What would you do for money?

What would you do for money? This is a question that comes up a lot, when we where younger, in our pre-teen and teen years this was often a question asked in a game of 20 questions.. You know “Would you jump off a bridge for tem billion dollars” and so on. We all played it, and to some extent we still do.

As adults we all play this game, would you leave your current job and work mates for more money? Would you work at a job you hate for more money? How about moving, would you leave your home your family or your parish all for money?

Money is a funny thing, it can make us do things that we never would think of. Why is that, and is it a new modern problem?

In today’s world money seems to drive all we do, I work with youth, and all to often what they want in life revolves around money. I ask them what they want to be when they grow up and they tell me rich, or make lots of money. They may not say that directly they may say they want to be a doctor, but when I ask why, they respond “To make lots of money”.  You ask them to do something, to be helpful and the first question is how much will you pay me? Money seems to drive them. The concept of doing something “just because” is lost on them. Now please understand this is not all youth, nor is it all people, but it seems to be a majority of them. I hope and pray that this is not the case, I pray that people would and do do the right thing, and that its not all about the money. But once again people do funny things for money.

In this hard economy we all are in this question will come up more and more, as people struggle to make it they will start to question themselves, look for that quick fix and fast money. Often times fast money or quick fixes are to good to be true, and may be illegal.  Today in this economy there are many predators out there, online, on the phone and door to door. They tempt you with money, lots of it and its almost always fast and easy. Remember that nothing is fast and easy, including money and more importantly happiness.

Once again we may think of this as something new, something the modern times has brought on, but no, that’s not true, money has been a driving force for centuries. Read the passage below:

Mt 26:14-25
One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests and said,
“What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?”
They paid him thirty pieces of silver,
and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over….

Now some may say that Judas did not do it for money, that he had other reasons, and that the reasons are even valid reasons, that Judas did what he thought was best for his people. That may be, but the fact that money changed hands, that Judas took it tells me that money played a roll in it all. Yes Judas gave it back, he had regrets, but the damage was done.

In life we may make decisions based on money and later regret it, we may realize that we chose the wrong path. It is a lesson learned, one that hopefully will not be repeated. But money seems to have a strong pull on us all, some more than others.

Judas thought he was doing the right thing, his intentions were not evil, I am sure, but he took the blood money for what ever reason. And because of his choice the world will never be the same.

Money is not evil, but the power we allow it to hold over us can be. Like anything else, it is all in how we use it. Many many well off people use there money to the betterment of the world, to give back to the community. How we chose to look at and to deal with money is up to us,a nd like many other things money can be abused by the rich and the poor.

In today’s economic world we all need to learn a life lesson concerning money, it is not the end all that many think it is, nor is it the evil of the world that others think it is. Money is paper, it is the people who posses it that are evil or holy, not the money.

Paul