Much has been said and written about money. In fact, money consumes a great deal of our time. Our libraries, bookstores, newspapers and newscasts are saturated with information about money. How to save more, make more, invest wisely, retire early, pay for college and get a better paying job. We have Paypal, we wait for payday, and we use pay as you go phones. We can't escape this human obsession with money.
We all like to have it, it makes many things easier, and let's face it, it's fun to play with. We play the stock market, we play the slots, we play the lottery. Play, play, play! And then we buy stuff...we buy things and gadgets and stuff we don't need and then we sell the needless stuff to other people that don't need it on Craig's list or at a garage sale so we can get more money to buy more stuff! We envy others that have more money stuff than we do and I was recently informed by a 12 year old girl that the most popular girls always wear the most expensive stuff. We play with money, buy with money, pay with money, fight over money and complain about money. Liza Minnelli sang that Money makes the world go around, the Beatles taught us that Money can't buy us love, Madonna confessed to being a Material Girl, and who can forget Pink Floyd with the cash register "cha ching" written into the music? Brilliant!
One has to think with all the time we spend thinking, spending, paying, making, playing and singing about money that God would be a bit more understanding. Nope - it is pretty clear that the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil. Ouch! The root of a plant anchors the plant to the earth. It also collects the water and nutrients necessary for the plant growth. This is getting heavy.
Sounds to me that the issue is not with having and playing and singing about money, and maybe not even wanting to have more money. The issue is whether we can be completely embedded in a money culture and still love God more than anything that money can bring us. That's tough, maybe tough by design. After all, it wasn't easy for God to love us. He made the greatest sacrifice of all time to prove his love for us. Why shouldn't it be a little work for us to prove our love for Him?
We live in a world where God is no longer very popular. If you follow the wisdom of 12 year old girls, you may believe it is because those who follow him don't always wear the most expensive stuff. It could be because we just don't like anyone telling us what to do, and we certainly don't like being seen as offensive or radical doing that which we believe God would want us to do. How absurd!
God is constant - money is not. If you believe in your money and what it can provide for you, wait awhile. I guarantee at some point it will let you down. In fact, the more money we have, the more we worry about losing it. Strange isn't it? How different God is! The closer we get to God, the stronger our relationship becomes and the less we worry about everything - money included.
I had a lesson in this last week when we had a major sewer explosion at our rental property. All of a sudden the money that was being saved for our fun vacation went bye bye...right down that sewer pipe! When I felt myself starting to stress out about money and trust me, I DID, I realized that my hope is not in the value of the dollar. After all, to root myself in something that is that unpredictable is completely foolish. God didn't tell us not to love money to be a kill-joy, He did it because He knows how unstable and unfaithful the dollar is and that our roots need to be grounded solidly in the rock, not the dollar.
But what about popularity? Knowing that we will never achieve popularity while following a risen Savior I have developed a solution for you. Do you want to be so popular that your phone is ringing off the hook? Stop paying your car payment for a few months - you won't believe how popular you will be!
Did I say That?
To further support your idea about money, check out the April (?) edition of the Atlantic Monthly. There is a neat article in there about whether being wealthy makes one happy. You'd be surprised by the details of a recent survey (or maybe you wouldn't).
ReplyDeleteGood job. As always, it's been a pleasure reading your blog.
Thanks Tim! So glad you are a follower! For anyone who is interested, here is the article Tim told me about. Very interesting! http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/04/secret-fears-of-the-super-rich/8419/
ReplyDeleteGood Read Sally as always. Our sermon at church last week was similar. I once had a friend who told me that he ALWAYS had money problems until one day he decided to finally listen to what his Christian church had been suggesting to him for years. Tithe 15% of his earnings directly to the church. He knew there was no way on earth he could afford it, he wasnt even making it before. Well, he told me that once he started doing it, he NEVER again had to worry about money. I asked him how he paid his bills with the less money, he told me he doesnt really know, but it just all seemed to work out. Somehow, he has no money problems since he put his faith in god. He told me that he knows several others that have had the same experience, and I have also met a few others with similar stories. And yet, I hang on to my money still.
ReplyDeleteHi there Mike!
ReplyDeleteI have experienced the same. I had a dentist appointment today for a broken tooth. I feared i would need a crown and they are expensive! After all the unexpected bills I didn't think I could swing it this month. As it turned out, the dentist was able to replace the filling and fix the tooth. Not only that, but when I went to the front desk, they told me I had a credit on my account so it was only 7 dollars! I asked where the credit came from and they weren't sure. I am! :)
Thats really something. Its interesting to see how god works. He never really does what people expect. Give yourself totally to him and have TOTAL faith and he will provide. But those (like me I guess) who believe in him but still won't put their TOTAL trust in him, will not be taken care of by him to the same extent. People want to play it on both sides. Or "make deals" with God. He doesnt seem to work that way! The friend I spoke about on my prior post was truly a person of God. Even when he lost his job at Xerox after 30 years, he kept giving to the church and trusting. The last time I spoke with him God was still taking care of him financially. And, again, the amazing thing is that he cant explain how it works. It just happens. Like your dentist example. I hope I will be there some day. Thanks for your inspiring writings, keep it up!
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