Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers! [Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 (NLT)]

Bills, bills, bills! We all complain when we get them. We recently got our property tax bill which meant for a few groans. Instead of complaint, however, today I will choose to give thanks.

Thank you, Lord, for my tax bill. It means that I have a home, when many are homeless, and our community has schools, police and fire protection, a library and community center, garbage pick-up, good roads and beautiful parks. While I’m at it Lord, thank you for my electric and gas bills, for those mean I have lights and warmth. Thank you for my water bill because that means I have clean safe water to drink. Thank you for my insurance bills, for those tell me that I have possessions enough to insure. Thank you for my Blue Cross and doctor’s bills, as well; those mean I have medical care when many have none. Thank you for our cable bill because it means I have news, music and entertainment readily available. Thank you for my phone, wireless and internet bills. Those services mean I have all sorts of information at my fingertips and allow me to communicate with loved ones anytime and from any place. I look at my credit card bill and I am again thankful. Seeing the charges from the grocery, I give thanks that I’ve never gone hungry when many do. I look at the rest of our charges and see how we’ve purchased clothing, books and gifts, gone to movies and out to dinner, or taken trips while there are far too many who can barely make ends meet. Thank you, God, for all my bills; they are a way of reminding me of how truly blessed I am.

As I thank God for our financial blessings and the privilege of paying my bills, I remember another privilege he has given me: the privilege of supporting my church and various worthwhile charities. As much as I appreciate having shelter, food, clothing, communication and entertainment, they would mean nothing without God. So, today, as I write yet another check, I thank God for the privilege of financially supporting His work here on earth.

We can tell our values by looking at our checkbook stubs. [Gloria Steinem]

“Your money, or your life.” We know what to do when a burglar makes this demand of us, but not when God does. [From “The Second Neurotic’s Notebook’” by Mignon McLaughlin]

Don’t you realize that those who work in the temple get their meals from the offerings brought to the temple? And those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrificial offerings. In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it. [1 Corinthians 9:13-14 (NLT)]

Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need. [Proverbs 21:13 (NLT)]