Christmas & Money

Last night while doing some Christmas shopping at Barnes & Noble, I was browsing the books on investment and money. There was a young man (younger than me anyway) browsing the same section and he asked me 'are you an investor?' I responded that I have had various investments at different times. We chatted a bit and in response to something he said I told him 'I am interested in money not for the sake of money, but for what it can accomplish, for the good it can do.'

So at this time of year when we may be more aware of how much we are spending and wondering if we should be spending so much, just a few thoughts. (And please don't take this as a plea to go spend more money! It's not! I am suggesting that we all live deliberate lives every day of the year, so that like Scrooge upon his redemption it was said: “... that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!”)

"But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,' faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
'Business!' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The deals of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!” Charles Dickens, 'A Christmas Carol'

“There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!” Charles Dickens, 'A Christmas Carol'

"I'm telling you that although wealth is often used in dishonest ways, you should use it to make friends for yourselves. When life is over, you will be welcomed into an eternal home.” Jesus
Luke 16:9 God's Word Translation

So to summarize, money is an opportunity to do good, for your family, for your church, for your community. Don't be like the 'old Scrooge', be like the 'new Scrooge'. If all we do is use money to transact purchases, paying for goods and services for ourselves, then we have missed the larger possibilities. We have made our world too small. Rather (and this is what Jesus says) 'buy friends'. Yes, Jesus says to 'buy friends'! Be generous, help the needy, live and walk like a king! Make the world bigger again. Let your heart be large and see the possibilities of doing good in this fallen world. Become a redeemer, buying back and setting free that which is bound. You don't have to be a millionaire to do this. It starts with your heart and then you proceed by shortening the distance between your heart and your pocketbook. Because money does matter in the scheme of things. It's not the most important thing, but it does reveal to us the condition of our heart. Getting this right allows us to take first steps toward dwelling every day in the Kingdom of God! And so let us be like the 'new Scrooge':

Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.

Charles Dickens, 'A Christmas Carol'

Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year!