You may have heard of the wealthy Texan who liked to give his dad special, extravagant gifts on his birthday. One year it was hang-gliding lessons. Another year he gave his dad a football autographed by the entire Super Bowl championship Dallas Cowboy team (this is obviously a very old story). Then one year the rich young Texan felt he had come up with the best gift yet. He bought a rare kind of talking bird. Besides speaking five languages, this bird also could sing “The Yellow Rose of Texas” while standing on one foot. The talented bird cost $10,000, but the man felt it was worthy every penny. His dad would never forget this gift! A couple of days after his father’s birthday, the young man called his dad. “How did you like the bird?” “Fine,” the father responded. “It was delicious!”

Today’s devotion is “The Problem with Money.” What I’d like for you to understand is that the problem you and I have with money is not money itself. The problem is what we do with that money. That rich Texan’s father failed to see the value and possibilities of that bird he was given. You and I often fail to see all the possibilities to use money God gives us in ways that are pleasing to Him. Instead, we just see money as something to consume. After you learn what you have missed, you realize that the problem with money is not really with money, but with me.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Most people fall into the trap of thinking that if they only had enough money, they would be happy, they would really be able to live. We think that money will make us able to “take hold of the life that is truly life.” That will leave you disappointed, because you are putting your confidence in wealth and not God. That attitude usually leaves God out of the equation. We’re like the little girl who was given two dollars by her father. He said she could do anything she wanted with one dollar, so long as she gave the other dollar to God on Sunday at church. She nodded happily and started skipping toward church, holding the two bills tightly in her hand. She decided to stop at the candy store on her way to church, but before she got there, she tripped and fell. The wind blew one of the dollar bills out of her hand and into a storm drain at the curb. The little girl rose to her feet, looked at the dollar still in her hand, then at the storm drain and said, “Well, Lord, there goes your dollar.”

We laugh because we know there is a ring of truth to that kind of attitude. And that is the problem. That little girl had the same attitude toward money that you and I often have. You see what money can buy for you, and that becomes more important than God. Usually your love for money isn’t as bold or brash as the little girl’s. But it’s there. You make money into a false god, a little idol, which becomes more important than God. You bristle at the Biblical suggestion that you should give God 10% of what He has given to you. You tell yourself that if you do that you won’t have enough left to get what you need and do what you want to do. You put your confidence in money. And that’s sin.

It’s also foolish. To depend on wealth is to hope in something uncertain. That’s why Paul writes: Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth. Riches are uncertain. What they buy may not bring happiness. What money buys can and does disappoint us. And wealth is uncertain because it doesn’t last. Money can be stolen or burned or lost or taken away by a lawsuit. If you depend on wealth to provide hope for your future, you are being foolish.

In contrast to the uncertainty of riches we have the generosity of our God. Paul says that we are not to place our hope on the uncertainty of wealth but on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  Think about what God gives you: Everything. And that everything starts with Jesus. Because God supplies all our needs, Jesus came to pay the debt we owe to God because of our sin. In Matthew’s Lord’s Prayer (Mt 6:12), Jesus uses the word debt—what we owe—to describe our sins: forgive us our debts.  Those debts are something we owe God. in our account at God’s First Bank of Heaven. But Jesus paid those debts for us. Our sins are forgiven, wiped out, the debt paid off. Not by our money or wealth or riches. The most important thing we need, forgiveness and eternal life, is provided in Jesus Christ.

Paul is talking to you when he urges: Command [those who are rich] to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. That is God’s will for you. It also is the way to be really rich, to be really blessed.

For people who are willing to share their wealth with others, money becomes a foundation for the future. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. It is true, of course, that you cannot “buy your way” into heaven. But when you are cheerful, generous managers of what you like to call “your” money, you are reflecting God’s great gifts of love toward you.

Ask God to help you manage the money He has given. If you do that, the money problem will be solved.