Title:- The Sacrifice of An Arm & A Leg
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
“If you want good health care, reliable transport, wise insurance cover, temperate pension provision and a reasonable roof over your head, then people you need me. Truth is friend; I am all you really need!”
In this world, money counts itself as all mighty and is both vocal and voluptuous in its lying intent and presentation The problem is that we believe it and our actions are clear evidence of our adherence to this vile lie dressed as virtue and our fat bellies and fat wallets, are heavy judges to our adulterous embracing of this big money mouth, which speaks great things! Money has become our desire, money has become our hope, money has become our provider, money has become our rock of refuge, money has become our God!The fragrant flower of triumphant capitalism is a particularly thorny one for the Christian in this new century, yet the conservative church seems to have ignored this flower festooned mastodon of more, sitting in her pews. Indeed, the keepers of many pulpits have become infamous zoo keepers of this elephantine and ancient seduction! Whatever your political persuasion, rightly or wrongly the popular mind has portrayed and personified the rise of personal possession and individual prosperity with ‘avarice riding a camel laden with gold,’ which still won't fit through the eye of any needle! Why then are we in the Western church still trying to squeeze it through? How has this dire and gigantic disease of eating avarice, seemingly and amazingly hidden itself among the Western community of the saints?
The answer is by flaunting itself as a sign of God’s blessing, of Christian prudence and loving wisdom that provides for its own. All very Biblical it would appear. Yet I wonder if our part-Biblical presentation is in fact two signs of a growing fear of financial failure and a frightening fear of soul gnawing need? If so, then this is a wide spread faithless disorder and such a faithless disorder presents the local spiritual medical practioners, those real curers of souls, those pastors of old, with three seeping symptoms.
Firstly, within the worshippers of the money god is a real need for power. That is, the need to possess and to influence; to impress, to flaunt and control; to direct and manipulate for the purpose of self-protection and self-propagation.Secondly, within the worshippers of the money god is a festering fear: that is the driving fear that needs to provide against future disaster. The need to make safe our own vast bastions of full and fat forgetfulness.
Thirdly, within the worshippers of the money god is the need to possess simply for possession's sake.
In olden times such symptoms and enslavement to the objects of our own making was called idolatry, and those marked with such calamity were placed outside of the camp and marked as unclean. Today it would appear they dress in smart whistles and fine flutes and take the lead in a drooling dance of avarice, banging the drums of abundance all the way into the side of the dark mountains of more.
Is it too much to say that the only way to deal with avarice is to give all we have away? I wonder? If you will excuse my mix of metaphors, it’s time to look down and discover if we are sat on camels or elephants and then change horses!
Listen:- Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Mark 10:21-22
Pray:- Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die): Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches — Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You, And say, "Who is the LORD?" Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God. Proverbs 30:7-9
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