just who are the Jones's anyway???

Have you ever heard the expression "keeping up with the Joneses", well I'm wondering who these Joneses are that we are tyring to keep up with? Lately I have been doing a lot of pondering about money and contentment. I find myself quite content in my comfortable little suburban life, and then I get a case of the green eyed monster and I don't like it... it especially happens around my sister in law, who lives on acreage in a house that would fit my whole home into the living room, with a pool, tennis court etc, who holidays in places I will never be able to go, and who bought her 3 year old a quad bike for his birthday. Then I sometimes find myself on the other side of that fence with other people who have been envious of things we have or places we have been able to go and I don't like that feeling either. So why do we care so much about what other people have or can afford?

We have been going to Hillsong church for a few months now and the stereotype we come across a lot is of course about money, we mention where we go and the first thing people say is "oh they just want your money." Now to be fair it could seem that way to a visitor because they do make more of a deal about the offering than other churches I've been in, but for a very good reason, they view all our money as God's and that His provision is not just so we can fill up our own table but so that we can share and put food on other tables and they put that into practice in HEAPS of ways!!!!! I have been really challenged at Hillsong about my attitude to not just my money, but also my time and my talents, if all I have is God's then how can I say I will only give Him a little bit and keep the rest for what I want to do. If God is blessing me then how can I hoard that when there are so many others who He wants to bless through me??

When I look at life from that perspective not only do I not care what the Joneses have, whoever they may be, but I delight in sharing what God has given me. Not just a 10% tithe but whatever He asks of me! Whether it be to buy a new mixmaster for my mother in law because hers that is more than 30 years old is falling apart (even though it's WAY over our usual gift budget), or to pay for dinner for a friend, or to sponsor more children, or even to step out in faith and offer to get something for some people that needed it that was several hundred dollars, they ended up saying no but that was certainly a step of faith with God and i'm sure a sign of further and bigger things to come!

It's a new way of living that feels more alive, i'm not sure that explains it well but it's a life when I ask God what His plans are with His money instead of offering Him some of what I considered mine, and being generous doesn't mean that we go without at all. In listening to God's voice and wisdom in this area we are making better choices and have actually saved more money toward our house deposit in the past few months than we managed to achieve in the past 4 years. It's a wonderful thing to learn contentment and obedience, now to get on that track with food is a whole other story and one for another post........