Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is vanity.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, August 9, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Sometimes I fall into the trap of thinking if I just had inexhaustible resources, I would be perpetually happy. But there is a host of evidence that not only does money fail to provide people with happiness, but that even the wealthiest of Americans still believe they don’t have enough. Not-enough-ness is an insidious voice that gnaws at most of us at least some of the time. The Teacher made this point thousands of years before we had social scientists setting up experiments to prove it. Which just goes to show that this is something in our human makeup from the very beginning.
What is the alternative to this vanity of seeking after wealth? It is fully surrendering to God and trusting that God is the source of our security in ways that money could never be. It means staying in the moment and doing the footwork while letting go of the outcomes.
Certainly money is a necessity and serves a purpose. We just need God’s help to keep it in its right place and not succumb to the temptation to put it in the place of God.
Do I think I have enough? Why or why not?
