I have been thinking a lot lately about the state of the world, the treatment of the less fortunate, and of course our own struggles and pains. Like many of you, I truly wish things were different. I wish we did not have the worries, fears and obstacles in our way. I wish we were all in a better position to truly make a positive impact in this world, in fact I wish we all believe we truly could.
Now I am not an expert in the arena of politics, ethics or economics, but if art is any indication of life then we are not truly the civilized race that we have been programmed to believe. The rich are not only still getting richer, but it seems today greed is rewarded, corruption is the status quo, getting head and staying in power, regardless of who is hurt in the process, is what makes this world tick.
Whether it is corporate giants that line the pockets of politicians to tighten their stranglehold of those that have become their slaves, the industrial machines that have worked to break up unions and are allowed to poison the earth leaving a wake of disease and death behind them, or wars that are fought in the name of greed that steal the countless lives of innocents in their path. The world we are living in is a far cry from the heaven on earth we each pray for.
When CEO’s and heads of state are bathing in wealth at the expense of those they are paid to protect and lead, when we are robbed of our hard-earned money to afford those at the top of the food chain with more and more, when our privacy is stripped away and our God-given rights are stolen from under our noses, when even our charitable organizations and religious organization justify the lavish lifestyles of their leaders by unjustly using hundreds of millions of dollars to simply build their own kingdoms on this earth, it should be time for us as people to stand up and say no more.
Sadly, the question always remains, “What can little old me do about the troubles in the land?” But I believe there is truly no telling what mountains we can move when we act out of love. That is what this paper is about. Not to convict anyone about the way they are living, because we all have areas in our lives that can be improved through selfless effort, instead of selfish preservation. However, I would like to show that the system we have been tricked into serving, is the very system that is causing the suffering we see in our lives and around the world. The ends never justify the means when it comes to the Love of Money.
Have the ends to which people go to get ahead ever justified the means?
If one person eats because they have worked to outwit another so they cannot eat, does that make their meat any more sweet? If one person is strong enough to kill and steal the land beneath another’s feet, does having more land make their lives more rich? Does having an excess of worldly possessions make a person’s life more fulfilled if those possessions are gained by underhanded means? The answer to all of these questions is NO.
Yet, we don’t live in a world based on principle. We live in a dog eat dog world, where only those who are willing to do the unthinkable to get ahead, stay ahead. But I telling you this is never their ultimate reward. The entitlement mentality is the very enemy of us all.
Matthew 16:26
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Sadder still is this “get ahead no matter what the cost” mentality has trickled down to all of us. People will sell out their brothers and sisters to get ahead, sell their children to get a meal, lie about and manipulate situations to take another’s job or position. There seems to be no depth a person will not go for the Love of Money. And everyone has been tricked into drinking from the same well. Of course there are differing degrees, but we have become a race of people who are concerned with the rat race of self-preservation. And why wouldn’t with be the case when things are the way they are?
But what if this line of thinking, even though it seems to yield temporary results, is setting the tone and reality for our tomorrow. And what if that tomorrow is a bleak, dark, terrible thing for us all? What if we do indeed reap what we sow? Would knowing this change anything?
Galatians 6:7
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
It is my firm belief that while our lips shout to the farthest corners our unyielding faith in a just Go, I believe our hearts are indeed far from this reality. The proof of this is found in our day-to-day suffering.
Isaiah 29:13
Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Is this not the day we are living in. How many of us can truly say that we trust God? How many of us love and forgive without expecting anything in return? How many of us do not hold unto every dollar for fear we will not have food on our tables tomorrow if we do not?
It is one thing to say that we should take no thought for tomorrow, that even the sparrows have enough to eat, it is another thing to truly believe this when we see children starving and people dying because they cannot afford healthcare?
Well has Isaiah said indeed, the people honor God and the principle of loving others with lip service but their hearts are just not into it. The only Fear of God that is learned by the human race, is what is taught by men and women with ulterior motives. Greed is the lesson, gain is the goal. They teach their congregations that if you want to get ahead, give US more of your money. If you want to blessed join us and make others join us, or God will punish you endlessly. And many of us foolishly believe, so much so that we will fight those who say differently, all the while being buried in a mountain of debt. We, as the saying goes, rob from Peter to pay Paul.
Fearing God today has little to do with reaping what you sow, it is doing what man says or else, it is fearing the world system and the words and empty promises of men and women who are counting on our ignorance to feed their greed. Playing by their rules, or else. Voting who they say into office, or else. Keeping your mouth shut and taking whatever injustice is given, or else. Never questions the leaders voice, or else. The fear of God has nothing to do with what is being taught today. It is the fear that if you do not follow carnal man’s laws and rules, you will not GET AHEAD. This world has even perverted faith.
I am writing this article because I myself feel helpless. Like all of you, I am debt, I live pay check to pay check. Like all of you I worry what will happen in the future. Will I have a job? Will I be able to help my four children get a higher education? Will I lose everything?
What is truly sad about this, is I have lost everything before, and by no means of my own I have seen God restore me. Yet I wonder if the house of cards we are all living in now begins to collapse where I will be? I too have been programmed to put my faith in money and yet there is a fight within me, reminding me how futile this is. This is why now more than ever I see the need for change in my own life. It is time for me to have hope, to trust that there is divine justice and provision.
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows
The Love of Money is what makes this world go round. The Love of Money is the reason people are suffering today. The Love of Money is the reason people have traded mutual respect and the love for others for selfish gain, believing that if they don’t follow after the ways of the world, they will not be provided for. The Love of Money is why so few in government are trusted, so few in religious circles are praised, so few in the community are helped when trouble comes. It the “what’s in it for me” belief, as opposed to what can I do for others.
Lao Tzu wrote in the Tao Te Ching…
“When rich speculators prosper while farmers lose their land; when government officials spend money on weapons instead of cures; when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible while the poor have nowhere to turn — all this is robbery and chaos. It is not in keeping with the Tao.”
Now for those that don’t know what the Tao is, it is a word that simply means the “Infinite principle by which all things exist. It is the divine balance and order of things.”
These words that Lao Tzu wrote sadly echo the times, and worse still after thousands of years things have not gotten better, the corrupt have just gotten better at keeping all of us inline and convincing us to try to play the same game.
The Love of Money, Power, Fame, Control, is indeed the root of all evil. Many have heard the term, selling your soul to gain the world, but the line for which we as a society know should not be crossed has become almost transparent. We do things each and every day, little things, big things, that prove this. Whether it is walking past a homeless man or woman and justifying keeping that five dollars because someone told you it would be spent on drugs, to allowing others to do wrong in front of you for fear of losing your job or losing a reputation. Even the greatest among us, as the prophets have said are as a thorn-bush.
Micah 7:4
4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.
How can this be? Why is there so much suffering in the land? Why are out hearts troubled day and night? Why are their disputes among us? Why, why, why? The answer has always been the same. We have not tried another path, we continue to do the wrong things expecting a better result. This is the curse of the Love of Money, our utter destruction and suffering.
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows
Because of our love for money, we are pierced through with many sorrows. From the gluttons who have so much and need more, to those who have nothing and want more, suffering is always the reward. And I have met not one who is immune.
This world needs a wake up call? We need to truly stir up our faith within us and trust God. There is only one way out of this cycle of pain and struggle, and that is the straight gate. It is the path less traveled, it is the path of trust, it is the path of submission, it is the path of true love.
This may seem an odd question, but how many of us truly believe in God?
How many of us truly believe that if we walk the straight path we will find heaven on earth? How many truly believe that only through Love will we ever know peace?
I think many of us have been beaten down, neglected, used, and abused for so long that few really believe that the only path to freedom is unconditional love, unflinching faith, and unyielding courage. Because we see others get ahead by putting aside the love of others for the Love of Money.
We are told that there is but ONE WAY to the Father and that is the SON. What if this REALLY means what the scriptures say.
John 15:10
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
The only way to the Father is to pick up your cross and follow the path that has been laid out before us. TRUE LOVE. We cannot abide in love and hope and peace if we do not keep this command.
John 15:12
This is my commandment, That ye love one another.
The Cross is a symbol for us all to lay down the way we have lived our old lives and to pick up a new way of life. The way of the cross is the way of Love. And getting there may get you to question whether God has forsaken you. This is a question, if we are honest with ourselves, we all know too well. Instead of faith, we put our thoughts to schemes, and make new plans to find the world’s promiseland of wealth, instead of God’s promise of unity, wisdom, and being content in all things.
What if this is our way out? To truly love others. But to do this we must first understand what Love really is? What is found in love? What is offered by loving?
WHAT IS LOVE AND HOW DO WE LOVE?
Romans 13
8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
We are promised in scripture that if we do this, we will know joy unspeakable.
Then we question, where is the promise?
However we never question, what is it we are doing that is keeping the promise far from us.
Why do we never question whether or not we are following the path to the promise? And if we do, why do we allow our fears and insecurities keep us from taking up the cross and walking out of the darkness of our pain into the light of true life?
What would happen in our lives if we truly dared to walk the straight path? In the face of adversity, in the wake of trouble, in the pits of despair if we only held out hope, refused to go where others go or do what others do, if we turned the cheek, and gave our shirt when another stole our coat, what would happen then?
The greatest changes that this world has seen has always come from peaceful men and women who refused to repay hate with hate. The greatest change did not come with a violent rebellion when Jesus was put to death, it came when Jesus forgave and trusted that His World was not This World.
Today, I simply want to remind you all of the same thing. This world and its many pains are not our reality. Our reality is not what happens outside of us, it is the change that is brought from within us.
And after years of wondering, why? why? why? I have come to the conclusion that Faith and Love is the only answer. Doing this is the only thing that will bring me true life. Walking the straight path is the only path that will lead me to where I truly desire to be, any other path will lead me back to misery.
It is a path few travel, or have traveled, it is a path I myself have not fully understood or seen. But I am pressing on to this High Calling, because I may not be able to change this world outside of me with my own effort, but I believe God can surely change this world by showing the world the peace that only comes from love.
I for one want to put this message to the test. I will love others and do good to others because God is rewarder of those who do so.
If you plant love, honestly, and charity you must reap eventually it in return. I have tried other paths and for this I have suffered. I have walked in hopes of financial security, while trying to also serve God and do good to others, but you cannot serve both God and the love of money.
Luke 16:13
No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon
We need to choose this day which God we will serve. And although it is my strong belief that one day all will learn this lesson, wouldn’t it be wiser to learn it today instead of suffering more until you do. There is a system that God has put in place, it is a law like gravity, I call it God’s fail safe. And that is whatever you sow we also reap. I for one have reap bitter fruit for too long and I encourage you all to strive for the sweet fruit of love, that endures for all of time.
If we do this, and we allow this great light of Love to shine, I truly believe it will draw this world away from the love of money, into the love of others, and in so doing we will finally be free.
Think about that. Do you really want to free? Then enter that straight gate and see.
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