Nov
28
Money talks! Or so it would seem. It tells us where to go, what to buy, what to eat. It tells us when to get up, when we can go to bed, where we will work, who our friends will be, or won’t be. It even decides for us which roads we take in our life’s pursuits. True, it doesn’t have to be so. We do have a choice. We can choose all these things - even which path we’ll take. But money’s persuasive voice more often than not dictates the end results.
“Money can’t buy happiness,” we blithely parrot. “The best things in life are free.” But let’s be honest with ourselves. Money does effect what we do; When we are depressed, lonely, feeling unloved, or we simply have the proverbial Monday Blues - we buy something - to give ourselves a pick-me-up. When we celebrate, or when we feel frustrated - we buy something. When we think there must be more to life - and decide we’re going to do something about it - we buy something; We treat ourselves at a fancy restaurant, buy a new car, new clothes, take a trip. You name it -we buy it!
If it so happens that we don’t have the money for such steps to appeasement, that’s no problem. We simply charge it. We have to provide more money to pay the bills. though. So on the heels of that comes the need to change jobs - or of our getting a second one. The neccesity for money drives us on like herded cattle.
The hot pursuit down the road to more material things, however, is heading us straight into the ever enlarging debt-bed (if it sounds like death-bed, it’s intended!) Tragic as it is, though, that’s the way it is. We buy our way along in pursuit of life. What we call life, that is. It’s more than a little hectic, but any other way other than this super highway to our “debt-bed” could not possibly be better. Could it? Look at how many are going the same way. We all know, do we not, the future is to those who know and get “where the action is.” Yet, is it the right way? Have you noticed that there are a few folk who seem to have taken time to evaluate the meaning of life? They seem to be going an entirely different path. True, it’s a narrow path where the traveling is sometimes slower and money and spending hold a lower place on their list of priorities. The way they travel has no connection whatsoever to your super highway. But are they missing out - or do they know something we don’t?
Have you ever been curious enough to ask yourself that question? Or, have you ever become tired enough of your own “rat race” to think about what they are doing differently? THINK! That very thought ofcourse may rattle your insides a bit. It also most likely will cause all kinds of emotions to flare in your fellow travelers. You may notice that even your slowing down to THINK gets in their way. You may hear them say things like, “What do you mean, you can’t afford to party with us?” Or perhaps they will remark wryly, “You’re still driving that old thing?”
You’ll find out, though, you don’t have to even bother to respond. Because, most likely if they slowed down enough to hear your respons it would require them to THINK!
Let’s take a closer look. Why would anyone want to leave the fast lane to follow a narrow one that requires care and discipline? Could it be that the few who make this major choice follow an entirely different road map? Perhaps, it is one that has been laid out for those chosen to receive a less immediate, but “Higher reward?” Could it also be that these folk have captured the essence of a joy that comes from obeying some long established law on “blessings or curses?”
Curses! Yes, curses. Let’s for a minute consider the cost of our fast lane travels. There is a cost, ofcourse. It is quite evident when you think about it. THINK! Yes, we must think. While taking our fast lane to “debt-bed” it is required of each traveler to automatically place a “dollar value” on everything. Did you get that? Situations, people, relationships, things - they all carry a dollar value. They all can be bought. Or, so we think.
Yet, there is another somewhat hidden cost which so often is overlooked. To see it we would have to get out of our “me’ism” mode and become aware of those around us. When we do, we will discover, the cost we so often overlook is the highest cost of all. But it is hidden in time - in the hearts and futures of those that we claim to hold dear.
Whether or not we want to acknowledge it, there are curses. The fast lane carries a toll. And it is a heavy toll that will get paid one way or another. Wars are fought. Lives are lost. A marriage disolves. Family ties are broken. Health is destroyed. A good name is ruined. But to those who keep racing down the fast lane, these things only represent certain dollar values.
And it is true, there is a dollar value. But the toll is also paid by more than just money. As the late President Eisenhower described, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children … This is not a way of life in any true sense (Dwight D. Eisenhower, speech, American Society of Newspaper Editgors, April 16, 1953).
Money is spent. The toll is collected. The sorrows may come as a result of an all out war, or simply from “war” within our marriage, our family, or other relationships. Indeed, the fast lane carries a price tag.
So, where do we go from here? We see the curses. What about the blessings that some may be experiencing? And how do we change paths?
In the Bible, in Deuteronomy 28:1-3, 12-14, we read, “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shall thou be in the field … The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.”
Blessings! They are promised to those who obey God’s ways. But what if they we do not obey - what then? The answer is found farther down in the chapter. It would be wisdom to search them out. Because it is noteworthy: there are some twenty-eight verses, more than twice as many as many as those listing blessings, which describe the horrible calamities for disobedience.
What does this have to do with our race for money? Everything! God is highly interested in money and how we use it. A little review in the back of most study Bibles will verify that there are more verses relating to money than any other single subject. Well over 2,000 references to money, which is nearly 5 times that of the next most mentioned subject: faith.
You may be able to overcome every obstacle on the fast lane and get what you want. But remember the heavy toll: sorrows, divorce, ill health, law suits, bitterness, loss of finances, loss of children, suicide … the list goes on.
So why do so many choose this path?
“Everyone is doing it!” we say. Look at our government - our National Debt! We can blame it on our leaders, our banks that coerce us into borrowing, our parents who allowed it or taught us, on the fact that we NEED what we think we need - or, we can accept responsibility for where we are heading.
Although the National problem has a great bearing upon us, there is little we can do to make changes in it except through our voting process. We also can’t change what we personally have done in the past. But as Christians we can make a difference. You, and I, individually, can choose which path we will take. And we can choose to pay the price of sacrifice to change ourselves. Others may follow our example.
The famed scientist, Albert Einstein, once said, “I am absolutely convinced, that no wealth in the world can help humanity forward, even in the hands of the most devoted worker in this cause. The example of great and pure individuals is the only thing that can lead us to noble thoughts and deeds. Money only appeals to selfishness and irresistibly invites abuse.”
It is undeniably certain. There is a path that leads us on the heavy toll road of debt. And there is one that leads to financial freedom. It is up to us to decide on which we will travel. Which will you choose? Let’s choose the narrow road of discipline. Then buckle your seat belt!~ Get set for a ride of fulfillment as God directs our stops and turns! (excerpts from my Ebook, Road to Bondage … Or Freedom, Does Managing our MoneyMatters… Really Matter?
November 28, 2008
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