Gimme Some Money!

In the mockumentary This is Spinal Tap, the mythical band at the heart of the movie revisit their first big hit.  It was a song, called Gimme Some Money.  A decade and a half after the release of this song the movie traces the lives of Spinal Tap’s members, all of whom have made their fortunes in the music industry, but remain unfulfilled. 

Isn’t it strange when we don’t have money the cry of our heart, like Spinal Tap’s song is, “gimme some money” and then when we finally do get our hands on money our cry becomes “gimme some more money!”  As the old saying goes: “Money is like seawater. The more a person has to drink, the thirstier he becomes.”

So why is this?  Why is it that money, which promises to satisfy us, inevitably fails to satisfy?  

​Here’s a theological answer for you:  It’s because money is a created thing and human beings cannot ever be fully and finally satisfied with created things.  God made man to glorify and enjoy Him and true satisfaction can never be known apart from this.

To illustrate the point someone once asked the richest man in the world, John D. Rockefeller, how much money was enough. Rockefeller famously responded, “Just a little bit more.” 
 
Isn’t this quotation a sad but startling proof that a person can amass the world’s largest fortune and yet if their affections are set upon the fortune itself, they will never be truly satisfied as they forever grasp for more?

Now of course, none of this is to say that money is in itself a bad thing.  As a matter of fact the Bible often speaks of money in positive ways.  Furthermore it is perfectly acceptable, biblically speaking, for a person to be a devout follower of the Lord and to be very rich - take Abraham for example.  It is also a fact that money plays a very important role in God’s work on earth.  It is through the financial sacrifice of the average person in the pew that the Lord funds His church and sends His gospel out into the nations, making disciples.  Nevertheless, though Bible speaks positively about money it is also clear to warn us of its many dangers.  The Bible even tells us that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” (I Timothy 6:10).
 
In the final analysis, money is good but it cannot truly satisfy us. Only knowing and enjoying God can really bring the satisfaction we crave.  This is why the Christian must guard his/her heart against the idolatry of money and he/she must also use money to glorify God and advance His kingdom on earth, always conscious of the Lord’s command:   
 
    “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  
(Matthew 6:19-21, ESV)