Encouragement

In 1964, Paul McCartney handled the lead vocals on the Beatles million-seller Can't Buy Me Love, in which he sang "I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love." While Sir Paul has no financial worries, he was correct in his assessment of cash and its influence on the heart. Money can buy superficial love, but real love can never be purchased at any price because
it is free.

The words of the Apostle Paul (not Paul McCartney, but the erstwhile Saul of Tarsus) as written Biblically in
1 Timothy 6:9-11 say:

People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into
ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

For too many, money has become a false god. Money is worshipped and pursued with a level of zeal that many Christians fail to utilize in our pursuit of Jesus. What the lost fail or downright refuse to realize is that the salvation offered through Jesus Christ --who is the only way to life everlasting-- is far easier to acquire than money. It is the gift of the truest love, extended to us free of charge, as He has already paid its price with His blood. All we need to do is to sincerely accept and confess with our mouths that Jesus is indeed Lord and believe in our hearts that God the Father raised Him from the dead.

This writer will be the first to admit that the current financial state of this union is dire for many of its inhabitants. Health insurance is expensive and out of reach for many, but the socialist medicine that the Obama Administration is attempting to ram down our proverbial throats will only make us sicker and poorer. As of this writing, unemployment stands at 9.5 percent, but when you consider the very many thousands who in frustration have abandoned their job searches, that percentage is higher. News reports --again as of this writing-- are claiming that the recession is now over, magically and mysteriously! But, what I am experiencing in my own life and what I am hearing and seeing from others would conversely indicate a deepening financial crisis. The wolves are scratching and howling at the doors of an increasing number of honest, hard-working people. The wolves I speak of don't eat meat. Their ravenous appetites will only be satiated by green -- but these are not vegetarian wolves.

So, on one hand, the lust for money in the current day and age can be understood. Those snarling, mangy, rabies-infected wolves --which appear to have risen from the very pits of Hell-- need their monthly cash feeding. But, the lust for money and its elevation by man to a god-like status has been around since the image of Caesar graced the Denarius, which prompted Jesus to say to the Pharisees and Herodians: "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."

So, what is God's? We are -- you and me. We belong to the Holy, Triune, God -- and all the earthly riches we could possess could never buy our way into Heaven. The truth is academic: Jesus Christ --who was God come to earth with skin on-- is our greatest treasure. The blood He shed is our life blood and without His blood we are D-E-A-D for all eternity. Without His
blood, an eternity with the wolves is assured. With Christ's blood on us and in us, we are guaranteed a glorious eternity
where the wolves have been banished to never scratch our doors again. A glorious eternity waits where there is no need for healthcare, and there are no credit cards, car loans, rent, or mortgages. A spectacular eternity is coming for those who have accepted the grace and mercy that Jesus has so freely extended to us: there will be color and beautiful sound that our finite human minds cannot fathom. The Living Water will flow through the center of the Heavenly New Jerusalem, bordered by streets of gold that will not require tax dollars to maintain. You will have a home that will never see foreclosure because
He who was once a carpenter paid for it in full and then built it for you Himself! I don't care how beautiful or how spacious the current real estate that you reside in is, if you choose Jesus as your carpenter you will have a home that will make your current digs nothing more than an odiferous porta-potty in comparison.

If the wolves are at your door and you have no green in which to feed them, please do not despair. Run to Jesus in prayer and supplication. He is your comfort. He is your fortress and strong tower. Remember that the wolves --whether they are from Bank of America, Citibank, American Express, Big Joey's Collection Agency, or wherever -- they can't take your salvation or file judgments against
your eternity. Jesus said that we must give to Caeser --who employs the wolves-- what is his and theirs, but those human wolves would be wise to remember that they too face judgment. I would venture a guess that most of those human wolves are too busy chasing us for past-due accounts that they haven't ever made the time to accept the free gift extended to them. The judgment that this refusal will bring upon them will be 1,000,000 times more severe than any judgment that their employer Caesar could levy against us or them. Those wolves will yelp in pain for all eternity.

Please pray that at least some of the wolves will accept the free gift before it is too late.