1. Honor the Lord with your wealth.
“The sad truth is, we honor ourselves with our money, and the Lord gets second best if he is lucky. But wisdom changes us. Wisdom is saying, ‘Make the Lord famous and prominent by means of your wealth. Use your money to increase his prestige in your world.’” —Ray Ortlund
“God will bless you with an increase of that which is for use, not for show, for giving away, not for hoarding. Those who do good with what they have shall have more to do more good with.” —Matthew Henry
2. Do not despise the Lord’s discipline.
“If you are in Christ and you are suffering, God does not hate you. If he did, he would not bother with you. The truth you need to know is this: You are a person of destiny, your greatness has already been won for you by Christ at his cross, and now God is getting you ready with some finishing touches, each one a masterstroke. If you could remove suffering not only from your own life but also from the whole world, you would not improve it. You would rob yourself of significance. You would create a world without the love of God. It would be a world where Jesus himself could not suffer and die for your or anyone’s sins.” —Ray Ortlund