Do you save pennies in a piggy bank or dollar bills in a drawer? Saving is a good habit for children as well as grown-ups to have, but where you save your money is important too. Here are two interesting stories about saving money that happened in our town.
The first story is about a family that moved to the United States from a country where the government was unstable. The man and wife worked hard in their new life, and, by being careful spenders, they were able to save a little money each month. They didn’t trust the banks to keep their money safe, so they put the money they were saving in a box and hid it in a corner of the attic.
When the man and wife thought they had enough money saved to buy what they needed, they went up to the attic to get the box and count their savings. But what a surprise they found! A mouse had chewed through the box and then chewed up all their dollar bills and made a nice soft nest out of them! They had a useless pile of fluff instead of money to spend.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus taught this very lesson. He said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust [or mice] doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-20).
We don’t know the rest of the story, except this family had to start all over saving their hard-earned money. I hope they learned to store it in a safer place than in a cardboard box in the attic.
The second story has a little different ending. A man and his wife bought an older house that needed to be fixed up. When the man climbed up to the attic to see what condition the structure was in, he came across a box of money—-quite a lot of money! He contacted the previous owners, but they said it wasn’t theirs. They didn’t know to whom it belonged. They told the new owner he might as well keep it to pay for the remodeling work he had planned.
What an unexpected surprise! The man and his wife were thankful for extra money to pay the workmen they hired. But what about the people who stored that money in the attic? They never got to enjoy their savings. They either forgot it was there or died before they could use it. It was almost like the money the mice chewed up—useless for those who had saved it.
We all should be wise about saving and storing money. More importantly, we need to have a better treasure than money. Have any of you children sung this song in Sunday school?
Oh, yes, oh, yes, there’s something more,
Something more than gold:
To know your sins are all forgiven
Is something more than gold.
If you will ask the Lord Jesus to wash away your sins in His blood, you will be saved forever. This valuable treasure of having your sins forgiven is worth a whole lot more than a world full of gold that only buys things for this life! Jesus will save you for eternity, and no one can take you out of His hands. He says, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand” (John 10:28). What a safe place that is!
After our sins are forgiven, we can live for Jesus each day. He promises to take care of us while we’re living here on earth, and then He will take us to His home in heaven. Our hopes should be up there, not here where things will sooner or later disappear or disappoint us. Many people today are sad because problems in this world have caused everything they trusted in to fail. If you want true happiness, trust in the living God and His Son Jesus. “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust” (Psalm 18:2).
MEMORY VERSE: “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust.” Psalm 18:2
ML-07/26/2009