Chasing Money Never Wins You the Race

Good Monday Morning!

I spent the better part of the weekend just visiting with family and relaxing on a beach yesterday afternoon.  It has really helped recharge my batteries.  It can be easy for me to get caught up in trying to pay the bills and get ahead a little for the winter months when construction slows down.

That can get in the way of enjoying the short life God gives us here on earth.  Sometimes it can get us lusting after money,  making us wish we were rich or at least comfortably well off so we didn’t need to worry about getting the bills paid.  However, this morning when I opened the Bible I found myself in Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 5:8-12

8 If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still.

9 The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.

10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.

11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?

12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.

We all have our problems, whatever our station in life, and just having more money will not solve our problems.  In fact in my experience we can often find ourselves in more trouble.  It can be tempting to fall into the habit of trying to get a little more money, “to get ahead.”  But when this starts getting ahead of our personal relationships with God and family it becomes sin.  We can fall into a trap that the verses above talk about.  No matter how much money you have it is all spent, never enough.

And verse 12 talks about an ultimate shame; getting to the point that you have plenty of money so that you have all that “spare time” that we all so much desire….only to find that you can’t even get a good night’s sleep because you are worried about your riches.

I begin a new week, and a new job with a renewed happiness and satisfaction for where I am in life.  I know that at the end of every day I come home tired and get a good night’s sleep.

I pray that whatever your station in life; God is the center, the focus, not an empty love of money, riches or fame.  Life is fleetingly short and only God can fill the deepest desires of your heart.

Regular Joe

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• Financial lessons from Solomon (christianpf.com)
• Ecclesiastes 5:10 Bible Verse for the Day (momsfirstscreenn.wordpress.com)