All of us would admit that the world is in a terrible condition today. Never have people been so uncertain, about life. There are wars all over the world, there are silent religious war in our country Nigeria. The world has ceased to talk about lasting peace because peace has eluded us.
On the international level, we have tried to solve our problems by constituting an international body known as the United Nations, a body which was charged with the lawful responsibility of promoting unity amongst the nations of the world and ensuring peace in the world yet, the existence of this international body has not mitigated our problems rather, it has aggravated them. Leaders, presidents, heads of states of various countries have adopted various systems and policies towards mitigating these problem but to no avail. Man is still tormented by war, disease, hunger, poverty, religious bigotry, coups, political victimization and so on.
Take the case of our country Nigeria, different military and civilian governments have proffered certain types of programs carefully designed to solve our diverse problems yet, the country is gradually disintegrating every day. All the international bodies that have tried to solve these problems have failed woefully, they say that there is hunger, joblessness and disease in every country in the world today. How then do we solve our problems? Man has tried, different nations have tried to solve man’s problem but we see that the problems still remains, they are not going away. So, how do we solve these problems, what should we do?
A group of students were once given a riddle to solve, each of them gave a different answer but only very few had the correct answer, the same is true of human existence. Our life on earth is like a rhythm, every one of us is facing a rhythm and each of us is to find his/ her own answer through the rhythm. Some would find the correct answer, some would not yet, others in the midst of confusion would want to combine the correct answer with the wrong answer in the bid to find the correct answer to the riddle. Some believe that the answer to man’s problem lies in money while some still believe that it lies in human beings like the powerful men of God as they call them. Many still believe that money is the answer to their problems, only a few believe that Jesus is the answer to all our problems. So, are you amongst the few that believe that Jesus is the answer to our problems?
So, let us consider the various answers to our life problems: Is money the answer, is it human or Jesus. Considering money as theanswer,some people believe that money is the beginning and the end of all. That is wrong, money may solve some of our problems but not all our problems. So, we can see that money cannot be the solution to our problems. It is true that money can buy us food, yes, money may get us a wife, yes, but money will not give us children or keep us from dying. Therefore, what money can do is limited. The writer of the book of Wisdom states that money does not provide lasting satisfaction. “He says, if you love money, you will never be satisfied, if you love to be rich, it will never get you all your needs, so it is useless.” He who loves money is never satisfied” – Ecclesiastes 5: 10. Instead of satisfying our needs, money brings us problems. In Sirach 31:1, we are told that the daughter of Sarah, declared as follows, “worrying about money will make you lose weight and lose sleep”. Also in the bible. we saw Judas Iscariot, who thought that money would solve his problems, so he sold His master Jesus, for 30 silver of coins. Did it solve his problems? No, instead it agonized him and led him to commit suicide. So “he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.” Matthew 27: 5.
The foolish man in the bible believed that moneywould answer his life’s riddle but he was wrong. On the contrary, his dependence on money led him to eternal damnation. “I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there, l will store my surplus grain. And l will say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink and merry.” But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. ‘- Luke 12: 16 – 20. Realizing the inability of money to provide solution to our problems, the Psalmist advises us thus, “Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.” –Psalm 62: 10, Saint Paul spoke to those for trust in riches as answer to our problems in this way, “do not be arrogant nor put your hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but your hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment”- 1st letter to timothy 6:17. So we can see here that money is not the solution to our problems.
Let us see man, some say that man is the answer to our problems. Hmm! Many people today seek answers to their problems in their fellow human beings, they consult medicine men, powerful men of God as they call them, prophets and so on and so forth. They put their trust and confidence in these human beings believing that they have super powers. They carry money and expensive gifts to them believing that they can solve their problems. People who go to these prophets claim that these men can see visions, predict the future and prescribe adequate solutions The bible warns us against consulting these false prophets. Some will even tell you that they can consult the spirit of dead on behalf of the living. Don’t listen to them but answer them by telling them to listen to what the Lord is teaching us because what they are telling us will do us no good. Isaiah 8: 19 -20. Furthermore, the Lord says, “I make fool of fortune tellers and frustrate the astrologers Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for l am God and there is no other”- Isaiah, 47: 22 –25. Also the biblereminds all those who rely on astrologers for kindness and salvation that they are doomed. You are powerless in spite of the advice that you get. The Lord challenged the astrologers, fortune tellers and all those men that we consult to come together and save us. He said “All the counsel you received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predations month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you. Surely they are like stubble, the fire will burn them up”. Isaiah 47: 13 – 14.
Many people who have gone to these medicine men, fortune tellers, astrologers, powerful men of God as they are called and prophets have failed and some of them are coming back to Jesus. Is it not obvious then that neither money nor human being is the answer to our problems but, Jesus. Jesus, is the answer to our problems so, do not put your trust on human beings or money.
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The Holy Name of Jesus! God the father's love is made manifest in Jesus. Jesus' life, death and resurrection shows how much the father loves us. The love of the father and Jesus for us is unimaginable.
You are right , Matthew. Thank you
Powerfully written! God wants us to use money and not the other way around. After all we cannot serve two masters. I love how you used scriptural evidence of this idea. Great devotional.
Thank you Derek . I appreciate your comment and contribution.
Well-written article but if we simply do the will of God, we shall experience utopia on planet earth. From our hearts “come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.”
The Church teaches that such evils are consequences of original sin. The doctrine holds that there is something fundamentally off about us, that all is not well, that we are off-kilter, skewed, and mixed up. We Catholics don’t hold to a doctrine of total depravity, but we do indeed hold that original sin has worked its way into every nook and cranny of our lives: our minds, our wills, our desires and passions, even our very bodies.
As G.K. Chesterton argued a century ago, original sin is the only doctrine for which there is empirical evidence, for we can feel it within ourselves and we can see the effects of it everywhere.
One of the surest signs of our dysfunction is that we tend to celebrate all of the wrong people and despise or look down upon the best people. Pay very close attention to the people you don’t like, to those that you consider obnoxious; it might tell you a lot about your own spiritual state.
Yes, Jesus is the answer.
Thank you Matthew for usual and inciting comments, God bless you for this beauticle extracts.