Just A Little Bit More . . .

Just a Little Bit More . . .

You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.

2 Corinthians 8:9

Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.

1 Timothy 6:17

In the late 1800s, the world’s richest man was John D. Rockefeller, founder of the Standard Oil Company. One time he was asked the question, “How much money is enough money?” His answer says a lot about human nature: “Just a little bit more.” Most of us struggle to be satisfied with what we have and the amount of money that comes our way. We tend to think that if we had a little bit more, then we’d be satisfied. But it never seems to work that way.

What is important about money is not how much or how little we have but how much more we want to have. A poor person can be a slave to money, and a rich person can be sold out for God. It’s how we think and feel about money that has the power to destroy our souls. Paul writes that “people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:9-10). And the most evil thing that grows from the root of the love of money is a dissatisfaction in God. Paul is not condemning the desire to earn money in order to meet our needs and the needs of others. He is warning against the insatiable desire to have more and more money, and acknowledging the way it chokes out our desire for God.

Jesus understood this conflict. That’s why he said, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24).

DISCUSSION STARTERS

Why do you think it feels good to have a stash of money in your pocket, piggy bank, or bank account?

In what way(s) did Jesus’ becoming poor make us rich (see 2 Corinthians 8:9)?

How can we learn to love money less and trust God more?