"THE LUST FOR MONEY"
When I was younger, I always had it easy. I never worried about doing without. I had more than most men ever dreamed of, my own businesses, plenty of money, two of the best boys a man could ever ask for, a wonderful wife with a nice house and not a care in the world. I thought life couldn't get any better. I would even help anyone that asked and not really care about the money or where I was going to get more of it. Then of course, Greed set in and all I wanted was more money. So, I went out and started to make that happen. It was then every part of my life started to fall apart. My wife left me and took my boys, I lost my business, my house and just about everything I had worked so hard for in life. So, being the man I was, I started trying to replace it. At first I really wasn't sure how I was going to do this. So I started drinking and doing drugs, basically I had just given up. I would get up in the morning and go to work just so I could hang at the local bar all night. Quitting one job after another, losing apartment after apartment, girlfriend after girlfriend and moving from State to State thinking it was all going to get better. Then finally things started to look better to me. I started to have money again. I was able to buy a new truck, I had the same job, same apartment for nearly ten years. Now don't get me wrong, I was still drinking and doing drugs but I had the money to do them. Just about the time I thought life was finally going to be alright, I lost my job and had to sell the truck and move out of my apartment. I literally fell flat on my face again. Of course I thought this has to be God, why else would I keep losing everything? "Thinking to myself," that I'm a hard worker, I'm not a thief so why does God not want me to be happy? So, feeling sorry for myself of course, I did what I always do and packed up my stuff trying not to think about it and just move on. So I put what I had in my trailer and in the back seat of the car and took off. I was on the road to Florida this time and nothing was going to stop me from making something out of what was left in my life, not even God. Then it happened, my car blew up with everything I had left in my miserable life and this was the final straw. Now what? Does God really want me to live in my car? Does God hate me so much He'll have me sell everything I own just to get a bus ticket to no where? Not knowing what else to do, I did exactly that. I finally made it here to Florida with literally nothing but my clothes. I was at a complete loss, what was next surely God could not take anything more. I had nothing left to take, or did I? Not knowing what was next, I started to look for the same thing, Money! You have to have it to live, right? So, I started looking and found some work. There was no way to keep a job, God has already taken my car from me. Then I just gave up on everything. There was no way for me to replace all that God has taken from me in my life, "I thought to myself." Was God trying to make me kill myself? I just didn't know anymore. "Reflecting back" on my life, as bad as it was, I thought, is this the only way out? Is this what will make, "God happy," killing myself? Then it happened, I thought, go read the bible and it will tell me why God hates me. So, being who I am, that's exactly what I did. I was not sure what to expect, but then once I started to read what it actually said was ( I WENT WRONG.) Here are some of the verses that I found. (Lk. 12:15) - "be on guard against every form of greed; life is not in possessions"
(I Thess. 2:5) - "we did not come with pretext for greed"
(I Tim. 3:8) - (deacons) "not fond of sordid gain" (cf. Titus 1:7) (II Peter 2:3) - (false prophets) "in their greed they will exploit you with false words" (II Peter 2:14) - (false prophets) "have hearts trained in greed"
It was starting to make some sense to me. "I thought to myself," remember when money didn't even play apart in your life and God was giving you everything? I had to know, could this be right? So, I looked for more on this subject and man was it everywhere. This article was taken from the book, "Don't Blame God!" A Biblical Answer to the Problem of Evil, Sin and Suffering.
Satan is a parasite and a counterfeiter. Thus, he and his purposes are actually defined by a proper understanding of God and His purposes. Satan’s character and his purposes are diametrically opposed to God’s. The Devil especially tries to undermine man’s perception of God’s goodness by afflicting the righteous while prospering the ungodly. His deception is geared to obscure both God’s good works and his own nefarious schemes, and to confuse people as to the difference between good and evil (Isa. 5:20).
Remember that it works to the Devil’s advantage if he can confuse people about God’s goodness. Let’s take Me, who wrongly thinks that God is in control of both good and evil. Who knows two people who sin in the same way (lying, stealing, adultery, etc., the type of sin does not matter). One of them suffers evil in his life and the other one suffers nothing, or worse, appears to profit from the sin. Am I confused about God? Absolutely. Do I think that God is a fair and righteous judge? No. Who has an understanding upon which his faith in God can grow? No. Score another run for the Devil. I would not have been confused about the situation had I been properly taught what the Word of God says about the real cause of evil, sin and suffering.
One of Satan’s goals in his seemingly random affliction of people (and his corresponding distortion of God’s written Word) is to make it seem as if God is judging and punishing people now. He wants not only to blind people to God’s abundant goodness, grace and mercy, but also to convince them that God is unfairly, unpredictably and almost gleefully vindictive. From our perspective of contemporary Christian theology, he has pretty well succeeded.
Now that I have taken the time to understand what God has to teach Us, I know that he had a known part in what had been going on in my past. It was Satan's doing, trying to get me to hate myself, which would then lead to a hatred towards the Lord. He had to literally take every thing from me just to get me to open my eye's and see that. Now, with the Lord back on my side, I am sure he will take care of me once again.
This video has helped me understand the true meaning of the, "word of God." I think maybe it can help you too, especially if you are having some of the same problems I have had in the past.
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