Things have been crazy lately. Found out my roommate left me
with a massive electric bill to pay after moving out of the apartment we split.
If you’re like me and live on your own, you know how tight money can be and how
easy it can be to fall behind. If not and you still live at home, let me make a
comparison. Let’s say you work at a dog
kennel. You make 7.75 an hour. You
really want a new pair of shoes. You have amazing taste and the shoes will cost
you $120.00. So work 20 hours a week after school cleaning and walking the dogs
to make roughly $ 145.00 after tax. But you have to pay back your mom for money
she lent you to go on a trip last weekend and she knows you got paid. So you skip the shoes and pay off your mom.
That’s the real world in a nut shell.
And this is the easy
part. One bill that’s it, now try FIVE! Even I have it simple. Most grown
people after the age of 27 have a house. That comes with a mortgage and
property taxes and school taxes. Then if they have kids, that’ even more
money. Try adding student loans, car
payments, paying to have your car worked on if it breaks down, fixing a problem
with the house, taking a kid to the E.R., being sick and having to take time
off work to get better….seems like Hell right?! So at this point you’re thinking
to yourself man I’m going to stay/move back in with mom and dad! Well let’s get
this straight, you’re on your way to growing up. Now it’s up to you to handle
these things. I learned this the hard
way.
But oddly enough as
I’m stressing out about this massive bill due, God led me to Ecclesiastes 2 : 1-11.
Solomon is talking about how everything is meaningless here. How he had lived life and became wise and
made money and bought all he could ever dream of and still wasn’t happy.
Have you ever seen MTV Cribs and thought “Man I’d kill for
money to blow like that!”? Well this guy
had it. The bible says he was the richest man in land, flock, slaves,
vine-yards and money in Jerusalem at that time. I have a teen bible and they
figured his income was over $200 million a year. DAAAAAAAANNNNNNGGGGGG! Solomon
even went as far as to say “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused
my heart no pleasure.” . Whatever he wanted he went out and got. But he still
wasn’t happy.
I mean if you’re honest with yourself and you think about
all that money, ask yourself, would you be happy in the end? Besides paying off
bills for life and giving your kids an inheritance, what is that much money
good for in the hands of one person? Over time would you drift away from your
family and friends? Would you let the money change who you are as a person? Did
you ever ask yourself this as you’re watching Cribs, are they happy? Most
celebs aren’t. They don’t look young enough, pretty enough, they aren’t dating
the right person. All the money they have and their relationships with people
don’t last over 6 months. Why? Simple, they put more value in material things
then the integrity of their fellow man. Money and greed walk hand in hand in
that world. It makes people very nasty and bitter.
Would you want that? People only looking at you as a bank
account rather than a person wouldn’t be a great way to live. Solomon saw this.
Even back then he saw what money did to people. It’s nothing compared to
today’s world.
So tonight as I head to bed, seeing as its 1:00 am right
now, I’m not going to pray for more money. Just that when the time comes I have
the money I need to pay this bill. Sounds good and very wise to me.
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