It is said that “Anyone who thinks that
money will make you happy hasn’t got money.” It’s true that many have the thought
that money will make the world go around. They say that the more you have the
happier you get. But both the rich and the poor have their fair share of
misery. It is not money that makes one happy and satisfied. It is the way one sees
and manages money that will make a telling difference in one’s life.
The preacher had been dealing with
wealth and poverty in the book of Ecclesiastes. Now in Chapter 5 and verse 10,
he brought the issue of money close up to a personal level. He said, “He who loves
money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his
income; this also is vanity.” So far Solomon saw vanity, emptiness and
meaninglessness in everything. This he insists is true also of money, so he added
this refrain about money, that “…this also is vanity.”
It is true that no matter how much one
has acquired in life, if he or she lives only for money, that person will never
be satisfied. Money can buy a person a bed but not sleep. It can buy him a
computer but not a brain. One can use it to buy food but can never buy
appetite. Yes, money can be used to acquire finery but not beauty. It can be
used to get the finest medical facilities but not the health that one needs. It
can bring much luxury but not the happiness one craves for. Money can get
people to work for you but seldom will it get you faithful friends who will
honour you for who you are. Yes, they say money can even make the devil drive
your engine. Many people are dragged low because of an unhealthy obsession with
money. They pursue wealth to the exclusion of everything. So what if one is the
richest man in the world but devoid of God, family, friends, health and
spiritual vitality? Haven’t we seen people who have a craving for something and
even though they can’t afford it, would buy it anyway? Such people act rashly only
to find themselves in needless debts.
In these verses we see some problems
regarding money. Firstly, Solomon saw that others will try to pry it from us. He
tells us that “When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what
advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?” We must pay more tax. What about our
family members, our sons and daughters, whom we have to support? What about
some friends who would seek to sponge on us, the free-loaders who would not
work but look for easy way to get a free meal? The more one has the more others
will try to pry it away from you. The drive for what money can get can never
satisfy one’s inner longing. The way to beat such a drive is to learn to be
content with whatever God will provide. If we do not make godliness with
contentment our pursuit, we will find ourselves developing an insatiable
appetite for more of what cannot truly satisfy. Let’s learn to be happy with less
because we have God, who is more than enough.
Ecclesiastes 5:12 tells us the second
problem with money is that it can keep a rich person up all night. It says, “Sweet is the
sleep of a labourer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the
rich will not let him sleep.” Labourers who work hard are ready for a restful
night of sleep. It doesn’t matter if he has much or little, he will be
exhausted enough to find restful sleep. This is not so for one who is rich. He
will find himself staying up all night trying to figure out how to keep his
money safe or how to invest them rightly to get more. In trying to get more,
always remember that time is more valuable than money. You can get money with
your time but you can never buy time with your money. Take a truly good piece of advice from the
Lord Himself given in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not lay up
for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and
where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where
thieves do not break in and steal. For where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
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