When To Break The Bank

There is an interesting observation in Ecclesiastes 5:13-15:

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt. When those riches were lost through a bad investment and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing to support him. As he had come naked from his mother's womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand.

Most of the finical advice you hear from Solomon revolves around hard work, saving, and being wise in what you spend (Proverbs 10:4-5,13:22,20:13, 21-20). Yet here he talks about the tragedy of wealth unused. His point is simple; money isn’t for having it, it is for using it. We think of it as the ultimate safety net but it isn’t. Inflation can eat it away, markets can collapse and we can pass away.

Years ago, a lady approached an elder in the church and told him she was planning to leave a large part of her sizable estate to the church. He told her that he was grateful, she would be better off doing it before that because after she died it wasn’t going to be hers to give away. He was right. By the time the lawyers and family had their say very little made it to the church.

Saving up for a ‘rainy’ day is wise but hoarding what we have isn’t. As Jesus said "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings”(Luke 16:9). We should use what we have to do good not just to keep ourselves feeling secure. Money makes an excellent servant but a terrible master. When it controls us instead of us controlling it, we have an issue.

Money isn’t always valuable. Sometimes it’s keeping us away from what is.

Comments

The Gift You Give Yourself

I always hated buying gifts for my Mom. If I got her something like a new set of pans, it was like saying “Here’s something you can use to go make me something to eat”. A gift for her was seemingly a gift for me. There are however gifts you give that benefit you more than the receiver. For example, forgiveness. When you give it, you are giving it to yourself as much as you are giving it to them. Jesus said that when we forgive others it means God is forgiving us our wrongs (Matthew 6:14-15). I once read: “ Heaven is where everyone's forgiven. Hell is where nobody's forgiven. So, when we forgive we pull heaven down into our lives. When we withhold forgiveness, we pull hell up into our lives ” Give yourself something nice today, Forgive.

Desire

Is it wrong to want something? I guess it depends on what we want. The Greek language had a word ‘ orego ’ that meant “to stretch oneself out in order to touch or grasp something, often used metaphorically to denote a strong desire or aspiration for something”. Paul uses this word in 1st Timothy as a good thing (to be an elder 3:1) and a bad thing (longing for money 6:10). Our desires oftentimes define who we are. They motivate us to action. They are the focus of our minds and actions. And they can be both good and bad. Sometimes we want something better and we run over people to get it. Sometimes, we want something better so we will strive to improve ourselves. Sometimes we see people with nothing they want and we envy them. Other people will see with no desire and we pity them. We need to desire good things. Be willing to work to get them. Care enough to try. We need to not desire bad things. Be willing to forgo o...

Until Midnight

In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back. I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...

Ecclesiastes 12:10

Search This Blog