Ahh, the subject of money.
Hey we all need money to survive. Currently my husband looking for a job, so I fully comprehend that money is a necessity in life. Being wealthy is not a bad thing, it can a blessing from God.
Money can be a blessing to you and others around, or it can be an idol that takes you away from God.
Today I read Ecclesiastes 5:8-20.
How is your wealth used? Are you blessing the poor? Or are you oppressing the poor? Are you helping to enforce laws and justice, or are you twisting it for your personal gain?
Money can also be a curse, if you love it too much. It can be an obsession, where you never have enough. Money can attract new “friends” that help you spend it. Wealth can slip through your fingers. Once it is gone, your fake friends are gone too.
If you work hard, you sleep well at night. Otherwise, the rich can be losing sleep over the money they have and thinking about how to get more money.
Hoarding money can be a problem too. When your money is put into risky investments and everything is lost. There is nothing to pass down to your children. All your hard work has nothing to show for it. The verse, “All their hard work is for nothing—like working for the wind. Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud—frustrated, discouraged, and angry.” stood out.
It is a blessing to be happy with where you are in life. Be thankful for your health. Spend time with family and friends, laugh, have fun and sleep well at night. There is no time to dwell on the past, because you are too busy having fun in the present.
Live each day being thankful for what God has given you.
The Futility of Wealth
Don’t be surprised if you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful and if justice is being miscarried throughout the land. For every official is under orders from higher up, and matters of justice get lost in red tape and bureaucracy. Even the king milks the land for his own profit!
Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!
People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.
There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver. Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children. We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us.
And this, too, is a very serious problem. People leave this world no better off than when they came. All their hard work is for nothing—like working for the wind. Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud—frustrated, discouraged, and angry.
Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past.
—Ecclesiastes 5:8-20 (NLT)
Embrace This Beautiful Life 