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Health Devotional
Worry-free Money Management
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Heb. 13:5, NIV.
The New Testament author of Hebrews in a few final words of fatherly advice quotes from Deuteronomy 31:6 some of the last words of encouragement Moses gave to God's people: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." The grand old leader was 120 years old and full of experience and wisdom when he basically said, Don't put your trust in perishable things. Unlike money, fame, possessions, and other substitutes, the God of heaven will never leave you nor forsake you.
Yet most of us spend about 80 percent of our waking hours in the pursuit of money—thinking about it, earning it, or spending it! Money has become our god, or at least one of our gods. And what does this do to our health? The pursuit of money too often comes packaged with stress, worry, frustration, jealousy, and discontent.
Charles Caleb Colton once said: "Wealth, after all, is a relative thing since he that has little and wants less is richer than he that has much and wants more." The producers of goods and services through the advertising industry spend more than $40 billion a year hitting us with about 300,000 advertising messages each day to make us unhappy with what we have so that we will use money or credit to purchase their products that promise illusive fulfillment. Is it any wonder that money has become our god and the pursuit of money our passion?
The result is often increased debt. The Wall Street Journal reported that the average middle-aged American couple had only $2,600 in net financial assets. Translated, that means that because so many are not content with their pay, they are borrowing heavily on their future earnings. The result is no savings, few available assets to donate to the Lord's work, and heavy debt.
By way of contrast, the Walden Pond philosopher, Henry David Thoreau, once said: "We make ourselves rich by making our wants few."
Trusting in the God of heaven, not in money and what it can buy, is the coin of contentment, a key to healthful, fulfilled living in this world and for eternity in the world to come.
Lord, let me be content with the richness of Your blessings and not the world's money.
The New Testament author of Hebrews in a few final words of fatherly advice quotes from Deuteronomy 31:6 some of the last words of encouragement Moses gave to God's people: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." The grand old leader was 120 years old and full of experience and wisdom when he basically said, Don't put your trust in perishable things. Unlike money, fame, possessions, and other substitutes, the God of heaven will never leave you nor forsake you.
Yet most of us spend about 80 percent of our waking hours in the pursuit of money—thinking about it, earning it, or spending it! Money has become our god, or at least one of our gods. And what does this do to our health? The pursuit of money too often comes packaged with stress, worry, frustration, jealousy, and discontent.
Charles Caleb Colton once said: "Wealth, after all, is a relative thing since he that has little and wants less is richer than he that has much and wants more." The producers of goods and services through the advertising industry spend more than $40 billion a year hitting us with about 300,000 advertising messages each day to make us unhappy with what we have so that we will use money or credit to purchase their products that promise illusive fulfillment. Is it any wonder that money has become our god and the pursuit of money our passion?
The result is often increased debt. The Wall Street Journal reported that the average middle-aged American couple had only $2,600 in net financial assets. Translated, that means that because so many are not content with their pay, they are borrowing heavily on their future earnings. The result is no savings, few available assets to donate to the Lord's work, and heavy debt.
By way of contrast, the Walden Pond philosopher, Henry David Thoreau, once said: "We make ourselves rich by making our wants few."
Trusting in the God of heaven, not in money and what it can buy, is the coin of contentment, a key to healthful, fulfilled living in this world and for eternity in the world to come.
Lord, let me be content with the richness of Your blessings and not the world's money.
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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