Don’t love money
I’ve often said that the most valuable thing in the universe is the nature or character of God. But now, I want to venture to say that the second most valuable thing in the universe is money.
By ‘money’, I mean not only money but also everything that money can buy. So for example, this includes precious metals and precious stones, real estate, art, and so on.
From the Christian standpoint, to love money is to switch the values of the first and second most valuable things in the universe, and to live and make decisions as if money were the most valuable thing in the universe.
When you make this switch you end up doing all sorts of things that are distasteful in God’s eyes…
There are the obviously bad things like theft, fraud, larceny, and so on, but there are also the not so obvious things…
You might, for example, cheat on your income taxes by hiding some of your income from the government.
Or you might help others cheat on their taxes by paying them cash for services so that they don’t have to report that income, and in exchange you get a sweeter deal.
Or you might use a service that is not transferable for the benefit of others so that you can garner the goodwill of a friend at the expense of the service provider.
Or you might call a company that provides a service, and when they send a technician to your home you made a side deal with the technician so that both you and the technician benefit at the expense of the company.
Or you might take advantage of someone who is not adept at negotiating, or not in a good position to negotiate, and buy or sell something to them at a price that is very favorable to you.
Or you might withhold some critical negative information when selling something to another person.
Or you might waste your time at work and not give your employer his money’s worth of service.
Or you might make use of your employer’s resources for personal use that is beyond what is permitted.
In each case above, you are trading something of eternal value for something that is of temporal value. That is a losing trade. Rather, you should be doing just the opposite – so use the money you have to create eternal value in the kingdom of God. In doing so, you will make it clear that your heart belongs to God, for where your treasure is there is also where your heart will be.
Mt 6:21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
So then, earn as much as you can, and save as much as you can, so that you don’t have to depend on someone else in the day of trouble. But give no one a chance to rightfully say that didn’t earn your money honestly. It is no trouble for God to give you lots of money (like He did for Job and Abraham and Solomon), but He will only do that if your hand is not tainted, and if you have proven that you can use your wealth wisely.
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