A:

It’s good to know that you are in a place where you have enough…so many do not. It’s always a good thing to acknowledge your gratefulness to God for giving you the ability to make money and take care of yourself and your loved ones. It sounds like you are reaping the benefits of finally having enough. I know what it’s like to have to struggle financially, and that nice place of finally feeling like you are not always on the edge.

I think that in the matter of finances, God expects us to make our way in life using our intellects, skills, and abilities the best we can. If we find we are having financial difficulties, there’s nothing wrong with giving over your finances into God’s hands and asking for his guidance, but I don’t think I would say that God wants to control our finances, or anything else in our lives. We are creatures with free will choice in all matters.

163:2.8 “Thus always it was and forever will be: Men must arrive at their own decisions. There is a certain range of the freedom of choice which mortals may exercise. The forces of the spiritual world will not coerce man; they allow him to go the way of his own choosing.”

I know many Godly people who are wealthy; I also know Godly people who just struggle by. Others have just enough, like you. And the same can be said for the un-Godly. Having money does not mean God’s favor, nor does being poor mean God’s displeasure. Money is a worldly thing, and everyone needs to have it to live in this world. It is the unhealthy love of money that can become trouble for us. You are right: it isn’t good for us to become materialistic; there’s nothing wrong with having financial abundance, but when we do have it, we are expected to handle it wisely, as in these teachings from Jesus:

“Riches have nothing directly to do with entrance into the kingdom of heaven , but the love of wealth does. The spiritual loyalties of the kingdom are incompatible with servility to materialistic mammon. Man may not share his supreme loyalty to a spiritual ideal with a material devotion.

163:2.10 “Jesus never taught that it was wrong to have wealth. He required only the twelve and the seventy to dedicate all of their worldly possessions to the common cause. Even then, he provided for the profitable liquidation of their property, as in the case of the Apostle Matthew. Jesus many times advised his well-to-do disciples as he taught the rich man of Rome. The Master regarded the wise investment of excess earnings as a legitimate form of insurance against future and unavoidable adversity.”

And what would Jesus do with money? Here’s the beginning of a long discourse where Jesus taught that rich man of Rome about money.

132:5.1 A certain rich man, a Roman citizen and a Stoic, became greatly interested in Jesus’ teaching, having been introduced by Angamon. After many intimate conferences this wealthy citizen asked Jesus what he would do with wealth if he had it, and Jesus answered him: “I would bestow material wealth for the enhancement of material life, even as I would minister knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual service for the enrichment of the intellectual life, the ennoblement of the social life, and the advancement of the spiritual life. I would administer material wealth as a wise and effective trustee of the resources of one generation for the benefit and ennoblement of the next and succeeding generations.”

Click to read the complete story of how Jesus Counsels the Rich Man

It could be that you are just at the beginning of what God has in store for you. If you have had financial difficulties in the past, and he’s brought you through it, it could be that you’ll benefit from handling what you do have with great care and responsibility. If you are faithful in small things, maybe you’ll be given even greater things to take care of in the future. In any event, it’s always a good idea to include God in all of our lives – even the financial – and thank him always for his blessings. In the matter of money, as in all of the matters of life, it’s good to involve God. It’s good to trust him to always provide you with what you need; at the same time, it’s good to do what is needed by way of honest work to ensure you have enough…maybe even extra in time.

I don’t think it’s necessary to be poor or just struggling by to be a holy and purposeful child of God.