Money does stupid and wacky things

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Money does stupid and wacky things

Hebrews 13:5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”

Psalms 119:35-40

 35 Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found.

 36 Give me an eagerness for your laws rather than a love for money!

 37 Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word.

 38 Reassure me of your promise, made to those who fear you.

 39 Help me abandon my shameful ways; for your regulations are good.

 40 I long to obey your commandments! Renew my life with your goodness.

One of the unexpected side effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic was an accumulation of large sums of money in the bank accounts of those people who kept their jobs and had nothing to spend it on. Apparently, money can be very much like highly energetic people. It prefers to be very active and involved rather than just lay around and gather interest. What would all this money do? “The money has nowhere to go so it’s doing stupid things” (Howard Lindzon). Money learned to do stupid tricks (Erin Griffith).

A buying frenzy erupted. In March 2021, a Tom Brady trading card sold for a record $1.3 million. A piece of digital artwork, by a previously almost unknown artist known as Beeple, sold it Christie’s for $69.3 million after bids started at just $100. Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, topped $1 trillion in value.

Of course, money learned or did nothing. Money is not alive and sentient. Rather, the people who possess it are the culprits. Bored, sheltered at home people finally burst out. Investment manias of all types, many unheard of, exploded. People’s hearts follow their treasures. But what do these people treasure the most?

Solomon had this worked out 3000 years ago. He provided great insight and wisdom for all to absorb and consider.

Ecclesiastes 5:10-15

 10 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!

 11 The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth – except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!

 12 People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.

 13 There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver.

 14 Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children.

 15 We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us.

REFLECT & PRAY

“Money in itself is neither good nor bad, but the love of it may lead to evil. With it, people may selfishly serve their own desires . . .. Money is not itself an evil, but it is a great responsibility. It has power for good and power for evil” (Barclay).

Father, help me to be wise with my priorities. Encourage me to treasure what You treasure. Help me to align my heart so that my greatest treasure is my love for You and Your precious Word.

INSIGHT

Treasuring money, wealth, and material things puts us at odds with the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ laid out an immutable principle. It informs all that we do.

Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

A remnant of children of the King has an obvious heartfelt love for the Word of God. This is the natural byproduct of having a heartfelt love and close intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

When our treasure is not in accord with what the Father wants us to treasure, how do we repurpose our hearts? Where does it all begin?

When a new child of the King asked this question, he was advised to spend time in the Word of God every day and pray that he would fall in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remarkably and wonderfully after several months, this began to happen.

Most all of us know what it is like to be in love with another person. Our heart leaps as we think of them. We can hardly wait to be with them. We often get emotional and tear up. Our overflowing joy cannot be contained.

What is it like to be in love, truly in love with the Lord Jesus Christ? Imagine the sheer joy and thrill. And wonder of wonders, every child of the King can fall in love with Him.

Have you ever considered or imagined what it would be like to have a passion and a heartfelt love for the Word of God itself? This is more than a desire for the pure milk or the delight of tasting and consuming it. It is so much more than that. It is the thrill, the sheer pleasure of being in love with the Father’s precious Word.

1 Peter 2:2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk . . .. Cry out for this nourishment,

Psalms 119:103 How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey.

Consider honey for a moment. Honey is marvelously manufactured solely by industrious honeybees from raw nectar. Besides its sweetness, it has many remarkable qualities, some of which have only been discovered by modern nutritionists. Honey contains an array of antioxidants and antibacterial and antifungal properties. Honey is healing and soothing. It boosts immunity to destructive elements present in the natural world.

The Word of God far exceeds honey in all of these areas and so much more.

We always have a choice as to what we treasure. But in other terms, we control our priorities. For now, it is best to reconsider our priorities and ask the Father to search our hearts to reveal our hidden sins lurking there. The downside is clearly spelled out.

1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true and with many sorrows.

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