Things That Are Better Than Money
By Olusegun Ibikunle
Money is just a commodity or financial instrument which can be earned and spent in exchange of worldly pleasures and comfort. But peace is not a commodity that can be bought in the market, most especially peace of mind which is a state or condition that is from within, that is, from the innermost being of you. Money is definitely good for life but peace of mind is better.
Nothing is more important than your own peace of mind, peace in your life, in your heart , peace at your place of work and peace in your home: peaceful environment.
Peace of mind will rescue from all situations but money cannot. Sickness can make someone to lose his or her peace, for instance, incurable diseases. Outbreaks or epidemics can cause people to lose their peace. The worst is pandemic which creates lack of peace in the heart of man. A pandemic refers to a worldwide epidemic, which could have started off as outbreak, escalated to the level of an epidemic and eventually spread to a number of countries across continents.
Money cannot buy peace of mind during those periods, especially during a pandemic. But peace (fruit of the Spirit) will make the children of God to survive outbreaks, epidemics and pandemic.
To show that peace is better than money, our Lord Jesus Christ is called the Prince of Peace – not the Prince of money : Isaiah 9:6 “……. .The Prince of Peace”.
Heaven is peaceful because Satan and his cohorts are not there; they had been sent out of Heaven : Revelation 12:9,12 “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” There is all round peace in Heaven which is our eternal home! Praise the LORD, Hallelujah.
The Prince of peace by applying the word of God to your life releases and gives peace of mind that will rescue you from any situation: Mark 4:36 – 39 “And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”
Nothing lasts forever – nobody will live on earth forever, therefore enjoy every moment of your life with peace of mind. Peace of mind helps you to learn how to be contented in every tough situation you find yourself : Philippians 4:11 “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”
The opposite of peace is war. The absence of peace is war. Threat to security of life and property, most especially death threats can cause loss of peace (especially peace of mind ).
Crisis does not accommodates peace. Peace will never be found where there is chaos. Panic is a situation and circumstance of danger that breeds and gives room to spirit of fear in the mind that will entertain sudden uncontrollable negative force to make someone impossible to hold his or her peace, that is, to cause a person to lose his or her peace.
With this fearful condition of the mind, such a person in panic will not be able to think properly or often causing him or her wildly unthinking behaviour. Danger or a danger-prone area requires safety that will guarantee peace of mind. Money cannot buy peace of mind in highly dangerous places where top security report has been declared unsafe for human life – where killing of human life is the order of the day.
Lack of peace translates to and means insecurity! Great countries always evacuate their citizens from such danger -prone areas, most especially evacuation from the most dangerous countries in the world, even they always warn their citizens not to travel to those places because money cannot buy peace. It is only peace that can make them to travel or visit and begin to stay and live there. Money cannot buy peace that will provide permanent security of life and property but peace of God guarantees permanent security of life and property.
A peaceful environment makes life and property to flourish. This is why peace is better than money.
Peace generates progress. Where there is strife or tussle, peace is completely lacking and there shall never be any meaningful progress in such an environment. Calamity and violence are enemies of peace. Burden, bondage (captivity) and evil yoke are not friendly to peace of mind.
A peaceful environment nurtures and promotes progress. Conflict bids peace goodbye where conflict resolution is not applied to bring in a peaceful end to all the conflicts.
Communal clash between communities send away peace that is most needed for co-existing of communities.
Peace has nothing to do with dispute because money can sponsor disputes even to the high level of communal clashes, terrorism, militancy, kidnapping, violence, killings, etc. When all these unwanted happen, peace will be completely absent.
Many people including the rich will desert the areas. Even the rich and their families will be the first to leave and even relocate to a peaceful environment if possible to outside the country for safety of life before and during political crises or better still before and during war.
The lack of peace within or inside you gives rise to fear, trouble, worry, anxiety, pain, sleeplessness and confusion. Absence of peace of mind is caused by insecurity, cares of this world and deceitfulness of riches : Mark 4:19 “And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches……”
Absence of peace is storms of life created by the forces of darkness. Peace is blessing of God which makes rich without sorrow while lack of peace is blessing of Satan with sorrows : Proverbs 10:22 “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”
When someone is not genuinely born again, he or she will never have peace with God : Romans 5:1 and Romans 8:6 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
God will forever everyday be angry with the unbelievers (the wicked ) until they make peace with Him (God ) because they will never obey God; they always live in disobedience to the word of God : Psalms 7:11 “………..God is angry with the wicked every day.” God is not interested in the money of the unbelievers (the wicked ) but He (God ) is only interested in their peace through the Lord Jesus Christ by having a genuine relationship with Him. This is what makes peace to be better than money in the scheme of things with our maker (God ) in life.
When someone is angry with you, definitely you are not in peace with that person.To show further that peace is better than money, the most powerful and potent weapon that God uses to fight the wicked is peace – and not money, even the wicked may be the richest man on earth! Isaiah 48:22 says “There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.”
The wicked in this Scripture also means unbelievers – if you are not truly born again, you are wicked because you fail to acknowledge and appreciate the essence of the precious blood of Jesus Christ that was shed at cross of Calvary which took away the sin of the whole world. And the peace of God eludes you.
A life without Christ will be full of crises and miserable! A life with crises – a miserable life is devoid of divine peace.
And money can never buy the peace of God found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The first thing a person experiences after giving his or her life genuinely to Christ is peace – not money. This is because the Prince of Peace lives within (inside of ) you.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. When peace arrives storms of life disappear – peace of God calms all storms of life ( Mark 4:39 and Psalms 107:29).
Money cannot calm all storms of life but peace of God will effortlessly with ease (without any struggle ) calms all the storms of life no matter how terrible, tough, fierce they may appear to be!
Peace removes storms of life . There is no storm in your life that peace of God (the Prince of Peace ) cannot calm!
In this world of war and turbulence, you can have peace of God if you surrender your life completely to the Prince of Peace (the Lord Jesus Christ ) – money cannot do this!!
Peace is one of the components of the fruit of the Spirit . Money is not and money will never be one of the components of the fruit of the Spirit.
Next week, by the special grace of God, we shall continue this series “THINGS THAT ARE BETTER THAN MONEY.”
To study in detail for a better and deeper understanding, read for free this rich and Holy Spirit filled publication at KDP AMAZON, my book : “Pastor’s Little Foxes: The Secrets Of Pastor’s Little Foxes In The Vineyard”
Note: Proverbs 23:23 NKJV “Buy the truth, and do not sell it…”
Please, bless someone or group of people in Christian community with this publication by sharing it. It means that you belong to the great company of the children of God who published it – Psalms 68:11 KJV “The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.”