Oct 22nd, 2022: The Love of Money

Many years ago, a businessman I know had the following mantra: "Banks are not your friends". He was serious about it. His banks did not cut him any slacks when his business experienced significant challenges.I guess it is rather tricky to make friends when it comes to pure profits.

Money itself is not a problem. The love of money is, as Scripture puts it. What is the appearance love of money?

A) The idea of being rich in a hurry. I have seen young business folks get into this trap by making unwise decisions about their business. The inability to have a healthy bottom line opens the door to increasing pressure from their banks.

B) Maybe we should scrap the whole credit card idea altogether. It is not uncommon to see people living beyond their means as they fail to read the small prints from their bank credit card applications. A new form of slavery has emerged, and they are now working for their banks' bottom lines.

C) Pride and pretension are also traps many people have fallen into. Some cultures are seriously into this way of life. People don't want to be seen as falling behind. What they are left with is rather depressing. There is a constant complaint about not making enough money and discontentment.

D) God is absent, and priorities are compromised. It is not hard to know whether God is still in our life by examining our view of money. Our personal characters begin to reveal His absence, and our preoccupation confirms His irrelevance in our lives. Sin might sometimes have a glorious beginning, but it always ends up with a horrible outcome.

We might want to take time to think about how money has impacted our lives as we go through this challenging time economically. By the way, the best way to reduce the service fees for our credit cards is to control their usage. Freedom is knowing God's love defines who we are.

Proverbs 13: 11

"Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it."

Ecclesiastes 5: 10

"He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity."

Matthew 6: 19-21

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."