It’s dirty.  You are told to wash your hands after touching it.

Everyone wants it.  A lot of it.

It comes in many forms: paper, metal, plastic and air.

It’s illegal to put this in your ears in Hawaii.

It carries the message that we trust in God, sadly though, our use of it says differently.

Yes, I’m talking about money.  There was a fabulous message this weekend on money at PTCC by Paul Basden.  It was called Money Minefields, part of the hugofwar.com series.  Now being unmarried, I have to listen to a marriage series through my ‘single’ filter.  The great thing about this message, when all of the marriage elements are stripped away, there are SO many great lessons here.

I could blog on this topic all day long, but I have a purpose here.  In the interest of time, Paul had to cut something from his message this weekend that really got me thinking…

The Lost Scrolls of Paul (Okay, so they are LifeGroup notes.  If you roll them up, technically they become scrolls.  Just sayin’)

Paul did talk about how greed and fear are closely related.  The details of this really got me thinking.  In order to correct any problem, you must understand the root of the problem.  This piece shed a light on my own views on money.  Whether our financial situations are good or bad, I think we all have fears related to them.  Here’s the detail, copied in from our life group notes:

When it comes to money, are you more afraid of …

• not having enough
• not having as much
• not having more than

Paul touched on these fears, along with a brief explanation of them.  Please keep in mind that I am blogging this from my own perspective and interpretation.  (Paul, if you’re reading this, feel free to give me some feedback on my interpretation)  ;)

not having enough – This is related to survival.

We have fears that we won’t have what we need to survive.  This fear could have originated from your upbringing or from unfavorable life lessons.  We are not trusting that God will provide for our needs.  We don’t ever want to be in a position where we are in need.

not having as much – This is related to comparison.

Trying to keep up with the Jones’.  The problem here is that the Jones are society’s poster family.  They represent everything in our culture that is financially destructive.  The Jones’ have all the cool stuff.  They have all the latest electronics, trendy clothing, new cars and a nice house that has the greenest grass you’ve ever seen.

Have you looked in their backyard?  Behind the pool?  On an average, they carry about $8,000 worth of credit card debt, car payments and not a lot in savings.  The rooms closed off in the house are unfurnished and that yard area behind the pool?  It’s not green at all.

not having more than – This is related to arrogance.

The desire to have more than anyone else, or everyone else.  You’ve probably heard the old saying, “He who dies with the most wins…”  What are you winning?  Choosing materialism over relationships is no way to live, and certainly no way to die.

After pondering this, I do struggle with two of these fears:  not having enough and not having as much.  Mostly with not having enough.  After thinking about this, talking about it last night in our singles group and having the desire to make some positive changes, my next blog will be on tips to make positive improvements.  I have made many, but there’s still room for improvement.  Stay tuned…

In the mean time, enjoy my book recommendation from toothpastefordinner.com.