THINK TOGETHER.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 23:4-5. 4Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. 5When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
We are in a section of Proverbs called “The Thirty Sayings of the Wise.” Here is one of those 30 sayings – don’t work hard just to get rich. Why not? Because wealth comes and goes. Just when you think you have it, it grows wings and flies away like an eagle.
When I was a kid I wanted to be a zookeeper when I grew up. I loved animals, especially monkies. When I got a little bit older I decided I wanted to be a veterinarian because they worked with animals AND made more money. As I entered High School I forgot about animals and just wanted to own my own business, again more money was the motivation. But then, while still in High School, I had a teacher who helped me through a rough time in my life. I decided that I wanted to help people the way he helped me. So I went to college to become a teacher. You don’t become a teacher for the money. You become a teacher because you want to help kids learn and grow.
More money isn’t evil, and a grown-up does have to make enough money so that they can live. But more money doesn’t solve problems. More money doesn’t make you more like Jesus. In fact, when we work just to get more and more money we will likely have more problems and be less like Jesus.
When we make money our source of happiness but then lose it, what happens? That’s right we are no longer happy. We are angry, or sad, or discouraged. But when we make Jesus our source of happiness what happens when we lose him? That’s right! We never lose Jesus do we? He never sprouts wings and flies away. Unlike our money, he is with us forever.
Because of Jesus we have everything we need and want in him.
With Jesus we don’t need anything else to make us happy.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Talk about or draw pictures of what you want to be when you grow up. Is your choice because you love what God has made or you because you love money?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, I want you to make me happy, not money. Teach me to trust in you and not in wealth or anything else. Amen.
TLICfamily 