Money Talks…Don’t Listen

Most of us have heard the expression, “Money talks”.  Since none of us have ever heard Washington or Lincoln or Hamilton actually speak to us, we are to understand that this expression means that money has influence.  Money has power.  Money can “talk” in a way that moves people to action.  But I think that money also “talks” to each of us in a quiet way.  It says, “keep me”, “hoard me”, “get more of me for yourself”.  In Luke 12, Jesus told the following parable:

16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’  21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Notice in verse 17 how Jesus said that the man “thought within himself”.  I wonder if when he did that, the only other “voice” he heard was that of his money?  The man apparently didn’t talk his decision over with others and he certainly didn’t look to the Old Testament for counsel.  God is very interested in how we manage and give our money because He knows the importance that money has to us.  God desires that money be a tool that we can use to bless others as well as take care of what we need.   When you are considering how to manage your money, don’t just listen to what your money has to say…it will likely give you wrong advice.  Look to God’s word.  Talk to other wise people.  This is the way to “fool-proof” the financial piece of your life.