I Love Money

I love money.

I do.

It might be hard to tell because I don’t have any. Well, not in terms Americans think of as “having money”. I have enough to keep a roof over my head, food on the table, a couple of cars on the road and cable TV. Saying that though, there are many money making ideas that we can all look into. Who would turn down earning more money? I wouldn’t! In many countries, that would be considered pretty darn wealthy but in terms American’s understand, my assets are not a blip on anyone’s radar.

Still, I love money and I’m always looking at new ways to make money, on websites like Stocktrades.

God knows this about me. He notices me avoiding the scripture passages on giving. He feels my fingers grip the currency as I reluctantly release it into the offering plate at church. My heart is an open book to Him so He sees my envy when He prospers others financially. He is well aware of my struggle to become a “cheerful” giver.

It’s easy to hide my love of money because I don’t love stuff. I really don’t care what make of car I drive as long as it starts every time I get in to go. I hate to shop. I’m happy with second-hand clothing, furniture and books and I’m a happy renter. I see little need to get my hair or nails “done” and I’m not striving for “stylish”. My cell phone is a “hand-me-down” from my son to my daughter to me. I think camping is the perfect vacation and luxury, to me, is having the time to write and think and spend time with my family and has nothing to do with thread count.

OK, I suppose I would love a top of the line laptop but since I primarily use it as a glorified typewriter, there’s really no need to upgrade my Dell.

My husband is a giver. If we had only three dollars, he would give two to someone else (don’t ask me how I know this as a certainty). And the only reason he would keep the one is because he’d have to face me.

If I won a lot of money (which only happens if you play games where money is the prize), I’m not sure it would change much of my outward life. I can’t imagine that I would suddenly be taken with cool stuff (though, I would order that laptop) or develop a physical need for a higher thread count at night. So, if I don’t love stuff than why do I love money?

If I had money, I would spend it all right. I would spend my money to buy security, independence and the freedom to choose my direction in life. I would try not to get into any debt but if I did, I would check out National Debt Relief reviews to learn about the options I had to get myself out of debt. I’ve got lots of supporting family around me too so I know they’d help me out if I needed it.

And that is probably why I don’t have any.

Because God loves me. He sees my stingy heart and He knows what I would spend my riches to buy.

Knowing what is best for me, He believes I should give up my love of money. He won’t give up on me in this and, through the work of His Spirit; I’ve made some progress through the years.

He wants me to find my security in His willingness to provide for me. He wants me to find independence by total dependence on Him. And He has the power to take me in the right direction for my life with or without a flush bank account. If I had money and trusted money to do all this, it would diminish my relationship with Him and interfere with His work in my soul. I would be tempted to stay on the surface of God and not go deeper.

But, there’s still a lot of work to do in my heart. Even as I write this, I hope that eventually I make so much progress that He decides to give me tons of money. But, that’s playing God like He’s just another lottery and that’s not cool at all.

Yesterday, I was reading the story in Mark 14 about the woman with the alabaster jar. See, it was Passover and Jesus was having dinner at Simon the Leper’s house. And for the first time, I was thinking about how Jesus must have been looking at all the lambs for sale – all these lambs that were about to be sacrificed. I mean, they had to be all over Jerusalem – everywhere He turned He would see Passover Lambs. This had to be at work in His heart knowing what was about to come. I mean, there wouldn’t have been any escaping the sight and sounds of those innocent lambs awaiting their deaths.

And so then this woman comes in to Simon’s house and pours out this expensive jar of perfume over his head. And some of the people present get all annoyed and natter on about how the perfume was worth one year’s wages and how it would have been better spent on the poor and they yell at her for the waste.

But Jesus has been thinking all day about what is about to come – surrounded by lambs – and He knows He has just been prepared for His burial. And He knows this woman doesn’t care about money – she cares about Him. And He knows the people complaining don’t give two figs about the poor, they just love money.

And I know I want to be like the woman with the alabaster jar. So I’ll keep trying. And as my love for Jesus grows, I will love money less and that will be the day I know true security, independence and freedom.

The writer of Hebrews 13:5 exhorts us to “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Keep your lives free – not from money but from the LOVE of money.

In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye implores God asking “Would it spoil some vast eternal plan if I were a wealthy man?”

Yes. Yes, for some of us, it would.