When your god dies

USmoney.jpgWhether you believe in a supreme being or not you’d have to admit that humans have an inbuilt desire to worship. You might not call it worship but we do have a strong tendency to raise people or things high on the pedestals of our desire.

We worship other people, money, success and many other things in our lives. We give ourselves completely and often stake our lives on whatever it is that becomes our god.

The worldwide financial crisis has brought the death of god for many people across the globe. Many people who have put their trust in riches are now scrambling to keep their heads above water. Even those who would have said that money and financial security weren’t the most important things in their lives have started to see just what a hold it has had on them.

This story tells us about a man who found the current crisis too much too handle. Without the trappings of riches he felt it was better that his entire family was dead, so he killed his wife, his three sons and his mother-in-law before taking his own life. Police found three letters he had left in the family home detailing his financial difficulties. What a terrible tragedy. It’s so sad to think that someone believed so strongly that death was better than life without money that he threw away so many precious lives.

I’d have to admit that Bono has given the current crisis a bit of perspective that’s hard to argue against.

It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire (Group of Eight nations) can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable disease and hunger.

I guess it’s a reminder to us once again to decide carefully where we choose to put our trust. When our god is money, we will be let down. When our god is other people, they will fail us. When our god is success, we will find it slipping through our fingers.

What or who will you choose to worship?

Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.1 Timothy 6:17



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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He previously worked in radio for about 25 years but these days he spends his time at Compassion Australia, working towards releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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9 Comments

  • Very good post Rodney. We have been talking about this very thing around the office this week. In fact Steve our pastor changed the message he was planning to preach on this Sunday because of this very real issue. His message is going to be about when your “god” let’s you down. It will be available on our web site (http://www.gracepointfamily.com) next week if your interested.

  • Saw you on Ronnica tonight. Thought I would check you out. This is such a sad state of affairs. You are so right about where our treasures are. Too bad more do not understand or appreciate the depth of what is happening.
    For once and probably only this one time, I can agree with Bono also.

  • Thanks for visiting Evy.

    Not a big U2 fan? 🙂

    I saw them in concert many years ago and was less than impressed but I do think that Bono sometimes says just the right thing at the right time.

  • Excellent post. To see the fear in people’s eyes over what they do worship crumbling down is sad. But also an excellent time to sow.

  • “being content with such things as you have” …
    “Godliness, with contentment, is great gain” …

    yup … the world is getting a wake up call …

  • Great post.

    Question…why is the picture of AMERICAN money? Are you saying we Americans are more money-hungry than Aussies??? Okay, so you’re probably right (though I doubt that is what your point was!).

    I wanted to let you know that I got your submission for the Christian Carnival and it will be up tomorrow on my site.

    Also, your comment on my toilet post cracked me up!

  • Why American money? Good question Ronnica.

    Generally if I’m posting about money related things I’ll use a picture of Australian dollars but as the world financial meltdown began with the collapse of US financial institutions I felt it only appropriate to use US dollars in the picture.

  • Excellent thoughts. So many people look to anything other than God for hope and purpose. And all other things will fail us, leaving us scratching our head at what has happened. Only God will never fail us. I thank for your thoughts from the other side of this blue marble.

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