Money is not Evil

 

Ecclesiastic 5:10-20

 

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.   When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?   Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand.   As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.  This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?   Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.   Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.   For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

 

Once more we come to understand that there is not much new under the sun, the love of money and the desire for wealth, has been since the fall of man by going against God’s Commands.  Wealth is a hard taskmaster, it is never satisfied, always craving for more.  We find this 1 Timothy 6:10,  ^“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”  Money is not evil, only the love of it, for you cannot have two Masters, you love one, and end up hating the other.  The poorest laborer in the USA may at times go to bed hungry, but his sleep would not be because of his worrying about his many investments.

 

We also have witnessed how greed and thirst for more have led many a person to make foolish investments, and lose all their wealth.  I witnessed this in a family that lost all because a son talked the dad into a venture that his banker and others told him was too risky.  I witness the displaced anger he had for the ones who talked his son into the venture.

 

Be satisfied, with the blessing of God, observe His blessings in your life, and find the joy of where you are, with much or with little.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice