As a limited Twitter user, I was interested to read a political commentator criticising – and I quote – “so many folks desperate to take snippets of conversation out of context at the moment to create outrage or be outraged.”
It reminded me of an incident many years ago when I was walking along the promenade and was surprised to read a menu board outside a restaurant that stated, “Coffee or Tea £9.25!” My immediate thought was that even for this area that was expensive until I paused to read the board again to discover that this was the end of a message that included a two-course meal as well. How easy it would have been to tweet or Facebook message a critique of the business that would have been both untrue and unfair.
I suspect that readers of the Bible may already have noted that the statement quoted above is also incorrect because in 1 Timothy 6 verse 10 (NIVUK) the correct statement is – For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. The writer goes on to say,” Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
As someone who has been involved with and very interested in finance all my life, I have some experience both in business and personally of the pitfalls of having a wrong motive for pursuing money. Paul, in his letter to Timothy, refers to the danger of being “eager for money.”
In my early working life, short notice overtime was preferable to attending a weekly meeting, especially when one’s expenses seem to be greater than the monthly salary. There are many moral quotations relating to finance but perhaps a more apt story is of the two men watching the funeral cortege of a millionaire. One says to the other,” Do you know how much he left?” to which the response was, “Yes, the lot!”. What would Jesus say? Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven (Matthew 6 verse 20) continuing in the next verse -for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Prayer – Heavenly Father, we ask that you give us divine wisdom so that we may be wise stewards and able to deal with what you have entrusted to us. Amen