The good life is a gift from our generous father.
It is meant to be both abundant life now and eternal life throughout the eternity.
The children of the wealthy God know beyond any shadow of doubt that their God is a giver and because of this knowledge, they are also becoming givers.
—WHAT MOTIVATES YOU? FEAR OR LOVE?—
Consider the truth of the parable of the talents which is found in Mathew 25:14-28
In Matthew 25:16-18 Jesus says the first two servants correctly perceive their master to be a rich and trusting provider and Because of their perception, they prove to be faithful stewards of that which he gives them.
They are confident their master is a good, generous, loving lord.
They perceive him to be a giver not a taker.
The steward with one talent perceives (believes in his heart) that his master is a harsh, greedy, and unjust man (Matthew 25:24).
However, the Bible plainly states that the master in this parable is a good and generous lord. However, the misinformed, one-talent servant perceives himself to be the slave of a hard, unjust and self-serving master.
Out of fear, this steward hides his lord's money.
Understanding his master to be greedy, this slave selfishly holds on to everything he gets his hands on.
The poor slave never learned the divine truth that there can be no harvest unless something is sown.
Neither can there be any increase until something is released!
The misinformed servant never realized that the money his master placed in his hand was not his harvest; it was merely his seed!
2 Cor 9:10
New Living Translation
For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.
Prov 11:24-26 (NIV)
24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
25 A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
26 People curse the one who hoards grain, but they pray God’s blessing on the one who is willing to sell.
You will have the god you perceive.
If you perceive God's program to be overrun with need, you will feel the necessity to give only where the need is the greatest.
Not only that, but your perception of God dictates how you manage money.
If you perceive your god to be constantly in need, you will tend to be over cautious, releasing no more of your meager assets than absolutely necessary.