Money

Say you don't need no diamond rings
And I'll be satisfied
Tell me that you want the kind of things
That money just can't buy
I don't care too much for money
Money can't buy me love

Can't buy me love, love
Can't buy me love, oh

 

Do you recognize this chorus from a pretty popular (and long standing favorite) song?  It's from "Can't Buy Me Love", written by Paul McCartney, and first sung by the Beatles in 1987.

 

I think, at least from what he wrote in this song, that Mr. McCartney had a pretty good handle on what money can and can't do, even as he had (and still does) gobs and gobs of it.  It's just a thing, money is....a means to an end.  With money we can certainly buy stuff, and the more money we have then, should we want to, more stuff can be bought.  What it can't do, and where he was right in his wording, is that it just can't buy the really important things in life....like love and much more.

 

Some folks are so wrapped up in money that it has become their "god".  It is their sole focus, and it is what drives them.  To those, it has become their all.  Their being.  Their definition. I know a man, really a pretty nice and decent man, who has billions (with a "B").  He is quite philanthropic with his money, and does many good things with it.  But his whole life is about money and there seemingly is no corner left for a relationship with the Lord.  Sad.

 

Most of us more common folk struggle with money.  There never seems to be enough, and often we have difficulty separating our wants from our needs and being happy and content with the difference.  And many are content in the knowledge that there are things (besides love, as in the song by McCartney) that money just can't buy.  When we have a grip on that, don't you tend to think that somehow our lives are just a bit simpler and real?

There should be a number 11 on that list.  Money can't buy us a relationship with Jesus.  It's impossible.  That's why, when we give to our church, we need go give strictly out of a sense of our love for the Lord and what he has done in our lives....and not what He is going to do.  It is one small way we can say "thank you" for all You have done for me.  And, it is best given out of a sense of sacrifice, because our priority surely must be to our relationship with Him.

 

How are you with your money?  How are you with your lack of money?  Who is your God?