We thank you Father, for what you have given us and pray that we use everything to please you.
Money is sometimes referred to as the "root of all evil", yet it is something we can't do without these days. Without money we can't eat. Even our vegetable patch at home would only keep us fed for a few weeks at most.
There's all sorts of bills and taxes that we have to pay and it seems a high proportion of our wage goes straight out of the bank account without us ever seeing it.
So while money is essential, just how important is it?
The question above might seem a little rhetorical. But do we rely on our bank account to much? When Jesus sent his disciples out to preach he said "don't take a money bag, or even two coats". We are told time and time again to rely on God; "God will provide".
"Give me neither poverty or riches; feed me with the food that I need, or I shall be full and deny you or I be poor and steal"
Proverbs 30:8,9. [Note: this wasn't one of Soloman's proverbs, as he didn't fall into this category at all.]
Paul gives this advice to Timothy (and us) "godliness with contentment is great gain".
Riches brings with it its own problems. There's those who end up spending more time worrying about losing their wealth that they don't enjoy what they've got.
Often we may kid ourselves that if we've got loads of money how we can give loads of money to good causes. That may be true, but from my experience our generosity is measured in percentages. Listening to the kids talking about what they'd do if they had a lot of money, it seems that they'd give a fixed percentage to friends and relatives and keep a fairly large proportion for themselves. It doesn't make any difference if if was £100 or £1m. There's very few who don't fall in this category, but Jesus did give one example and that is recorded in Mark 12 & Luke 21. It's the story of the widow's mite. Do we have the same sort of faith and reliance in God that she showed?
At the end of the day, it's God who has given us everything. Money is not important by itself, but it a means to an end. We must remember Jesus words "render to Caesar, the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's".