Salary... a Means or an End?

Good day steemians, so good to be here again after a short semester examination.

Today I want to write on the above Topic...

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I have often wondered at the amount of joy and celebration that erupts anytime someone gets a new job.

Having a source of steady income and mark my word, STEADY INCOME is indeed a blessing from God. Simply knowing that there is the surety of something coming in to your pocket at the end of the month is indeed a situation to be desired. If you doubt me, ask the countless people without one.

Several get jobs with a fat pay and yet i wonder why before the end of the month they suddenly become broke. Interesting to note is that those who go broke before the month end is not only found among the lower cadre but also senior staff. I have seen senior executives who are already taking IOUs from junior staff or their superiors just to make ends meet. I remember when I first began to earn a salary, the anticipation I had once pay day was fast approaching. My colleagues and I were constantly sending chats across our computer systems to know if the "EAGLE" as we called it then had landed! If for whatever reason, it delayed beyond a day; our eyes were automatically getting red.

It was as if, failure to get paid meant our sudden doom! Now, I do not encourage employers who fail to pay their employees for work done, but this is my point. Looking back after several years, I have asked myself and my colleagues in those days act as if our source of supply is tied only to our salaries? Where is God's supply in all of these?

I have come to discover that what truly is the essence of my job? Is it just so that I can earn a salary or a pay bills? I doubt if it is for the purpose alone. Often times, we have developed a dangerous sit tight approach to our jobs. Our jobs and salary have slowly but effectively replaced w in meeting our needs.
< The scripture, 'my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory...' Has suddenly been replaced by a new phrase 'and my salary shall supply my needs according to the riches of my employer. We have suddenly forgotten that it is only God that can actually supply our needs and not some of them.

This dangerous trust and reliance in our salary beyond the almighty as the only means of meeting our needs has caused a lot of issues and portends some more problems if not well checked. Let's look at some of then.

Results of relying totally on your salary
(1) It could stifle initiative and the pursuit of ideas and dreams: Many feel that if they are not paid their salary, they cannot survive and execute different ideas and projects they passion for.

(2)It also makes people become who they hate to be: Several people have decided to follow that popular yet wrong mantra of If you can't beat them, you join them' just so that their allowances are not cut or promotion (which promises a bigger pay) is not denied them, which is not supposed to be.

(3)It creates an empire of fear in your heart: A research has shown that most people become hypertensive once they lose their jobs. Many wail and cry. It's not because they love the job so much but they have limited Gods provision to their salary alone. Their salary has suddenly become a little god than they are scared would crucify them should they try to kiss it good bye.

(4)Salary has suddenly become a demi-god that controls how we think, how we respond and even how we perceive God: We quietly stay through our actions that God might fail to show up but our employers are more trustworthy in meeting our need. How sad.

No doubt, it is part of Gods provision for us to be employed and receive a salary and other allowances. However, God desires more than that! He expects us to still look up to him for meeting the needs in other areas of our lives.

Business and investment writers have expounded the theory that to be comfortable, you need more than one source of income. Quite valid and I really agree. My grouse with most employees is that we have seen our salaries as the only authentic source and God as secondary.

If you doubt this, take a pen and paper; write all you have spent in the last month compare them with your income. It is likely you would discover that your expenses far exceeded your salary. How is that possible? Gods' provision in action! I like to call it provision in unlikely places. Money from the mouth of a fish, water from the rock, an anointed prophet fed by a widow, meat from ravens and 5000 adults fed through a young boy. A teenager I guess.

My question, has God suddenly become so unable to supply ALL our needs? Has he who spared us his only SON suddenly become unable to be our provider and not our salaries alone?

The beauty of trusting God for our supply i.e payment of our bills is that we end up having excess. God's desire is that even when we have a bill to pay, we look up to him asking him by faith to meet the need via our salaries and sometimes he could chose to meet it via a friend, a relative or another business investment that seems not yo have been working! From experience and through study I have discovered that we serve a limitless God, who can provide for any needs through a million and one ways. He could decide to reduce your monthly bills by ensuring your kids don't fall sick, meaning no expense is incurred in drugs and hospital.

We are at a stage in Earth where economic permutations no longer make sense in how to make ends meet. The almighty God would have us look into him for sustenance, especially for the days ahead. I am persuaded that no matter how tight your financial circumstance is, our God is able to turn the tides in your favor.