Money and faith

I've been spending a lot of time lately reading, writing, and thinking about money, something that can (and has at times) become an all consuming focus.  Although I'm not a huge Wu-Tang fan like the Mrs, I jokingly titled one of my first posts "Cash rules everything around me", something that seems to ring all too true in our capitalist society and can certainly become true in my own life when not kept in check and balanced by focus on God.  My focus on money these days typically isn't for the purposes of having more to buy crap (although I wouldn't mind having a Hellcat in the driveway) but to support my family and save for the future, in essence security.

I ran across the Killing Lions series on YouTube a while back and the segment on money came at one of those all consuming times where I really needed a reality check.  In that video, John Eldredge pretty much sums it up: "The world says money is your security, God says chase me, I'm your security."  These words are a gentle but powerful reminder that while we should do what we can to be good stewards and not let consumerism get in the way of our primary focus, He is ultimately the one who can and will take care of our needs as stated in Matthew 6:26-27:

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, 

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. 

Are you not much more valuable than they? 

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

I'd love to get to the stage where my frugality muscle has developed to the point where I don't think about money at all, but regardless the words of Matthew 6:33-34 can and should be my guide:

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. 

Each day has enough trouble of its own.