Thoughts on money
Ask any person – rich or poor – how much money they would need in order to make them happy, and the answer will always be the same: ‘A little more’.
Money will buy a bed but not sleep, books but not brains, food but not appetite, fine clothes but not beauty, medicine but not health, luxury but not culture, amusement but not happiness, a crucifix but not a saviour, a temple but not heaven. Naismith, 1200 Notes, Quotes and Anecdotes)
Martin Luther astutely observed, “There are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, mind and the purse.” Of these three, it may well be that we moderns find the conversion of the purse the most difficult.
Money has never yet made anyone rich. (Seneca)
All our pieces of gold are but current to the grave; none of them will pass in the future world. Therefore as merchants when they travel make over their monies here, to receive them by bills of exchange in another country; let us do good with our goods while we live, that when we die, by a blessed bill of exchange, we may receive them again in the Kingdom of heaven (Luke 16:9). To part with what we cannot keep, that we may get that we cannot lose, is a good bargain. Wealth can do us no good, unless it help us toward heaven. (Thomas Adams)
In many parts of the world and the church there is no such bondage to possessions as exists in Western Christendom…If you go to the African bush you will find a tremendous poverty combined with tremendous generosity. Good things are to be shared and celebrated when they turn up, not held on to. There is something wrong in the West with our whole attitude to money and giving. Money is like sea water. The more we have of it the thirstier we become. (Michael Green, To Corinth With Love, 99)
Their money held them in chains…chains which shackled their courage and choked their faith and hampered…their judgement and throttled their souls…They think of themselves as owners, whereas it is they rather who are owned, enslaved as they are to their own property, they are not the masters of their money but its slaves. (Cyprian)
A woman went into an electrical shop to buy a packet of fuses. The salesman seized his opportunity: “I wonder if I could interest you in any of the special offers that we have on just for today? There’s £25 off this television, £50 off that fridge, and £75 off that cooker over there. That’s a total of £150 savings on just these three items.” “I’m sorry,” said the customer, “but I really can’t afford to save that amount of money at this time.”
Bible commentator Matthew Henry, after being robbed, wrote in his diary the following: ‘Let me be thankful. First, because I was never robbed before. Second, because although they took my wallet, they did not take my life. Third, because although they took my all, it was not much. Fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.’
At the Sweet Haven Holy Church of God in Carrollton, Virginia, they’ve come up with a novel way of attracting people to come to church and give. Everyone who puts money into the collection plate receives a ticket with a number on it. At the end of the service there is a prize draw, and the person holding the lucky number is given $100 from the offering. It wasn’t reported what happens if the total offering coes to less than $100! (As reported in The Church of England Newspaper and adapted by Coupland, Spicing up your Speaking, 194)
At the age of 19 Michael Carroll, from Swaffham in Norfolk, won £9.7 million on the National Lottery. Within 18 months he had spend most of his winnings on houses, cars, jewellery, and drugs. In February 2010 he was declared bankrupt and in May he applied for his old job as a binman. When asked what he had learned from his experience, he replied, ‘Never trust anyone’.
Money is like sea-water: the more a man drinks, the more thirsty he becomes. (Anon)
The real measure of our wealth is how much we’d be worth if we lost all our money. (John Henry Jowett)
There are two ways in which a Christian may view his money – ‘How much of my money shall I use for God?’ or ‘How much of God’s money shall I use for myself?’ (W. Graham Scroggie)