The Deadly Lie Money Whispers to Men

“Without me, you are worthless."

We were sitting at a very expensive restaurant in downtown Denver and, as I looked across the table at this attractive, well-dressed man, I thought “Please, tell me a joke! Even a bad one!! I don’t care, just anything to show me you have some personality!” This date was turning out to be excruciating.

I initially met Franz (not his real name)when I was serving in his catered suite at Mile High Stadium. It was the original Mile High Stadium so that would put me somewhere in my early twenties. I think twenty-four maybe?

Franz and I hit it off when he asked if I liked the Broncos and I said, “No, not really.”

That wasn’t the normal response from a Denverite, so it allowed him to expose his secret love for the Dallas Cowboys. Apparently, he had as much disdain for the Broncos as I did, which led me to ask why on earth he would own a Suite in the stadium, if he hated them that much.

“It’s for business deals.”

Near the end of the game, Franz asked me out. He seemed nice and certainly not ugly. I agreed to go out with him and figured if we could joke about the Broncos, we’d probably be able to laugh about anything.

Oh, not so!!!!

The conversation on our date was ALL about how much money he had. Seriously!

Franz was quick to tell me how successful his business was and how he “bought a house on a whim; bought a car on a whim; bought a flying monkey on a whim.” Okay, maybe I made that last one up.

It was excruciating. Did I say that already? I just wanted to be able to laugh with the guy. Just one joke? Pun? Anything?

After what seemed like forever, the date ended and I got to go home. Whew! I was so glad that was over. “What was that about?” I wondered. “Did he think money was all he had to offer?”

He asked me out again and I politely declined.

Sometime later, my friend, Randy, ended up working at Franz’s firm. Randy knew we had had one date and was aware of how miserable it was.

Randy enjoyed regaling me with stories about the life I “could have had” with Franz. He would lament for me about all the material things Franz had that could have been mine.

I got plenty of unwelcome updates, such as, “Franz just got engaged and you should see the rock he gave her! Just think, you could have had that.”

Hilarious!

I’m pretty sure I made the comment, “I would rather shoot myself in the face than spend the rest of my life like that.”

I imagined having to clean a huge house and dusting picture frames that, instead of containing pictures of friends and family, would contain copies of million dollar contracts and bank statements. To be fair, Franz probably would have bought me a maid…on a whim.

Down the road, Randy informed me Franz and his wife, with the massive rock on her finger, had a baby.

Later on down that road, Franz drove to a fire station, rang the doorbell, put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger right as a fireman answered the door. From what I understand, debt had backed him into a financial corner and he felt that was his way out.

I wondered if his wife and child thought his life only had monetary value. I would bet money they didn’t. I would bet money they’d prefer poverty to losing a husband and father. I was grateful not to have their new reality. Did he not know his real worth? Did he have any idea what value his soul held?

Had he believed Money’s lie that he was worthless without it? That his inherent value was only as great as the amount in his bank account or the wealth he had amassed? When wealth was lost, did he think he was irrelevant? Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy…and he sure did using Money’s lie.

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As we watch our economy being destroyed, inflation skyrocketing, and witness people being denied work because they won’t poison their blood, I want to say this to the men and providers out there:

Your worth does not lie in your bank account!

Your value is not a dollar number!

Money can be replaced, but you cannot!

Your worth lies in your leadership and in your faith that Jesus will carry you and your family through whatever lies in store.

Your value is in how you encourage others around you.

Your worth lies in what you fight for.

Your value is in giving of your time, energy, wisdom, patience, humor, and hugs.

Your worth is in your soul.

Consider this…Your very soul is worth so much that two powerful entities are constantly fighting for it. Think about that! How valuable are you that both God and Satan want your soul so badly that they are battling each other for it?

Who do you listen to? The one who tells you that you are worthless or the one who tells you that you are priceless?

Believe me, no matter who you are or how much is in your bank account…

YOU ARE PRICELESS!!!