Who Owns You?

There is a picture of a dollar bill floating around on the internet. On the bill are the words, "I am a piece of paper, and I control your entire life."

This is one of those profound statements which, obviously, applies to somebody -- maybe everybody -- else. Not me, of course. Certainly not you. Right?

Today is Tax Freedom Day. According to annually figured estimates, this is the last day you need to work each year in order to cover your local, State, and Federal taxes. After today, the money you earn is yours.

Which means, if you're a taxpayer, you have worked four months this year -- just to pay the government. In essence, you've been working for free.  Consider how this idea makes you feel... and then ask yourself again: does money control my life?

Obviously, money is necessary. If we are to keep a roof over our heads, or to put food in our children's mouths; if we are to give generously to those in need, it is necessary to have a means to do so. But ultimately, money is a tool. If you find too much of your life is about making more of it, maybe it's time to ask why.

Jesus reminds us, in Luke 16:13

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

So what does that mean? Do we stop going to work? Do we switch to a part-time job so we can spend more time with our families, or doing God's work? I suggest that what you are doing now is God's work, if you allow it to be. We have to work in order to survive -- and there's nothing wrong with that. But while you're working, are you also acting as a Light, showing Christ's love to those around you? Are you generous with what you earn, sharing the resources you work for with those in need?

Money is part of life... the issue of control, though, is in our attitudes.

Choose This Day

Of all the recently-invented holidays we celebrate, one of my favorites has to be Make Up Your Own Holiday Day. It's fun to think of all the random -- or not so random -- things we could celebrate (though it is odd it's so close to holidays like Easter and St. Patrick's Day... but I didn't invent it). It may be a day to simply decide what may amuse you (on other years, I've celebrated everything from a favorite candy bar to dryer lint), or a day to really see what's important in your life.

As Joshua lead Israel, he was worried about their continued straying to the false gods of the nations around them. So, he issued an ultimatum:

“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:14-15)

We have a choice daily -- even now. Will we serve our sinful natures, or will we serve God? Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:24 (in a discourse also related in Luke 16:13): “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

What's important to you? What does your life say? Are you chasing the dollar? The "American Dream?" The next big thing? Or are you seeking the will of the Savior? 

Every day is a choice: Whom will I serve? And every day is a re-commitment:  As for me and my house, we will -- gladly, joyously, prayerfully -- serve the Lord!