Does this picture make you want to reach out into the screen to grab it for yourself?
Paul Tripp, in his book Sex and Money describes four ways in which the love of money weakens our heart to trust in God’s promise that God will never leave us nor forsake us:
Ingratitude
When a person is not content with what he has, he is ultimately ungrateful for what he has. He believes he is entitled to much more. He believes in his heart he deserves something he lacks. And so, he is never satisfied with the many blessings God has given him. Really, he is ungrateful to God.
Dr. Jeffrey Froh psychologist from Hofstra Univ. did a study on the benefits of gratitude. The Wall Street Journal article reporting on the study commented:
Paul Tripp, in his book Sex and Money describes four ways in which the love of money weakens our heart to trust in God’s promise that God will never leave us nor forsake us:
Ingratitude
When a person is not content with what he has, he is ultimately ungrateful for what he has. He believes he is entitled to much more. He believes in his heart he deserves something he lacks. And so, he is never satisfied with the many blessings God has given him. Really, he is ungrateful to God.
Dr. Jeffrey Froh psychologist from Hofstra Univ. did a study on the benefits of gratitude. The Wall Street Journal article reporting on the study commented:
“In an upcoming paper in the Journal of Happiness Studies, Dr. Froh and colleagues surveyed 1,035 high-school students and found that the most grateful had more friends and higher GPAs, while the most materialistic had lower grades, higher levels of envy and less satisfaction with life. "One of the best cures for materialism is to make somebody grateful for what they have," says Dr. Froh.
The study just reinforces a biblical reality, we were created to give thanks to God (Eph 5). When we fail to do this because we love something more than God such as money, we become ungrateful for what we do have and angry or envious of what we do not have. This makes us miserable and even afraid. As J. R. Tolkien aptly depicts in Gollum of The Lord of the Rings, our "precious" will rule over our lives leading to our ultimate destruction.
Need
We have a distorted and sometimes perverted view of need. We “need” new clothing and shoes despite the fact that our closets are filled with shoes and clothing. We need a larger house, even though the larger house leads to more anxiety over higher payments, greater debt, the need to have a certain type of job which keeps us away from family, the church, and ultimately the Lord. We have fooled ourselves into thinking we are actually in great need because we don not want to actually tell ourselves and other the truth: We don’t need, instead, we MUST have because we feel entitled to it.
Discontentment
With the ingratitude because of the dissatisfaction with what we have, we feel we need something to fill that hole and we are so unhappy with what we have, we are discontent. We are never satisfied.
If I was to tell you which would you rather have a silver of bronze medal? You would probably say, “Silver.” But in a study on Olympic athletes in the 2004 Olympic games, researchers examined the facial expressions of all of the 84 athletes following judo matches. They followed their faces immediately after the matches, when they received the medal, and when they posed on the podium. 13 of the 14 gold medal winners smiled. However, none of the silver medalists smiled after the match. More interestingly, the facial expressions of the silver medalists ranged from sadness (43%) to contempt (14%) to nothing (29%).
You can essentially be at the pinnacle of your greatest accomplishment, and yet, knowing that there is someone else who has more, can make you feel so discontent. Which leads us to the last attack on our hearts through envy…
Envy
We long to have what someone else has, to belong in a group others are a part of, and to believe [falsely] that when we have enough money, we will finally measure up, to belong, to feel secure just like everyone else.
In this state, we will cannot trust God when He says in Hebrews 13:5-6, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” because we have believed the lie that says, “Only your money and your possessions will never leave you nor forsake you.” And only your money will keep you from being afraid.
Jesus has given us everything and promises us that He is always with us. We need not fear. But oh how money and possessions and reputation and success lead us to say to Jesus, "Thanks Jesus, but no thanks, I can handle this myself." And some people probably can, until they take their final, lonely, terror-filled breath.
Need
We have a distorted and sometimes perverted view of need. We “need” new clothing and shoes despite the fact that our closets are filled with shoes and clothing. We need a larger house, even though the larger house leads to more anxiety over higher payments, greater debt, the need to have a certain type of job which keeps us away from family, the church, and ultimately the Lord. We have fooled ourselves into thinking we are actually in great need because we don not want to actually tell ourselves and other the truth: We don’t need, instead, we MUST have because we feel entitled to it.
Discontentment
With the ingratitude because of the dissatisfaction with what we have, we feel we need something to fill that hole and we are so unhappy with what we have, we are discontent. We are never satisfied.
If I was to tell you which would you rather have a silver of bronze medal? You would probably say, “Silver.” But in a study on Olympic athletes in the 2004 Olympic games, researchers examined the facial expressions of all of the 84 athletes following judo matches. They followed their faces immediately after the matches, when they received the medal, and when they posed on the podium. 13 of the 14 gold medal winners smiled. However, none of the silver medalists smiled after the match. More interestingly, the facial expressions of the silver medalists ranged from sadness (43%) to contempt (14%) to nothing (29%).
You can essentially be at the pinnacle of your greatest accomplishment, and yet, knowing that there is someone else who has more, can make you feel so discontent. Which leads us to the last attack on our hearts through envy…
Envy
We long to have what someone else has, to belong in a group others are a part of, and to believe [falsely] that when we have enough money, we will finally measure up, to belong, to feel secure just like everyone else.
In this state, we will cannot trust God when He says in Hebrews 13:5-6, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” because we have believed the lie that says, “Only your money and your possessions will never leave you nor forsake you.” And only your money will keep you from being afraid.
Jesus has given us everything and promises us that He is always with us. We need not fear. But oh how money and possessions and reputation and success lead us to say to Jesus, "Thanks Jesus, but no thanks, I can handle this myself." And some people probably can, until they take their final, lonely, terror-filled breath.