Odd thing about money according to the bible: you have to get rid of it to do you any good.
Ecclesiastes 5: 10-11 10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. 11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?
Today’s focus is on spending wisely. It’s important to note the emphasis is on spending, not having. Spending, not saving. Spending, not accumulating or pursuing or yearning for more but spending. It’s an important stipulation and one borne out in the passage for today.
I think we know just as it’s stated above that enough is never enough if we love money and wealth doesn’t satisfy no matter how much of it we accumulate. See, the only way to get satisfaction, to benefit, to be fulfilled in regard to money is to give it away, to spend it. That’s odd because you would think that having the thing we love would make us happy. You’d think that the more of it we had the better we would feel but the scripture says this is meaningless. Clearly the thing to do with money is to spend it, to get rid of it, but do it wisely.
If I have the money I can go buy new clothes, a new car, a new house, new electronics, in fact all kinds of new stuff. The problem is that other than using those new things and seeing them all around me my money has gone toward things that don’t love me back. The money has gone to goods, not “greats” and great things are what we’re all called to do. It is in the other “great” things that we have enough, in fact we are enough as children of God. The satisfaction of
turning our wealth into a benefit for others, of helping someone with less gives our lives meaning. It is what, in the eyes of our Lord, we are meant to do.
Why do we pursue money if it doesn’t provide satisfaction? How could you either give more of your money or more of your time, to benefit others? I’d love to hear your ideas.
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