And as
for [the seed that] fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they
go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life,
and their fruit does not mature.
Matthew
19:23-24 & Luke 8:14
It is a year since I started
these Reflections on God and Money. When I began, I expected them to run only
through Advent 2012 but they proved to be more popular than I had expected and
so I continued them at weekends through 2013. As we start another Advent, I
will revert to the original daily format from Sunday, 1 December.
Since I began to teach financial
capability in 2002, I have wanted to help people develop a right relationship
with money as much as to explain the basic skills necessary to handle it well.
Very early on, I came across this observation by Professor Glyn Davies in his
book, A History of Money: ‘It is
ironic that just when physical scientists are seeing the value of a more
humanistic approach, economics, and particularly monetary economics, has become
less so by attempting to become more “scientific”, mechanistic and measurable.’
It seemed to me that what was
true at a macro level was also true at the micro. There is, for example,
limited value in teaching someone how credit cards work but not help them to
resist the pressure to use one to buy what they cannot afford.
The spiritual aspects of money are
still more vital. Jesus of Nazareth said that it is harder for a rich
person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to crawl through the eye of
a needle and he likened the deceitfulness of riches to thorns that choke spiritual maturity. St Paul warned that the love of money is
the root of all evil and ‘those who desire to be rich fall into temptation,
into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into
ruin and destruction’. As the Bible includes many examples of people who allowed
the love of money and the deceitfulness of riches to ruin their
lives, we living in a consumer society should not be complacent about
their ability to resist the same pressures. For this reason, during Advent I
will explore the Bible's guidance on how to make lifestyle choices.
This series is not just for
Christians but for anyone who desires to live free from the idolatry of money.
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Copyright © All Souls Clubhouse Community Centre & Church and Philip Evans
2013. You are welcome to copy these Reflections for circulation to family and
friends on a non-profit basis.
Scripture
quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright
© 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
Handling
money and dealing with debt can be complicated and neither the author nor
anyone else involved in the production of these Reflections is responsible for
any action you take, or fail to take, based on what is written here.
