The relationship between money and us is a strange one. Money can be used for good, but it can also be used for not-so-good. It can be fun to have or a burden to maintain. It can get you stuff or make you lose it all. Money is just... strange.
It's no surprise then that Jesus tackles the issue of money head on in within the Gospels. I love in John 6 where Jesus is about to feed the five thousand. Rather than just do the miracle and make His glory known, Jesus pokes at the disciples for a bit before letting everybody eat. He asks them where they were going to buy bread for everyone to eat. The logical response should be “Well Jesus, we are up on this mountainside, far from the nearest town, so where would we buy food?” But that’s not the response. Philip calculates that eight months of a man’s wages couldn’t even get one bite for everyone. That was the response. We don’t have enough money
That’s what makes this miracle so extraordinary. Jesus first points out the problem and then takes care of the rest. He shows that money isn’t anything when it comes to God’s glory. He feeds all these people not on eight months wages, but on a simple lunch for a small boy, and they didn’t just get a little bit, they got “as much as they wanted” (6:11) He takes the norm and shoves it out the door. He uses the small to do great things.
Consider this: The value of one denarius now is roughly $20[1]. The Greek used here in John 6 for eight months wages is 200 denarii. So take $20 times 200 denarii and you get $4000. Let’s say this out loud together. Four thousand dollars! That’s a lot of coin. Think of what you could do now with four grand. You could buy food for someone for a long time. You could provide cooling all summer long for a family. You could buy a car, a boat, and depending on where you look, a house.
That’s not what Jesus used though. He didn’t use the “logical” thing; he used the “unlogical” thing. In fact, Jesus could of just magical pulled 4 big ones out of the air and bought all they needed. That would be a miracle. But no, Jesus thanked God for what they had then, and gave freely to all who wanted.
If God can do great things through such small resources, then why do I have trouble giving up the big stuff? Why do I struggle with giving Him all my income if I know that He’s going to do great things with it? Sure, I have a problem tithing (ei. I don’t) but I mean just flat out not caring what happens to my money because Christ has it all and gave it all to me in the first place. Jesus told us that if we want to save our life, we must lose it, and if we lose our lives to Christ, we save it. After all, “what good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? (Luke 9:24-25) Let’s stop living like the paycheck is our god. Let’s start trusting in a very real Creator who simply and wonderfully knows what you need and will provide it for you. We don’t need stuff, we need a Savior. Let’s live like we lost our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment