Right Attitudes towards Money

UV 3436/10000 Right Attitudes towards Money
But those who are not financially ethical and crave to get rich with a compulsive, greedy longing for wealth fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction leading to personal misery.
I Timothy 6 v 9

Rust destroys iron, lust destroys men. Money is a basic necessity but to lust for it or to give it too much importance that it replaces the love of God in our hearts is destructive. The uni-verse warns us not to love money for it leads to many snares or traps, many foolish decisions and temptations. We are to be contented if we have food and clothing and shelter. The craving to get rich quick has led many into pitfalls from which they could not escape. The craving to get rich somehow has led many to commit crimes and end up in jail. Just yesterday, a group of such crooks, who promised loans to builder and after taking some advance cheques towards interest did not release the amount promised, were raided, arrested and remanded to jail.

The need to be financially ethical cannot be over emphasized. Greed and gullibility of people go hand in hand today, leading to economic frauds and white collar crimes growing exponentially. The Bible is all for patient and ethical capitalism. It implies that honest gains made through hard work, long years of waiting for an asset to increase in value, the right type of investments under guidance from the spirit of God cannot be faulted. While unethical financial dealings sooner or later leads to personal misery, honest gains of labour and wise decisions are enjoyed with thankfulness and generousity to the needy. Money is a good servant but a bad master. It should not be allowed to dominate our thinking. We should use it wisely to serve our needs and the needs of others the Lord brings in our way or brings to our hearts.

We need to realize that money will come and go but the Lord’s grace is what remains with us. His faithfulness will cause us to be blessed with either little or more. The widow of Zarephath ‘s small quantity of flour and oil were caused to multiply and fill many containers so that it would feed both the prophet Elijah, the widow and her son. When the son stopped breathing, it is the Lord who gave the prophet Elijah the faith and power to raise him from the dead. The Lord is able to provide for our every need, whether small or great. We only need to trust Him and rely on His promises. Our hearts and minds should be maintained with the purity of rolled gold before the examining eyes of the Lord.