It is time to review another commandment from the book "The Ten Commandments of Marriage" by Ed Young. As usual, I will review the chapter but not everything will be covered. It is a great book to check out.
The fifth commandment is "Thou shalt avoid the quicksand of debt". Isn't there a saying - "money is the root of all evil"? Well money can be the root of divorce as well. The beginning of this chapter talks about a newly married couple that "needs" to keep up with the Jones'; bigger house, better cars, newer technology, etc. Just think about our society, we "need" a lot of stuff. We "need" to have the newest, best and fastest thing out there. However, the newest never stays new; the best always changes, and the fastest thing will be slow after a while. Therefore, it is a vicious cycle to keep up with. That vicious cycle brings about tension, which can eventually lead to divorce.
Young talks about stewardship. As Young notes, stewardship is not just a word the church uses it should be something all households use in their everyday language. "God owns everything and entrusts some of it to us to use for a little while. God makes us trustees of His possessions." (pg. 110) When looking at it that way, how one spends the money should definitely change. Are we being good stewards of the blessings that the Lord has given us?
What gets in the way of stewardship? A word and action called greed. "Greed is best defined as mishandled blessings." (pg. 111) A question was put out to the general public of America by researchers Patterson and Kim to see "What would You Do for $10 Million?" It is astounding what people are willing to do to have their hands on mega amounts of money. Some of the things listed in the book are, "abandon their family, abandon their church, become prostitutes for a week, leave their spouse, kill a stranger, put their children up for adoption..." People would do these things to get what? A new house, a new TV, a new...whatever $10 Million dollars can buy. Yet, they would be left without love, without Christ, a guilty conscious, etc. How twisted our society is that it has made the "love of money" so appealing.
Other concepts in the chapter discussed are types of budgets, how to overcome greed, the concept of deceit and rationalizing, etc. It is a great chapter that gives couples lots to consider when they are working towards building their life together.
Psalm 37:16 notes, "Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked."
Proverbs 10:22 - "The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it."
We are already rich! We do not need the $10 Million!
Cheryl
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