OK, so if you read the last post from a day or so ago, you've had a bit of time to think about this thing called m-o-n-e-y - or what the Bible calls mammon. I don't need to tell you how important it is, do I??? Yet think about all the improper (bad?) ways people use to accumulate more and more of it: World Series games are planned so most of them occur on the weekend when ... more people can watch and ... more advertising can be sold; incentives at work are structured so that employees will be incentivized to work more; churches mis-treat God's view of money and giving so that they can raise more just to build more buildings, as if more buildings is what God wants to spread His message - check out Francis Chan's book "Letters to the Church" and website WeAreChurch.com. As I mentioned in the last post, this thing we call money is simply a medium of exchange in the marketplace ... a tool to facilitate commerce. It is far better than barter, which requires two parties each having what the other wants. Money, however, acts as an intermediary, with one party giving up product - say fruit ... or services such as repairing some type of vehicle ... or expertise such as contracting skills - for money, which can then be used to acquire more raw materials to make product or to acquire other things necessary for living, such as food or clothing or housing. But when acquiring money becomes the object, the goal, ah ... then it moves ever so stealthily from tool to god, from tool to idol. And for us here in one of - if not THE - richest countries on God's earth, it happens so easily because of all the earthly trinkets constantly in front of our eyes ... "stuff" so many other people seem to already have. And the desire to want more and more and more of it (read very carefully 1 Tim 6:9-10) so easily becomes a way of life, a goal, because there is never enough of it.
If you believe any of this - and not everyone will - how can you minimize this risk, this danger? Come with me on one of my house-building trips to Baja California where, in 4 days, we build a 20' by 22' single story home on a cement slab for a family who has been living in a "plastic" single room "house" with no windows, no electricity, no opening in the ceiling. Talk about a life-changing event when we hand over the keys to a (most often) mother with 2, 3,4 or more school-age kids that are on their own during the day while mom works in the fields. Or come with me to Nepal where many churches meet in small rooms with no chairs, just rugs on the floor. But oh, what a joy they have for life, living on a dollar or two a day and the pastor has a full-time job in addition to his pastoral duties. Do they wish for more? Absolutely - it is just human nature. Yet it is proof of how little we can live on, how little it takes to be content with what you have.
So ... my point in this post? We are approaching the holiday season here in the U.S.: Thanksgiving and Christmas ... times of gathering together, being thankful, of exchanging gifts. While meeting with family is important, maybe, just maybe God wants us to get outside of our little bubble and think about more than just our family and to think about how we can help others to be more thankful, how we can help others see the true meaning of Christmas ... and to use some of those hard-earned dollars as a tool to bless others.
Next time, we'll talk about some worthy causes that you might want to be a part of. Just to show you what can happen, I encourage you to watch the following message by Andy Stanley: go to Northpoint.org, click on "Watch" and scroll down (should be the second item) to Be Rich Celebration 2021 - I guarantee that you will be amazed at what can happen.