Christmas Money

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with hisincome; this also is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 5:10

My email inbox is driving me crazy!  Do I really need daily updates from Amazon.com, JCPenny and drugstore.com so I can see the new bargains?  How many sales at Chico’s and Coldwater Creek do I need to hear about in a week?  Are we so consumer-driven that these constant emails actually result in increased sales?  I can only conclude that theymust.  Otherwise they would not waste their money paying someone to program them to be sent.

Many of us have become our own worst financial enemy.  Credit card debt, training children to get everything they want, and having to keep up with the Jones can drive us to financial ruin.  On our block in the past week or so there have been many houses with the brand new multi-colored LED lights going up outside.  They are the new rage – little white lights are out.  Okay, I admit it, we went and bought them too.  It’s for the granddaughter, you know!

 

When we were in a small group with an elderly gentleman a few years ago we were talking about spending and debt and this man gave us a saying he had taught his own children.  He said, “ He who buys what he does not need,
often will need what he cannot buy.”  Though these are not Biblical words it is certainly a Biblical principle that we are to be good stewards of the money God entrusts to us.  Buying what we do not need is not being a good steward.

 

There is a story in the book of Judges that made me examine how we think and act about money today.  This is the story from Judges 17:1-6, “There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.  And he said to his
mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.”  And his mother said,”Blessed be my son by the LORD.” And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother.  And his mother said, “I dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my
son, to makea carved image anda metal image.  Now therefore I will restore it to you.”  So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a carved image and a metal image.  And it was in the house of Micah.  And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household gods, and ordained one of his sons, who became his priest.  In those days there was no king in Israel.
Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

 

A man steals money from his mother but repents because he is afraid of the curse she has put on the one who stole it.  In return the mother prays that the LORD, that is God the Father, would bless him.  Then, she dedicates the money “to
the LORD” to make an idol!  Is she confused?  God had clearly instructed the Israelites not to make images.  Her son
agrees to this plan, makes more idols, and even ordained one of his sons to be a priest to serve at this shrine in his own home.

 

I could not help but think this is exactly what we do.  Christmas doesn’t provide a cover to mindlessly spend – even money that’s saved specifically for the season.  We often exchange it for things that become idols and pretend that we
are doing it to please God.  Sometimes the idol is the gift giving itself  – we so want to give the perfect gift that we lose our sense of reason and spend carelessly – buying what we do not need so we cannot buy what we do need.

 

Other times the idol is the status that comes from others thinking that we have such disposable income that we can purchase whatever we want.  This leads to the same outcome.  We buy to impress people and then cannot pay
for the things we need to provide later.

 

The story in judges ends describing the times.  “In those days there was no king in Israel.  Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  (Judges 17:6)   In the life of the Christian Christ is our King.  At Christmas, a time when our focus should be on Him, His birth, and the great gift of eternal life that He was sent to bring us, we get caught up with idols just as Micah and his mother did in this passage.  It then seems that there is no King and we do as Israel did in the days of Judges – whatever seems right to us.  Without Him as King – we cannot do right.

 

The way we handle our money – especially at Christmas –speaks volumes about our hearts.  Do we spend to impress others when we should be worshipping to please God?  Are we taking on debt that will keep us from serving the Lord
wholeheartedly later in the year?  As we proceed through this Christmas season, can we take our eyes off the world and
focus on the Good News that Christ came to save us from our sins…..even the sin of idolatry?