessentials. He lives on the brink of eternity. That’s why he sees things so clearly. He stands there like God’s gatekeeper and treats us like reasonable Christian Hedonists: You want life that is life indeed, don’t you (v.19)? You don’t want ruin, destruction, and pangs of heart, do you (vv. 9-10)? You want all the gain that godliness can bring, don’t you (v.6)? Then use the currency of Christian Hedonism wisely: Do not desire to be rich, be content with the wartime necessities of life, set your hope fully on God, guard yourself from pride, and let your joy in God overflow in a wealth of liberality to a lost and needy world.

"Whatever you ask in my name, this i will do, that th Father may be glorified in the Son." John 14:13

"Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." John 16:24

The two verses above tell us what we should pursue in our life. First verse shows that prayer is the pursuit of God's glory while the second verse shows that prayer is the pursuit of our joy.

These pursuits are shown through our prayer to God.

So, what is prayer?

Prayer is an open admission that we can do nothing without Christ. When we pray, we turn away from ourselves to God with the confidence that He, as the provider, meets our need. Prayer humbles us s needy and exalts God as wealthy.

When we truly know who Jesus is, we would ask from God. As we gets delight in having our need met, God gets the glory. We do not glorify God by providing His needs but by praying that He would provide our needs and trusting Him to answer.

In this way, we achieve the both pursuits as stated above. However, some will think that it is selfish to pursue for one's own happiness.

Prayer is not self-centred but God-centred if we pray with right motive. For everything comes from God and glory goes back to God. There is nothing that we can boast.

But, there is wrong kind of prayer. In James 4:3-5, he calls certain people as adulteress, who use husband's generosity to hire prostitutes for private pleasures. If we ask God for resources such as health, wealth and time to seek pleasures from the world instead of God, we are unfaithful to God.

However, there is way of enjoying creation without committing idolatry. It is when our delight does not stop at the gift itself, but extend to the Giver or Maker Himself.

The second main point is on serving.

We must beware of serving God and take special care to let Him serve us, lest we rob Him of His glory.

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything." Acts 17:24-25

"The Son of Man came not to be served" Mark 10:45

Let's pause and consider all that we do busyly. Is it really serving? What is the centre of doing all these works? Is it really for God or ourselves? Yet, if it is really for God, how much we rely on Him in serving or we make our own choice in our effort.

God will gladly receive anything from us that shows our dependence and His all-sufficiency. Workmen get no gifts but their due.

But, does it mean we do not serve God? No. For it is commanded: "Serve the Lord" Romans 12:11

Therefore, prayer plays an important role in our serving. It prevents us service from being an expression of pride. It provides power to do what we love to do but can't do without God's help.

It is a wartime walkie-talkie but not a domestic intercom

We all get up day after day and realise that significant times of prayer should be a part of our life, but nothing is ever ready. It is because we have not planned anything!

If you want a renewal of your life in prayer, you must plan it!

Set a time, set a place and choose a portion of Scripture to guide you. Don't be tyrannized by the press of busy days. We need prayer!

Quote from George Muller (taken from Desiring God):

While i was staying at Nailsworth, it pleased the Lord to teach me a truth irrespective of human instrumentality, as far as i know, the benefit of which i have not lost, though now... more than forty years have since passed away.

The point is this: i saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which i ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concernedabout as not, how much i might sere the Lord, how i might glorify the Lord; but how i might be nourished. For i might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, i might seek to benefit believers, i might seek to relieve the disstressed, i might in other ways seek to behave myself as it become a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit.

Before this time my practice had been, at least for ten years previously, as an habitual thins, to give myself to prayer, after having dressed in the morning. Now i saw, that the most important thing i had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, whilst meditating, my heart might be brought into experimental, communion with the Lord. i began therefore, to meditate on the New Testament, from the beginning, early in the morning.

The first thing i did, after having asked in a few words the Lord's belssing upon His precious Word, was to begin to meditate on the Word of God; searching, as it were, into every verse, to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of the public ministry of the Wordl not for the sake of preaching on what i had meditated upon; but for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul. The result i have found to be almost invariably this, that after a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that though i did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almost imeediately more or less into prayer.

Geroge Muller

If you desire to read more, you can buy the book or borrow it from me.
What is the first thing we do when we wake up in our life? Is it our homework? Is it our family chores? Or is it a time with the Lord?
We see clearly from the previous post on God's promise of His word and the value of His word in our life.
When we are busy, we think God will understand so that we attend our own tasks first.
When we are free, we think God will understand so that we go on to relax and entertain ourselves.
Is it wrong to think so? Maybe and maybe not.

We all face struggles in everyday. It is really not easy as everything else seem so important that we cannot spend time to stop and carefully think through to weigh the values.
Do our career, work, social activities, entertainment really that important? When we come before God after death, which of that we can use to prove our loyalty to His lordship?

You decide.

This is a post that i suppose to pose quite a long time back. However, due to the busy time schedule and ill-discipline of management, i have delayed till now, the study break.

Desiring God is a book by Pastor John Piper on how we pursue the joy in God by desiring Him as a Christian Hedonist.
The post will be the lesson i have learned from Chapter of "Scripture" and " Prayer". These are the two basic practices that all Christians should do daily just like how human relies on food and oxygen.