Meekness and Humility – Real Keys to the Kingdom

I’m not so sure if it’s power that corrupts.  But evidently there is something about being a human that can be prone to corruption and power certainly helps.

I was recalling my journey with money.  Money didn’t do anything to me, but attitudes and influences about money certainly affected my approach to money.

In my upbringing my parents displayed a relatively frugal approach to money.  We were content with what God had given us and were not extravagant in spending at all.  I remember my dad’s idea of indulgence was his weekly purchase of the Gleaner newspaper which kept him updated with what was going on in his home land of Jamaica.  That was hardly wrecking the bank account.

My Mum desired the best for her family, but understood the financial constraints that meant it was not always the top of the range stuff that could be afforded, but when an opportunity came to treat her children, she took delight in doing so.  She was the go to person when it came to asking for money – not that Dad would say no, just that … well … with Mum … well …

We had our pocket money, but obviously going to school and seeing what the next person had gave me a idea of our social and financial status.  I still had food on my plate, though. I still had clothes to wear and shoes on me feet.

Yet I remember when I came across money through a newspaper round I was able to get into.

My eyes widened as I discovered the things that money could allow.  Wow.  All of sudden I could buy sweets, chocolate, magazines – wow, this was the life!  No sense of responsibility, generosity or any such issue.  It was not as though, there wasn’t an example before us in the way my parents dealt with money – just that here I was with this new found ability to GET STUFF with the money.

To show it wasn’t my parents’ fault my brother and sister came out fairly well rounded when it came to applying wisdom in their financial dealings.

For me, however, things got worse when I got to university.  Mine was the last era where we had government grants for university.  That as well as loans also available and these brilliant concepts of a credit card and bank overdraft seemed to open a door to wonderful worlds of MORE STUFF.  Oooohhhh goody goody.

Now sometimes what we perceive as God’s blessings really should lead us to fall on our knees and pray ‘Dear God, help me.’  However in my case it was giving a high five to my neighbour and say ‘Good god almighty, lets spend us some money!’  The small ‘g’ is deliberate, because I was certainly not referring to the true God of wisdom and grace whose gifts are abundantly distributed for the betterment of many.  This was to glorify Chris Dryden.

The ‘Dear God’ mentality is the beginning of meekness, as I was to discover (and continue to discover every time it’s pay day).

To be continued.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd