Like many, we will be receiving a check from the government that is a tax rebate. This “economic stimulus package” is supposed to help us revive our economy. There is always the urge to look at this as “free money” and then decide how we will spend it. For many, it will go towards debt relief, another sign of how we live in this country.

John Piper adds another option for us as we live our comfortable lives and also gives us pause about where our hearts may reside:

But do we really need this money? Very few do. We would have gotten on fine without it. If we didn’t know it was coming, we wouldn’t even be feeling the desires we are feeling right now.

May I encourage you to be radically creative and hedonistic. Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). And those crazy Macedonians in a “severe test of affliction” and in “extreme poverty” had an “abundance of joy” that overflowed in a “wealth of generosity.” They even begged Paul “for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints” (2 Corinthians 8:2-4). They really believed what Jesus said. Really.

Before the check comes dream of some person or ministry which might make much of Christ because you treasured him above your next home project.

Read the whole thing. And then think again about how much God is your treasure.