Daily Devotions
Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. Ecclesiastes 5:10
How I used to love the board game Monopoly! I would eagerly purchase all the property I could afford and start placing houses and hotels on it. My excitement grew as I won more and more money and continued amassing property. Of course, sometimes I lost everything I had while someone else grew wealthy. Monopoly has experienced enduring sales over the past 50 years. Obviously a strong appeal to game lovers.
Monopoly mirrors life. The Teacher in Ecclesiastes refers to our insatiable desire for material possessions: “Whoever loves money never has money enough: whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.” We want more money, clothes, televisions, automobiles, and the list goes on. We think we can handle additional income circumspectly, but our sinful nature pushes us to spend and keep it for ourselves. We seek monopoly in the sense that we want to amass wealth, even if it comes at the expense of others. The Teacher cuts us short: “This too is meaningless.” We need to face reality, to admit the fleeting nature of possessions and to repent of our greed.
Enter God. He shares abundantly with the righteous and the unrighteous alike (see Matthew 5:45). He gives everything away. He gave us His Son, who gave His life for us on Calvary. Jesus learned contentment in doing the Father’s will. Now in possession of the free gift of eternal life, we can spend a lifetime not gaining a monopoly, but giving everything away to others – our life, our Savior, and our material possessions. Such a life-style will not be judged “meaningless.”
PRAYER: Thank You, Dear Lord, for your free gift of eternal life. Help me to share this gift with others. Amen.
(Devotions from “My Daily Devotion” by Dr. Stephen J. Carter, copyright 1988 CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time emailing of this link to a friend. For ordering information, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit www.cph.org.)