How Much Is Enough?

1 Timothy 6:9 – 11 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. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

Roughly 1 billion seconds ago it was 1977.  Roughly 1 billion minutes ago, Jesus walked the earth with the 12 disciples.  If you worked at minimum wage, for 63, 678 years - without a vacation- you would have made a Billion dollars.  That is before taxes of course.  If a four-inch stack of dollar bills amounts to $1000. A billion dollars would be a stack of dollar bills 62.5 miles high.  No matter how you stack it, a billion is a massive quantity of anything.

It is not every generation that can say they have lived in financially historic times.  But those alive today can lay claim that dubious honor.  For the past year we have been seen newspaper articles, television news reporters, and websites pouring out the same dismal theme, “The money is gone. Where did the money go?”  We have seen the lust for money unchecked displayed prominently in the headlines.  A new saying has been born.  “He pulled a Madoff and made off with all the money.”  And depending on what source you go to, it was between $20 Billion to $65 Billion that Bernie Madoff made off with. We have heard tales of opulence and excess that boggle the mind.  It’s like when you lift up a rock and all kinds of bugs go running off when exposed to the light day.  The sin of greed, like the bugs, are seldom pretty when exposed to the light of day.

Paul, in his letter to Timothy, cautions him against the love of money.  We, as Timothy before us, should flee from greed.  It is not just a simple matter of turning away.  Paul tells Timothy, in our language, to run away from the trap of greed.  And we, like Timothy, should take his words to heart.  We should pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  These are not physical attributes.  They are attributes of character more suited to furthering the kingdom of our Lord.  These sound very much like the spiritual gifts we are endowed with.

In the final analysis, how much is enough?  We could certainly ask those that have gone before us how much of the wealth they were able to take with them.  Or, we could ask Bernie Madoff how useful the Billions are to him now that he is in prison for the 150 years?  The answer in both cases would be none.

Prayer:  Father, we come to You for answers to the many questions in our lifetime.  And here we are again.  Asking You to make Your will known to us.  Help us to discern Your will for us as we move forward in Growing With Grace.  Help us to know what each of us can give to further Your kingdom here.  This we ask in the name of Your Son, our Savior. Amen.