MONEY, The Root Of All Evil

MONEY, The Root of All Evil!

Eileen Renders

Money, it has been said, you can’t live with it, and you can’t live without it. As I think about money, I believe it is a necessary commodity for survival. Food and housing depend on our ability to have some buying power. There are also occasional medical necessities, taxes, transportation, and so on. Why, then, has money been associated with evil? When we are not satisfied with having our daily needs met, it can open a door to envy. Want more, compare ourselves to others, the temptation to steal, lie, cheat, or, for some, even kill.

Happiness is being satisfied with what we have, not comparing ourselves to others who have more. Jesus said, “It is harder for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eyes of a needle.” Being rich can lead some to believe they are above the poor, smarter, more intelligent, and deserving of more respect. Many are without empathy, seeing a homeless person on a corner with a tin can for collecting coins. They may walk by ignoring them as though they are not there, thinking, “Let them get a job.” Yet many thousands of our homeless are without an education or training, and are homeless due to /or physical or emotional incapacities.

Much corruption, and as we have seen of late in our government, is over money. Lying, cheating, and stealing money from much-needed funds for the special needs of our citizens. Money is sought after for power, control over others, protection, and these people represent those without love, mercy, humility, or honesty. They are not following the teachings of Christ. By Jesus’ example, how he lived and worked in his stepfather’s carpentry shop, how he taught the disciples, how He ate and said, “I made these trees, their leaves and their berries for your food and your medicine.”

Sadly, for some, wealth represents a long, easy life. Yet we know this to be untrue. The wealthy, celebrities, and politicians, they too will grow old if they are fortunate, become sick, and die as we all will. And our last judgment will not be about the wealth we may have accumulated, but about how we lived, and the choices we have made with our free will. God does not sentence us to hell; it happens only through the path we have chosen.

Balance, moderation, and humility are the human qualities God has said He wants to see in heaven. We have only one life to live; let us pray for one another and realize that true happiness is being content with what we have.