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Money
MONEY IS NOT EVERYING
It can buy a House, But not a Home
It can buy a Bed, But not Sleep
It can buy a Clock, But not Time
It can buy you a Book, But not Knowledge
It can buy you a Position, But not Respect
It can buy you Medicine, But not Health
It can buy you Blood, But not Life
It can buy you Sex, But not Love
So you see money isn't everything.
I tell you all this because I am your Friend,
and as your Friend I want to take away your pain and suffering...
so send me all your money and I will suffer for you.
A truer Friend than me you will never find.
CASH ONLY PLEASE
【Money】Money is an
article that may be used as a universal provider of everything-except
happiness!
【Money】A billboard
advertisement for a savings-and-loan association in Dallas, Texas, read: “We
Lend Happiness at Eighteen Locations.”
【Money】Money will buy a
fine dog, but only love will make him wag his tail.
【Money】There’s a new golden
rule in effect today: “He who has the gold, makes up the rules.”
【Debts and
Money】Money is the number-one cause of domestic
unhappiness. Many couples need to undergo plastic surgery. They need to have
their credit cards cut off.
【Debts and
Money】Nowadays people can be divided into three classes:
The
haves,
The
have-nots, and
The
Have-Not-Paid-for-What-They-Haves.
【Debts and
Money】If the Word taught me anything, it taught me to have
no connection with debt. I could not think that God was poor, that He was short
on resources, or unwilling to supply any want of whatever work was really His.
It seemed to me that if there were lack of funds to carry on work, then to that
degree, in that special development, or at that time, it could not be the work
of God.—Hudson Taylor
【Deceitfulness
of Money】One day a certain old, rich man of a miserable
disposition visited a rabbi, who took the rich man by the hand and led him to a
window. “Look out there” he said. The rich man looked into the street, “What do
you see?” asked the rabbi.
“I
see men, women, and children,” answered the rich man.
Again
the rabbi took him by the hand and this time led him to a mirror. “Now what do
you see?”
“Now
I see myself,” the rich man replied.
Then
the rabbi said, “Behold, in the window there is glass, and in the mirror there
is glass. But the glass of the mirror is covered with a little silver, and no
sooner is the silver added than you cease to see others, but you see only
yourself.”
【Deceitfulness
of Money】A businessman had an angel come to visit him who
promised to grant him one request. The man requested a copy of the stock-market
quotes for one year in the future. As he was studying the future prices on the
American and
He
then glanced across the newspaper page, only to see his own picture in the
obituary column. Obviously, in the light of his certain death, money was no
longer important.
【Deceitfulness
of Money】Money will buy:
A
bed, but not sleep.
Books,
but not brains.
Food,
but not appetite.
A
house, but not a home.
Medicine,
but not health.
Amusement,
but not happiness.
Finery,
but not beauty.
A
crucifix, but not a Savior.
【Deceitfulness
of Money】In the June 14, 1968, issue of Life magazine appeared
a picture of young David Kennedy sitting outside the White House. The picture
had been taken several years before by his Aunt Jacqueline and was inscribed by
his Uncle John with the words: “A future president inspects his property-John
Kennedy.”
Though
he had name, status, wealth, and all that money could buy, in 1984 David
Kennedy was found dead by his own hand at age twenty-eight. Money can buy the
things of this world but cannot satisfy man’s inner longing for peace.
【Deceitfulness
of Money】I sit in my house in Buffalo and sometimes I get so
lonely it’s unbelievable. Life has been so good to me. I’ve got a great wife,
good kids, money, my own health-and I’m lonely and bored… I often wondered why
so many rich people commit suicide. Money sure isn’t a cure-all!—O.J. Simpson
【Love of Money】An old Jack Benny
skit illustrates how money can become more important to us than anything else.
Jack was walking along, when suddenly an armed robber approached him and
ordered, “Your money or your life!” There was a long pause, and Jack did
nothing. The robber impatiently queried, “Well?” Jack replied, “Don’t rush me,
I’m thinking about it.” (Incidentally, in real life, Jack Benny was known as a
very generous man!)
【Gambling】With typical insight, C.S. Lewis summed up
the problem some Christians have with gambling and offered a simple solution
for those who are encouraged by friends, co-workers, and others to participate
in an office pool or “friendly wager.”
Problem:
“If it is a way in which large sums of money are transferred from person to
person without doing any good (e.g., producing employment, goodwill, etc.),
then it is a bad thing.”
Solution:
“If anyone comes to me asking to play bridge for money, I just say, ‘How much
do you hope to win? Take it and go away.’”—C.S. Lewis
【Materialism】YUPPIES are passe. These
days you can be a GRUMP (grim, ruthless, upwardly mobile professional), a DINK
(dual income, no kids), or, heaven help you, a SITCOM (single income, two
children, outrageous mortgage).
YUPPIE, first spotted in 1984's
The Yuppie Handbook, is easy - Young Urban Professional. That led to BUPPIES (black urban
professional), HUPPIES (Hispanic, etc.), GUPPIES (gay) and PUPPIES (pregnant).
The new acronyms are tougher to
decipher. Some reflect the growing
number of seniors: OPALS (older
people with active lifestyles) and SUPPIES (senior yuppies). Others:
* MINKS: Multiple income, no kids.
* DIWKS: Dual income, with
kids.
* TICKS: Two income couple, kids.
* OINKS: One income, no kids. --By
William Dunn,
【Materialism】Two new board games on the market this year are "Gorbachev"
from Milton Bradley, in which the object is to acquire the luxuries every
Soviet desires, and "Let's Go Shopping" from Pressman Toy Corp., in
which girls 5 and up race around a mall, using miniature shopping bags for game
pieces. --New York Times, reported in Vitality Magazine
【Materialism】If we lack basic
nutrients in our diet we suffer malnutrition. The cure is simple: take vitamin
tablets to insure you get the minimum level. Once the minimum is reached,
however, additional tablets have little or no benefit. Unfortunately some
people apply this logic: “If a little was good, a lot will be better.” This
simply is not true and in some cases is dangerous. On occasion people have even
lost their lives from overdoses of vitamin A.
Sadly,
this is often the case with earning money. If at one point we lacked money for
basic necessities, then money-when it finally came-was a blessing. But many
have applied the logic “If a little was good, a lot will be better.” Many have
lost their lives this way!
【Materialism】The story is told
of a man who was given a tour of one of the most impressive homes in a
particular city. The rooms seemed to go on without end, and each one was more
wonderful than the one before it. Marble, gold, and fine woods were everywhere.
Finally the visitor was asked how he liked the house. He replied, “These are
the things that make dying hard.”
For
those who have seen only the beauty of this world and who do not long for the
beauty of that to come, dying is indeed hard.
【Materialism】If you have
something you can’t live without, you don’t own it; it owns you.
【Materialism】Materialism has
nothing to do with amount, it has everything to do with attitude.
【Materialism】In this world
there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what you want. The other is
getting it.
【Materialism】Someone has
intuitively stated, “A bargain is something you cannot use, at a price you
cannot resist!”
【Materialism】The fly lands on
the flypaper and says, “My flypaper,” while the flypaper says, “My fly.”
【Materialism】An extremely rich
real-estate tycoon in Dallas once said, “If you go into business with the idea
of erecting an empire, all you do is make yourself a nicer cage. You’re a
prisoner of the monster you created. It’s lonely.”
【Materialism】The story of a butterfly named Maculinea
arion is most instructive. The creature lays its eggs on a plant, and after
feeding on the plant for several weeks, the young caterpillar makes its way to
the ground. In order to complete its development, it must meet a certain kind
of ant. When such an ant meets the caterpillar, the ant strokes it with its
antennae, and the caterpillar exudes a sweet fluid from a special gland on its
tenth segment. Apparently the ant likes this substance, because it then carries
the caterpillar home to its nest. There the ants drink the sweet fluid exuded
by the caterpillar, and the caterpillar feasts on larval ants. The caterpillar
spends the winter in a special cavity of the ant’s nest, and in the spring it
continues eating young ants. Eventually it emerges as an adult butterfly and
flies away to establish more of its kind. And the cycle starts all over again.
Some
people are not much different from the ants. For you see, they cherish a luxury
item to the injury of themselves.
【Materialism】The preacher came over to visit
unexpectedly. Wanting to make a good impression, the lady of the house
instructed her little daughter, “Please run and get that good book we all love
so much and bring it here.”
The
daughter tottered off and then returned in a minute with triumph on her face
and the Sears catalogue in her hands!
【Materialism】An anonymous writer tells about an
American tourist’s visit to the nineteenth-century Polish rabbi hofetz Chaim:
Astonished
to see that the rabbi’s home was only a simple room filled with books, plus a
table and a bench, the tourist asked, “Rabbi, where is your furniture?”
“Where
is yours?” replied the rabbi.
“Mine?”
asked the puzzled American. “But I’m a visitor here. I’m only passing through.”
“So
am I,” said Hofetz Chaim.
【Materialism】John M. Keynes was the founder of the
modern study of economics. He realized that worldly prosperity could come about
only through a corruption of the moral laws. To bring this prosperity to full
operation in the world Lord Keynes is credited with the following quote: “If we
are to succeed, we must call good bad and bad good for a little while longer.”
【Materialism】When John D. Rockefeller died, one man was
curious about how much he left behind. Determined to find out, he set up an
appointment with one of Rockefeller’s highest aides and asked, “How much did
Rockefeller leave behind?”
The
aide answered, “All of it.”
【Wealth】Hetty Green was possibly America’s
greatest miser. She died in 1915, leaving an estate valued at over one million
dollars, but always ate cold oatmeal because it cost too much to heat it. Her
son had to suffer through a leg amputation unnecessarily because Hetty wasted
so much time looking for a free clinic that he wasn’t examined early enough.
Hetty
Green was wealthy, but she chose to live like a pauper. Eccentric? Yes. Crazy?
Perhaps, but nobody could prove it. She was so foolish that she hastened her
own death when she suffered a stroke by becoming too excited over a discussion
about the value of drinking skimmed milk.
We
laugh at the foolishness of this eccentric old woman, but the fact is that this
is a tragic illustration of many Christians. We have limitless wealth at our
disposal, and yet we often choose to live in spiritual poverty.
【Wealth】The great newspaper publisher of the early
part of this century, William Randolph Hearst, was a patron of art and spent a
great deal of money collecting art treasures for his collection. The story is
told that one day he found a description of an artwork that he felt he must
own, so he sent his agent abroad to find it. After months of searching, the
agent reported that he had found the treasured object and that it was close to
home. Where was it? In Hearst’s warehouse, with many other treasures he owned that
were still in their crates. The great Hearst had been searching for a treasure
he already owned!
Such
is the power of wealth that it blinds us to the treasures we already have and
focuses us on obtaining more, without appreciating what we have.