Is This How You Want to Be Remembered?
Aunt Martha was my mother’s sister’s husband’s sister. Did you follow that? Because she lived fairly far away, we didn’t see her all that often. She passed away many years ago, but here are the three things I remember about her:
She was a big woman, both physically and personality-wise – the type you didn’t miss when she entered the room.
·She drove an early 1960s, fern green, boaty-floaty Chrysler Imperial with rounded tailfins.
·When her parents died, she manipulated things so that she cheated the rest of her family out of about $10,000.
The story goes that Aunt Martha took her mother to lunch one day in the late 1960s and on the way home stopped at an attorney’s office to have her mother change her will, making Aunt Martha the sole beneficiary of her estate. Aunt Martha’s brother exploded when he learned this, and he refused to ever speak to her again and forbade the rest of his family to have any contact with her.
Ten thousand dollars was a lot of money back then and would be equivalent to several times that today. I wonder what she did with that money and if she felt her unethical behavior was worth the cost to her relationships and reputation. I’m guessing her financial “mental model” focused almost entirely on trying to maximize money coming in, and she saw changing the will as a way to enhance that.
We often interpret an unanticipated bonus, a surprise birthday check, or an unforeseen class action settlement as a godsend. But God also blesses us by NOT allowing potentially bad things to happen. For example, that time your slammed on your brakes at 65 mph and just missed hitting the car in front of you by four inches could have easily ended in financial loss or, worse, personal injury. Did you acknowledge that as an example of God’s grace?
My point is that people like Aunt Martha can so focus on getting all they can – sometimes by unethical means – that they fail to see the bigger picture how God provides in other ways beyond the cash that makes its way to your checking account. And remember his blessings extend well beyond the monetary to include relationships, enjoyment of his creation, and countless other pleasures of life.
You should also acknowledge that it’s not just money that corrupts. Many people go to great lengths chasing power and prestige. There is nothing inherently wrong with money, power, or influence as long as you pursue them in healthy, appropriate ways. But there is a definite line you can cross when you drift into scheming and selfishness.
People who connive and maneuver for ill-gotten gain live as if God isn’t real. He wants his people to trust him, live in a way that reflects well on him, and bless others. Among the 12 characteristics of people who please God as recorded in Psalm 15 are those who:
Have a blameless walk
Do what is righteous
Don’t wrong other people
Keep their oaths even when it hurts
Unfortunately, when I think about Aunt Martha, I don’t think she lived that way.
How about you? How well do you live up to Psalm 15’s model?