Thursday 26th October
If I said that my father was a very successful man, I guess most people would think along the lines of money or business. If there is one thing that the majority of people use as an indicator of success or value more than any other it is money and possessions.
I use to work for a bank, and one of the jobs that I enjoyed there was reception. When I wasn’t busy, I liked to sit at that desk and observe people. That particular branch was in an area of great financial variance. Some customers were millionaires, others in severe poverty. One of the things that I noticed was that you could never tell how wealthy a person was by the way they walked, dressed, spoke, acted, treated others, their education, knowledge, motivation, how happy or fulfilled they were or not. The only way to tell a person’s wealth was to check their account.
Isn’t it strange that so many people think money/possessions are the ultimate value check and yet they seem to make little difference to who we actually are.
I don’t think God has a problem with people having money, but God is very interested in our attitude towards it. If we think that having a nice house, big car, healthy bank balance makes us valuable or that we have more to offer than others, then God is concerned.
Having money and lots of things does not mean that God loves us more or that we are more useful to him. They are not, necessarily, a sign of God’s blessing; money doesn’t always make people happier or their lives more fulfilled.
We should treat such things the same way as Paul, who wrote in Philippians 4:12.
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. | 