May 19
Mysteries
When we lived in a climate where I couldn’t exercise outdoors year round, and I was a member of a health club, I used to catch myself circling the parking lot looking for a parking place close to the door. Why would I do that? I mean, if I’m about to go inside and get on a treadmill for 45 minutes, why not just walk across the parking lot too? There are some things in life that confuse me. Like why do we cultivate, irrigate and fertilize a lawn to make it grow, just so we can mow it twice a week to keep it short? Or worse yet, why can’t I get grass to grow in my lawn, but it flourishes in the cracks of my sidewalk?
There are just some things, that are hard to explain. Like why a preacher would talk about the evils of money, then take up a collection for his church. If money is so evil, why does he want it so bad?
It isn’t that money is evil, it is that if we don’t handle it correctly it can lead to all kinds of evil. The truth is, money is necessary. Without it, we couldn’t make our rent, our car payment or put groceries on the table. The church needs it too. It has mortgage payments, personnel costs, and other expenses to do ministry and be on mission. Money is necessary.
Yes, money is necessary, but other things are important. Family is important. Serving God is important. People are important.
The problem is we often forget that money is necessary and start to believe it is important. In other words, it is easy for money to become the goal instead of the means to a goal. And when it does, we start loving money and using people instead of using money and loving people.
It is all a matter of priority and perspective.
One more thing I don’t understand and would love for someone to explain it to me. Why do people buy a snickers bar and a diet coke at the same time?
Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).
Comments