Daily Devotionals

Are We There Yet? Week 4 Tuesday

Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! Ecclesiastes 5:10 

Throughout Scripture, God calls His people to avoid what we refer to as idolatry. Idolatry is putting anything in our lives before God. God makes it clear that worshiping anything but Him is unacceptable. No item, object, person, or position has a place over Him. In light of this, one of the things that the Bible teaches us not to put in God’s place is money. In fact, Jesus went so far as to say, “You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money” (Matthew 6:24). This is a command we must take seriously and teach our children to take seriously as well.                          

The book of Ecclesiastes tells the story of a man who searched for satisfaction in everything you could think of, money, fame, relationships, etc., only to find that all of these things turned out to be “meaningless.” When he talked about money, he wrote, “Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!” (Ecclesiastes 5:10). He continued by saying, “What good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!” (verse 11).

Ultimately, wealth and money will fade away. They do not last. As a result, wealth is a poor thing to chase and model our lives after. And when we put money in the place of everything else, we send a false message about money to the children in our lives as well.  

One way to restore money to the correct place in our lives is to practice generosity. You see, when we live generous lives, we remember that chasing after money is futile because money is not eternal. We also honor God, who commands us to live generously out of the way He has generously blessed us. As we model generosity, we also teach this generosity to our children.

Moving Toward Action

How can you practice generosity with your money this week? Is there an organization you can donate to? Maybe you can buy food to donate to Community Connect. Perhaps you know someone who is struggling financially who you can buy a gas card or gift card to the local grocery store. If you have kids, it might be a good idea to help with Operation Christmas Child. You can pick a shoe box up on campus and fill it up to bring joy to a child in need this Christmas season.

Going Deeper

Read Ecclesiastes 5:8-20 (NLT)

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.