Making Money an Idol

I admit.  I’ve had times when I’ve raised my eyebrows at people that seem a little bit too attached to their money.  I’ve made some self-righteous judgements when I spot people who I perceive to enjoy their consumerist habits a little too much. 

I take pride in being smart with money.  I have a lot of things but I’d like to think that I buy things more out of practicality, not extravagance.  I am thankful for my monetary self-control and my general satisfaction with how much of it I have.

Then again, I’ve also had times where I wished that I had a little more money.  That we could be one of the families that had dollar bills at our disposal for endless entertainment.

When I really stop to examine myself, I realize a dirty little secret. 

I might be a saver, but I can also be a cheap scrooge.

I may take pride in having consumerist self-control but I still spend time envying what other people have.

In short, even though I don’t have endless amounts of it, nor do I usually wish for it, and even though I pay off my debts and have relatively healthy spending habits, I still have moments where I may treat money as a sort of god.

Being smart with my money may be a good thing but not if it produces self-righteous, all consuming thoughts on what to do with my money.  When I feel guilty for buying myself a relatively fancy watch with my birthday money and ask my husband repeatedly for affirmation that it was okay to buy this unnecessarily expensive watch rather than replacing my old frying pan, there might be something wrong.

Sometimes I think I’d be better off if I loosened up a little bit.  Maybe it would be a good thing to allow myself to buy that extra shirt or that out-of-season fruit so that I realize that life will still go on if I spend an extra $20 here and there.

Maybe I could learn that it’s worth allowing myself an extravagance in order to spend some quality time with family on a camping trip even though it may include some unnecessary things like ice cream every day and multiple trips to a petting zoo.

In short, I confess to being a little bit too concerned about money.  Just because I’m spending conscious doesn’t mean that I don’t place too much emphasis on the value of money.  Even though I choose to drive a car that I paid for with cash, I still have daily lessons to learn about what it means to be truly resourceful and stewardly.  I must keep my eyes on the true God who created us to be loving, forgiving, and serving of those around us and lock away any tendency to make money my idol.  I have no doubt that I’ll fail at this repeatedly, but I won’t bother betting any money on it!