Dawn Michelle Michals @dmmwrites

How can a young person live a clean life? By carefully reading the map of your Word. I’m single-minded in pursuit of you; don’t let me miss the road signs you’ve posted. I’ve banked your promises in the vault of my heart so I won’t sin myself bankrupt. Be blessed, God ; train me in your ways of wise living. I’ll transfer to my lips all the counsel that comes from your mouth; I delight far more in what you tell me about living than in gathering a pile of riches. I ponder every morsel of wisdom from you, I attentively watch how you’ve done it. I relish everything you’ve told me of life, I won’t forget a word of it.
Psalm 119:11 MSG
https://bible.com/bible/97/psa.119.11.MSG

“I delight far more in what you tell me about living than in gathering a pile of riches.”

It’s true. Or, is it?

I’ve been praying a lot about money lately–mostly because I don’t have any.

Yesterday, my daughter’s Bible app pinged on my phone with her verse of the day. It was…

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Matthew 6:24 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.6.24.ESV

Matthew 6 continues with…

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:25‭-‬33 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.6.25-33.ESV

I love God. And, there is nothing more that I love than having money. But, when is wanting money more than wanting God?

Do you know when it happens? Does it sneak up on you?

Is it like St. Francis who only had his tunic in the shape of a cross and a pair of sandals because he feared the love of money so much?

Is it this minimalist-mindset takeover that is expounding “less is more; throw it all away, and you’ll have happiness”?

When I throw my stuff away, I just end up looking for it later.

So today, I ponder money. What it means. What it wants. And, how God fits in the picture above all of it.

Share with me today. How do you do it?

~DMM