The global financial woes hopefully help us to remember what is most valuable

No doubt you’ve heard the question, ‘I’ve got good news and bad news; which do you want first?’

Right now most people are well informed of bad economic news which is affecting people around the world. The message seems to be ‘Fasten your seat belts folks. There’s a rough ride ahead.’ Times are not going to get easier, especially for those who struggle to pay their way at the best of times.

There is a tremendous focus on money in our world today. Whether you are a ‘have’ or a ‘have not’, minds are concentrated on getting by, surviving, keeping one’s head above water, or, for some, continual striving for more and more wealth. Perhaps it will always be like this.

Deals that go wrong
Stories abound of people losing their money because of wrong decisions, wrong investments and unscrupulous confidence men.

We even hear of poor folk selling items of relief that have reached them, simply to have some money in their hands. A bad bargain.

But there is a basic attitude toward money that can leave us eternally destitute. It is the attitude that places money way up on our order of values, even to the point of being in love with it.

The worst bargain of all
It reads like this: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” Or, as another rendering words it: “Will a person gain anything if he wins the whole world but is himself lost?” (Luke chapter 9, verse 25Luke chapter 9, verse 25 NIV & TEV)

Concentrating on material gain distracts our attention from what is most valuable. Our lives are more than a short span of years. They are to extend beyond the grave, either with eternal gain or eternal loss. How serious is that!

Now the good news
What better news is there than the ever relevant news that Jesus, Son of God, paid with His life an infinitely valuable price for your salvation; “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich in order to save us from the loss caused by sin.” (2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 92 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 9) In turning away from other trusts and placing our trust in this now risen Lord, we are made rich in what really counts. We have eternal life with all its grand dimensions, forgiveness of sin and peace with God.

Without the treasure that God offers us in Christ, we are among the world’s poorest, no matter how much or how little money we have to our name.