The Glitter of Gold
By Shauna Leis
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
Matthew 6:19-21, 24
God recently blessed us with the opportunity to take an awesome family vacation to Florida and visit the local theme parks. He even blessed us so much that we were able to save our money ahead of time and pay for the entire vacation before we even left our state. We had such a great time and so enjoyed spending time together, including some of our extended family that was able to join us. Our children really enjoyed the rides in the theme parks and water parks, but mostly they loved getting to meet all of the characters that were dressed up throughout the many theme parks.
And, while the entire vacation was such a tremendous success that we are all still talking about it, there was one very strategic thing about the trip that still bothers me. After every single ride at the theme parks, and even some of the water parks, the only way to exit the ride was to walk through a gift shop full of themed toys, shirts, swords, and more. The first couple of rides we completed were full of “Oh, how cute – they made everything to match.” And then, as the days wore on, we realized that we were in for a real struggle with our children to explain to them that each time we exited a ride, we were not going to be purchasing the themed gifts. Toward the end of the vacation, we were practically running through the store, covering our kids’ eyes, and saying, “Just do not even look as we walk through.” The glitter of gold, gems, etc. were just an overwhelming pull for our children. Even the ride employees were joking how ridiculous it was that people were forced to go through the shops just to get off the ride.
Precious friend, oh, how we have to be so careful to guard ourselves against the same thoughts and patterns to develop in our own lives as that in these theme parks. We can become so desensitized to the material stuff around us that we just keep searching for more and more and more. We are never satisfied with what we have already. We need bigger houses, more furniture, expensive cars, the latest fashion clothing, toys, bigger vacations, and the list goes on.
Paul warned the early Christians about just such an attitude, too, so please do not think that this is a new development. Humans have this natural instinct to always want what is on the other side, what the other half has. However, in 1 Timothy 6:6-10, Paul reminds the early Christians what life was intended to be like when following Christ. “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 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.”
Now, notice that Paul does not say that money in and of itself is the root of many evils. There are many very wealthy people who love God and do so much good with their money. What Paul says is that the “love of money” is the root of many evils. When our love of money surpasses our love of God, we are in serious trouble and tend to make very poor decisions concerning our wealth and possessions.
The first part of the verses is the key to understanding what God expects of us, “godliness with contentment.” During my work day, I was cleaning out one of my “spam” folders and just happened to take a look at the titles of the e-mails targeted for deletion. Out of the 10 e-mails in the folder, 6 of them were focused on getting out of debt. That has to tell us something, dear one! We Americans, especially, are living way beyond our means, instead of being content with what we already have or can truly afford. If we were content with what we already have, we would not be in the credit card debt, bankruptcy, and mortgage default situations that plague so many people each day.
God desires us to be completely dependent on Him, whether with vast wealth or our last dollar. No matter what the circumstance, we are to trust Him and give generously to Him. I can tell you directly from experience that you cannot out-give God, even when it means giving Him everything! What about you? Will you trust Him today to supply all of your needs? He will never let you down.
Pray with me: DearGod, oh how we have misused what You have blessed us with in our lives. You have given us so much, and we have just continued to long for more and more. We have not been content and have let greed creep into our soul and convince us that money is more important than loving and worshipping You. God, cleanse our hearts, minds, and souls to be solely focused on loving You. Only then, we will be truly content in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in today.
We know that we have been blessed beyond measure. Teach us how to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven instead of here on earth. God, we want to be completely dependent on You to supply all of our needs. God, we love You so very much and pray all of this in the precious name of Your Son, Jesus Christ! Amen!