High school started yesterday, and one of my classes is Personal Finance. In the class today, we discussed whether or not money could actually bring about happiness. Half the class said it could, and the other half said it couldn't buy happiness but it COULD by things that MAKE you happy.
It got worse. My teacher said that the poor people aren't happy, the rich people are satisfied, and those that manage their money well are happy. In my experience, the rich are depressed and lonely. And poor people CAN find happiness! Its not that they are always sad... And anyways, earthly happiness is NOTHING.
Money doesn't bring fulfillment. Fulfillment, by the way, brings happiness. No thing on earth can bring you fulfillment. The problem with trying to be fulfilled is that what we find here is NEVER enough, we always long for more. Fulfillment can only come about from an infinite source, and considering we live in a finite world, we need something NOT from this world.
Hey! Guess what? God isn't of this world!! HE brings fulfillment, HE is infinite! Sure, you can feel 'happy' with worldly things, but when you taste GOD'S happiness, the finite things seem like dust. They taste like chalk in your mouth and drys up your spit. Its yucky. Not because its taste has changed, but because by comparison JESUS IS SO MUCH BETTER!! So when I hear talk about how money can bring happiness, sure. Whatever. Enjoy your temporary happiness that will only fuel a desire for more, ultimately leaving you empty. I'll stick with Jesus who can fulfill me no matter WHAT economic situation I'm in!! After all, He is my treasure and nothing else matters!
Would you sell everything so you could by one priceless item and cherish it? In all honesty, I probably wouldn't. Its not safe. Its not rational. You would be mocked. Its ridiculous to throw away everything for one item. But this is exactly what Jesus calls us to do! To throw our lives away and follow Him! Some of the apostles just left their life behind - fishing - to follow a stranger who claimed to be the Messiah. I want a faith like that. I want fulfillment in JESUS alone, which means my total surrender of everything else.
#LiveItLikeJesus
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