I once won a bet of a lobster dinner that there was a verse in the Bible that said, “Money is the answer to everything.” It just seems so out of place, more like the title of a self-help book for the would-be-rich. My friend took me up on the bet . . . and later treated me to a lobster dinner!<\/p>\n
The verse is in Ecclesiastes (of course) and I must confess I was just as surprised as my lobster cooking friend when I first came across it.<\/p>\n
But isn’t the Bible the book that says, “Money is the root of all evil”?<\/p>\n
No. Look again. The full quote is\u00a0<\/strong>the love of<\/em> <\/span>money is the root of all evil.**<\/p>\n Money itself is just a fact of life, something necessary for living, and almost always the solution when a lack of it is the problem.<\/p>\n Here’s the text:<\/p>\n A feast is made for laughter, Everything has a use. The purpose of a feast is to lighten the heart. The purpose of wine, similar. But the purpose of money is to buy the food, buy the wine, rent the space, provide the cutlery, the plates, the service, the glasses, the candles, the music, the\u00a0decorations, pay the staff, tip the help, send invitations, dress for the occasion, and all the other details for which if there is no money, nothing happens.<\/p>\n Money is almost always the solution when the problem is its lack.<\/p>\n You knew this all along; you just didn’t know it was in the Bible.<\/p>\n It was in early adulthood I formed a simple philosophy about money and its preoccupation. I said: Of course, “enough” can be a sliding scale and be ever elusive, but that’s a problem of a different nature.<\/p>\n Enough<\/em> is what you need; and when you don’t have it you do something about it. That’s where wisdom comes in, and work, and a combination of many things all starting with a decision.<\/p>\n But with enough<\/em>, you need not always strive, and need not ever worry.<\/p>\n It’s the one who has too little money who is\u00a0perennially\u00a0preoccupied with it. Having enough is an answer for that too.<\/p>\n And an occasional lobster dinner.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n ____________________<\/p>\n * \u00a0 \u00a0Ecclesiastes 10:19 Here’s one you might not think was in a book on the spiritual life; but don’t bet on it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5701"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10729,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5701\/revisions\/10729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nand wine makes life merry,
\nbut money is the answer for everything.<\/strong>*<\/p>\n
\n“I hate to worry about money;
\nand the best way not to worry about money . . .
\nis to have enough!”<\/p>\n
\n** 1 Timothy 6:10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"