"For the love of money..."

"Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." So said Jesus and I try, I really do, to heed that advice. I have taught a "simple lifestyle" as being better for us, fairer for the community and easier on the environment, but I do get carried away with money at times. One of the reasons I got down on Friday was that I slipped into "covetousness". Money has that tendency to drag you down.

Some time ago I thought I had won something like $165,000 (NZ). I received in the mail a sort of prospectus leaflet from "Evason Holiday Group". I wondered why I received it but just assumed they thought I would have money to invest. There was a couple of scratchy tickets where you could win prizes in the Evason Holiday Group lottery. It was my day off, it was morning tea so I scratched the tickets. One came up as having won the third prize... US$130,000 ... not bad! I rang the number and eventually got in touch with a man in Malaysia. He told me to scan the ticket through to him. I did this and then he told me I had indeed won third prize. But when he asked if I wanted to put it into my investment account with them it all unravelled. I told him I did not have an account, the other option was a mail order to my bank, but he still needed my investment account number. He stammered a bit and said he would have to look into it. When next we were in touch he told me I was not meant to receive that mailing and would I scan the envelope through. This I did and that is the last thing I heard from him.
Now I don't know if it was some kind of scam or not, I was not impressed because I think some people could have got themselves in trouble having been told they had won that amount. It would be fair to say we were always a bit skeptical going by the proverb, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." But we got to dreaming a little. Maybe we'd get the car all fixed up? We would pay off the mortgage and invest for retirement. It would help our bank balance considerably. We started coveting this money we did not deserve. It is funny the power that money has to take over your thinking, but I do know many people who have stuffed up their happiness, their life, their relationships because of this power of money.

On Friday it happened to me a little bit. I learned that a guy doing security work at a nightclub was getting paid more per hour than I get paid for chaplaincy work.  I learned that a brewery worker, a "technician" (perhaps a grade up from a labourer) was earning way more than me per year. I learned that a fire fighter, with thirteen weeks training, quite a great lifestyle with heaps of days off, generally earns nearly twice the amount I earn with their allowances and overtime. (And I know they are not overworked!) "Here am I" I complained to myself, "Six years tertiary education, heaps of experience, on call 24/7 and working big hours with essentially one day off a week!" ... gripe, gripe, gripe....  I got myself feeling sorry for myself. Undervalued, unsupported, treated badly etc.  .... but ... I have never starved! I have indeed paid off my house. Even if I could buy a new car I would have it looking old in six months. I am really quite rich in many aspects of my life and Jesus is right that "one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." I was only hurting my own mental well being by groveling in covetous thoughts.  I am well off and have nothing to complain about. The writer of Timothy was right when he said,"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains." The Bible has heaps of warnings about the power of money and covetous thoughts to cause trouble in your life. Jesus says according to Matthew's gospel, "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

I write this blog to remind myself of these important values. If I remember, I will be happier.