Earn money so you can be generous to the work of the Lord and to the poor. And earn money so you can be generous with your loved ones.

Living a simple life doesn't mean being stingy!

Mary, the sister of Martha, anointed Jesus with expensive ointment worth 300 days wages. Now that's extravagant! Judas Iscariot complained that the perfume should have been sold off and given to the poor. Jesus, however, didn't think it was wasteful but rather praised Mary's act of love. The point? Once in a while, we can be excessive when it comes to giving gifts to one another- out of love.

When my father celebrated his 80th birthday, I recall my family spent a small fortune for an expensive dinner where we invited all his friends. (Well actually, it wasn't that expensive. At 80 years old, most of his friends were already chatting with St. Peter). Some would have accused us of being "excessive" because what we spent during that birthday party could have fed 10 families in Bangladesh for an entire month. But somehow, I knew that God was smiling when we did that for Dad. It may have been excessive if as a family we didn't regularly share our belongings with the poor. But that is something we have done all our lives, thanks to my father's inspiring example. One day, I bought Holland tulips for my wife. Again, a part of me was saying that I could feed lunch to 10 orphans from Nigeria with what I spent. But I felt God assure me that He wanted me to be loving towards my wife-and that He provides me with more wealth so that I can help the orphans on another occasion. One day, a friend of mine who tithes regularly complained that he was still barely making ends meet. I told him, "Tithing is one principle of financial blessings?" He stared at me amazed. "Other principles? I only know one and that's tithing." I rattled off my list. "Do you live a simple life? Do you tame your materialistic desires? Do you avoid credit? Do you believe that God has given you all the abilities that you need in order to earn more than enough? Do you work hard? Do you persevere when you fail repeatedly? Do you serve your customers with love and excellence? He shook his head. My friend confessed that he's an impulsive buyer and uses his credit card recklessly. He never saves. He never opens himself to new income streams.

Many people want to succeed but they're not wiling to pay the price of success. As much as I love manna and the supernatural miracles of God, let me say it again: Manna is designed by God to teach you an attitude, not a behavior Mixing up these two words has caused untold misery in people's lives. If you think manna is teaching you a behavior, you'll say hilarious things like…"Don't budget. God will just miraculously work it all." or Don't save, don't buy insurance, don't think of investments or dabble into business. That's all worldly stuff and will bring you to hell.

Just trust God." If you say those things, you'll never leave the desert of financial difficulty. Do you want to be successful in life? Success in biblical language is "bearing fruit". But God doesn't give you the fruit of success of success. What He gives you instead is the land that will bear the fruit of success.
So in the Promised Land, you need to work that Land: till the soil, plant the seeds and harvest the crops. A lot of hard back straining work1
My friend, in the Promised Land you decide how much money you want to earn.