Sunday, December 29, 2013

My Book Review: "The Blessed Life" by Robert Morris



“The Blessed Life” by Robert Morris is quite a gem of a book and I would highly recommend this fine piece of reading to anyone within earshot. Aside from the central message of the book, which speaks about following good stewardship with our dollars and cents, I felt Morris did an excellent job with the flow of the book. The first part of the book eloquently conveys the biblical principle and importance of first fruits giving, and then transitions smoothly into what that example looks like for a modern day household, and finishes with what a lifetime of biblically based financial stewardship looks like over the long term.

I especially liked Morris’ message that highlighted and gave an overview with bullet points about those with the gift of giving. He goes into why accumulators of wealth that prioritize giving do a complete evaluation and thorough inspection of the projects and missions that they give to. Morris also addressed and challenged the viewpoint of seeing wealth as evil, and challenges the reader to see wealth instead as a tool that can be used to further the kingdom of God on Earth.

On a personal level I have been debt free for 5 years and within the last year have just begun to spread my wings financially speaking by doing a little more investing, spending and giving than in years past. And though I take a rough and tumble type of attitude when it comes to Christians/the secular world that calls for poverty and views wealth as evil, I found Morris’ book to be an unbelievable breath of fresh air. In my point of view, “The Blessed Life,” is a great foundation and the type of book that I am going to seek out to read more and more in 2014 and beyond. I really feel that it provides the spiritual guidance and angel in the ear type of advice that I need reinforced as my wife and I help build God’s resources during our time on this Earth.

His countless stories in the book about being in tune to where God wants to direct His resources were remarkable to me and have given me confidence to continue on in our financial journey. In all honesty, at least in concept, the early stages of Dave Ramsey’s baby steps were easy. At least for me they were simple: Buckle down, live on less than you make, work like a madman, budget, trim the financial fat and get the hell out of debt. On the other side of that though is where I’ve found myself at and snowballing into more and more year after year. And that’s the steady investing, increased lifestyle and increase in prioritized and spontaneous giving. It’s in these latter places where I have felt a bit insecure. How much is enough? How nice is too nice? Am I really capable of being the good steward that God needs when we have several million dollars in our accounts decades down the line?

It’s definitely going to take a ton of prayer, working together with my better half to be in tune with where God wants His resources to go, but books like this are definitely a great starting ground as my wife and I move towards baby step 7, building wealth and giving a bunch of it away.



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