For the Love of Money!

A man once worked hard all his life. He toiled with sweat as he slowly accumulated that hard earned money and land. He had married the love of his life and had several beautiful children. He continued to work hard to provide not only shelter, but food and all the many extra luxuries they all enjoyed. As the years passed by, he became older and could no longer live alone. His children that he once spent years lavishing upon, stripped him of all his money and possessions, and only allow him to have less than $50 a month for him to use freely.

Another story is of a very wealthy man. He owned a lot of land and had several people that worked for him. He was known as a so called "Christian", but was cruel to his workers and made sure that they felt less than he. After working for years for this man, a worker quit and said, "If he is a Christian, then I never want to be one."

Greed! It consumes, it destroys, and it is not of God. It is a root that takes over those who allow it to deeply penetrate their heart, until they want more and more and do not care who stands in their way. It divides families as people no longer care about the welfare of others, but believe they alone should be in charge of it all.

Matthew 19:24 says, "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Why is that? If a person has money, they should be so thankful to God for providing for everything they need, want, and more. They should be giving some away to help all those less fortunate around them, and they should be content and happy, for they want for nothing! That is exactly the reason why! If you have everything you want, you are not in need of God! Men pride themselves on being the provider. The more they earn, the more they feel like they alone have earned it and no one else "deserves" their wealth. They begin to keep it all for themselves and start to think that since they have used their blood, sweat, and tears to earn this money, no one else is worthy of a penny of it. This reminds me of a family where the father worked and the mother stayed at home with their young children. He worked hard for their money and in his mind felt like she was doing nothing to contribute to their wealth. He decided she should have an "allowance" and only get a small part of what he makes. Even though she was taking care of his children, his home, she was still not worthy enough in his eyes to be equal.

As I watch all the celebrities on tv that make all these millions of dollars, I have yet to see a truly happy person. The news is constantly filled with divorce and how they will divide their fortunes. Even the richest of rich struggle with finances and sometimes find themselves bankrupt, alone, and even suicidal at times. The love of money and pressure of failure consumes those that can't reach that "America Dream".

Let us remember that someday we will stand before God. We can put all the money of this world that we have earned in our beautiful golden coffin, and that is where it will stay. The home, the cars, the trinkets that we hold dear will not be in lovely Walmart gift bags next to us as we stand before His throne. We will be all alone, as our lives, our past, and our future lay before God. In those moments, will God praise you for your love of others, admire you for your selfless sacrifices, or will he condemn you for having a greedy heart that ignored the widows, looked past the poor, and kept their life only to themselves.

May God forgive each of us for our selfishness, and may we always remember that things of this world pass away. It is only earthly, paper money and cannot be used to purchase one of those mansions in heaven.


1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.