Welcome to Tuesday, July 14th, 2015!!! This is your place for insight with inspiration, songs with sanctification, and trivia without trepidation...it's Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!
Today
The Notes explores one of the touchiest subjects we have ever tackled.
There are as many differing opinions regarding our topic's use. Some
consider it as one the most important things in their life, others
consider it a tool to provide for their livelihood, while there are
those who could care less. The Notes contends that the best attitude
towards money is a perhaps a combination of these ideologies and that
your money prioritization depends on your stage in life.
We
must provide a disclaimer at this point. Tuesday's Musical Notes is an
opinion blog. We do not provide money management advice. We confess
to having made plenty of mistakes in our own management of money and
therefore have some opinions that we would like to pass on. The Notes
has a similar attitude towards money as we have mentioned in our
politically laced blogs, Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Saturday In The Park", Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Vote For Me", Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Mr. President, Have Mercy On The Working Man",
(you really should visit the archives sometime...quite the treasure
trove). As with a Presidential choice, You should do your own research regarding your money, find the best plans/advisory
personnel for you, and then be diligent and consistently patient with
how you manage your resources. 'Cause you wanna do thangs, do thangs,
good thangs with it...
Since
1958, listener's of popular music has been weary of "The Back-Stabbers"
while riding on the "Love Train". You "Put Your Hands Together" while
being careful "For The Love Of Money". All the while proclaiming "I
Love Music" and "Livin' For The Weekend". We comforted our buddies as
they mourned that she, "Use Ta Be My Girl". This soundtrack of our
lives in the 70's was provided by the R&B group, The O'Jays.
What
started out as a 5 man band, dwindled to a pop sensation trio that
would populate the R&B charts of the 70's and crossover 7 times into
Billboard Hot 100 top 20. Hailing from Canton, Ohio, they derived
their name as a tribute to Cleveland DJ Eddie O'Jay.
"For
The Love Of Money" would be their highest pop chart hit (1974, #9) after
hitting #1 in 1973 with "Love Train". It was nominated in 1975 for
"Best R&B Vocal Performance- Duo, Group, or Chorus" at the Grammy's,
but would lose to "Tell Me Something Good" by Rufus. "For The Love Of
Money" continues to be covered and sampled by popular groups since the
early 80's. It was also used as the theme song for the reality shows,
"The Apprentice" and "Celebrity Apprentice." Even though the album
version was over 7 minutes long, it still received considerable airplay
at radio. If the title of the song sounds familiar, it is due to the
fact it was taken from 1 Timothy 6:10 in the Bible. The King James
Version states: "For
the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted
after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through
with many sorrows."
While
the love of money, or to put it bluntly, the idolatry of money, is a
topic of much concern, The Notes would like to approach our discussion
in a little bit more of a positive bend. Welcome to the topic of
thrift!
"The
whole thing of clothes is insane. You can spend a dollar on a jacket in
a thrift store. And you can spend a thousand dollars on a jacket in a
shop. And if you saw those two jackets walking down the street, you
probably wouldn't know which was which."
"The earnings of the godly enhance their lives, but evil people squander their money on sin." Proverbs 10:16
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. "
King Solomon wrote in the book of Proverbs:
"The earnings of the godly enhance their lives, but evil people squander their money on sin." Proverbs 10:16
and Benjamin Franklin:"If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting."
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. "
Matthew 25:14-30The Message (MSG)
The Story About Investment
14-18 “It’s also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master’s investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master’s money.19-21 “After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’
22-23 “The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master’s investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’
24-25 “The servant given one thousand said, ‘Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.’
26-27 “The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.
28-30 “‘Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.’
Jesus' life was a lesson in paying a price. In the book of Romans (Romans 6, The Message), the apostle Paul writes about wages and payments, costs and benefits, if you will. He explains that the wrong things we do in our life come at a price, it cost someone something. This a price that someone must pay. We either pay it in the afterlife by being separated from God forever, or we accept the loving, substitutionary payment that Jesus made by enduring torture and death. Colossians 1:13-23 Holman Christian Standard Bible Creator God did this so that we can be restored through Jesus blood. Our part is repenting (turning away) from the evil that we do everyday. Believing that Jesus was who He said He was saves us for eternity, however it does not make us perfect. Only Jesus was perfect. We will still sin, but as believers, this sin is forgiven because of Jesus sacrifice. The debt is paid. When Jesus said "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing.", we were a part of "them". He did it for you and me.
The Bible has much to say about "things" that will come into our lives that will attempt to become "idols", those things that would take the place of our love and devotion to God. Money happens to be one of those things. As a tool, it can be used for great things. As a device of greed, it can be used for bad. I think the O'Jays had the right philosphy:
"Don't let, don't let, don't let money rule you
For the love of money
Money can change people sometimes
Don't let, don't let, don't let money fool you
Money can fool people sometimes
People, don't let money, don't let money change you
It will keep on changing, changing up your mind...money money money"
"Money" by Manic Drive from the 2011 album Epic
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
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