I think a
lot about making money these days. Just this year I have embarked on my latest entrepreneurial
enterprise, owning my own lawn care business, which I sincerely hope will start
fattening up my nearly-starved bank account. Also, age eighteen is approaching
rapidly on the horizon for me, the age where I will officially start becoming
self-sufficient. The first step to this is paying my parents rent. At this
point, I don’t think I could sustain that.
Yep,
learning how to make money is definitely a top priority for me.
Money. It’s
vital to human existence, yet at the same time, it’s deadly. Remember, for a
hefty sum of 1,100 pieces of silver from each of the Philistine lords, Delilah
enticed Samson to give away his strength (and eventually his life). Judas betrayed the Son of God for a mere 30
pieces of silver! The love of money is most definitely the root of all kinds of
evil, as the Bible says (1 Timothy 6:10).
But what is
a healthy balance to making money and loving money? Obviously, most of us will have to make money
to support ourselves, and that is definitely not wrong. As Paul says:
For even when we were
with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work,
then he is not to eat, either. For we hear that some among you are leading an
undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such
persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion
and eat their own bread. (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12)
It is a very
good thing for us to work! We are to make profit so that we might eat! We have
two extremes here. One, loving money to the point of worshiping it, or two, not
making money at all . . . and paying the consequences of going hungry. So how
are we to find the balance?
I believe it
all comes down to what our motivation for making money is. Notice that money
itself isn’t a bad thing; it is the love
of money that is the root of all sorts of evil! Are you making money just for
the sake of making money? Do you put in hours of work just so you have some
“spending money”? If so, buckle down and listen up, because frankly, you are
serving a master who is worthless!
"Do not store up for yourselves
treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and
steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also. No one can serve two masters; for
either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one
and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. (Mathew 6:19-21,24)
As servants
and children of God, we must serve Him and Him alone. The pursuit of wealth for
wealth’s sake will only lead to ruin. Instead, we should be making money so
that we might fulfill our service to
God. We should be motivated to make profit not so that we can buy the greatest
and latest perk that catches our fancy, but so that we can continue to serve
God, wherever He calls us!
That is my
plan. Why do I want to make money? At this point in my life, it is mainly so
that I can become self-sufficient (AKA: a man). I realize that it is God’s plan
for young men to grow up and start their own families, and I want to live it! In
my mind, the sooner the better.
That is not
to say I am a perfect manager of my funds. I’m not. At all. I am still working
to limit my “just for fun” purchases and pool all my resources towards the goal
of becoming self-sufficient. That is also not to say that I will be
self-sufficient anytime soon. Though it would be awesome if I made lots of
money with my business, built my own house, and was completely self-sufficient
by 18 or 19, it will probably take years!! Who knows where God will lead me and
what He has planned for me in the next few years! But it will always be my
desire to faithfully serve Him, not money.
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