"Money is like everything. Money is like sex. It's like food. They're all manifestations of God. They're blessings that we get, but they're not what are going to make us happy. They're not real. They don't last. There's only one thing that lasts, and that's your soul. And if you don't work on that, and you don't pay attention to that, then all the money in the world is not going to help you." --Madonna
Madonna is certainly one who has had enough money to know very well both its power and its emptiness. I don't know that I agree that money is a manifestation of God, that strikes me as a little overboard even though I agree that God can choose to bless us finanacially and materially. I do, however, agree with the essence of Madonna's statement. Money is nice to have, but money is no substitute for a right spirit, for living with, through, and for God.
My struggle is that as much as I agree with these sentiments, I still find myself caught up the American way of keeping up with the Joneses. I want the big house that we cannot afford, I want the new clothes that I don't need, I want the freedom to travel and eat out and live beyond my means. Even though I may know on some level that these things don't fulfill, I am still generally brainwashed by a culture that tells me not only do these things bring fulfillment, but they pave the only road to happiness. I know I'm not the only one in our culture caught up in the cycle of unecessary want.
Our many wants demonstrate a very big need. We need fulfillment. Madonna is right, we won't find that with money (or with any other man-made substance). In fact, money has quite the opposite effect from fulfillment. The more money we get, the more money we want. We think we'll be satisfied with just a little more, but when we get that, we realize that we are still empty, so we set the bar a little higher. We think that the only reason our god money hasn't fulfilled us is because we still need more. But Madonna, someone who has more than enough money, indicates that her obscenely high net worth has primarily taught her that net worth doesn't matter at all.
So what does matter? What does fulfill? Solomon asks this question over and over in the book of Ecclesiastes. Like Madonna, he had a high value by society's superficial and materialistic standards, but he found that no matter how much he had, he still felt empty. I believe that God included Ecclesiastes in the Bible for a very specific reason. He knew that thousands of years later, we would still need to learn the same lesson that Solomon learned. God created us with an emptiness that needs filling on purpose, and He wants us to recognize that we cannot produce or provide for our own fulfillment. He gave us the ache of always wanting more because He wants us to turn to Him as the Source (John 7:37-39).
Brainwashing by society won't hold much water as a plea before God when He asks why I lived with such a preoccupation for the material. Paul writes in Galatians 6:5 and 8, "we are each responsible for our own conduct.... Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful desires will harvest the consequences of decay and death. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit." Living first for money and then for Him is a choice that we make, and God will hold us responsibile for that choice. God does not accept second place in our lives. True followers of God need not be destitute, and some may in fact be quite well-off financially. But whatever their socio-economic status, true followers of God need to keep money in its rightful place--as a blessing--and keep God in His right place--on the throne. Nothing less will lead us to true life (John 4:4-26).
Posted by Kim at March 27, 2006 07:29 PM