Money — and our view of it, — touches every part of life, but it is our
attitude and use of it that says a lot about our character.
While we do indeed plan and work hard for what we earn, Deuteronomy 8:18 says
“It is God who gives the ability to produce wealth.” Just like the
next breath we take, or the next beat of our heart, life is a gift and so is the grace
and provisions God bestows upon us. These can change at anytime and our attitude
about both is important, as well as very revealing about who we are.
Some that have acquired great wealth live their lives without a single clue that God is the
One who is the provider or that He is even in the picture! It’s as though the
only thing that matters is how much money is in their bank account and how much more
they can buy or own. In their mind their money — and the power and status that it
gives them — defines who they are.
Does this mean that it’s wrong to work hard to become wealthy? Absolutely not!
God wants us to have money to meet our needs, even to over-flowing, but when the focus
turns into getting more and more, greed can set in. More often than not great wealth
hinders and not helps people’s characters.
Greed is the selfish, intense desire for anything, particularly money, status and wealth.
It puts self ahead of others and as Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve
two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal
to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (i.e. money).”
1 Timothy 6:9-10 also warns us that “Those who desire to be rich fall into
temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in
destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which
some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with
many sorrows.”
There is a simple prescription for avoiding the snare of greed and
it comes down to living life by the guidelines in the Bible which speak to us
about being good stewards of our money and unselfishly using it to help others.
While we CAN enjoy the fruit and blessings of our labor,
when you live by Godly principles, your character will be intact and approved
by God and you will not have the need to be approved by others by showing off how
wealthy you are. Perhaps best of all you will have peace inside of your life
about yourself and how you live it, not based on your EARNINGS STATEMENT but your
EARNEST STATEMENT.
What STATEMENT are you making in your life?
Like
