Emily Santoso Have you ever wondered why money, something paperlike, so valued and important in one’s life?
Just think about it, why is gold treasured so much? It’s just metal, or to be specific, less reactive metal. I’m sure there are plenty of other metals, but why gold? This thought had appealed to me this morning while I was in the car on the way to church, so I asked my dad,
“Why is this specific type of metal so important; technically it’s just metal, and there’s so much of it. Why do people find it so valuable?”
My dad answered, “Because it is rare.”
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that paper is technically just paper and plastic – it can burn, it can get lost, it can get crippled up and ripped, yet why do we treasure it so much?
Wouldn’t water be more important for us? Food? Yet why is it so cheap and less valuable compared with Gold or Silver?
If you think about it, Gold is nothing more than something yellowish colored and that’s a solid – no special thing about it, yet miners work so hard to find them. If you expand on this, it’ll make more sense.
Maybe you find joy in your grades, and so you work very hard and study diligently, but for what? For a 100% mark that your teacher gives you. If not, you’d be upset. Why is that? I could easily write “100%” in red on your paper and give it to you, but it’d just be different, right?
What you think matters a lot, is something that is probably set by society, your looks, your colour, your fashion, or your handwriting even. Those are the things that society do, but you make your values. You think that by achieving them it can make you happy but in reality, it’s just you, basing your own joy on something that isn’t essential or stable. For some it could be friends, or social media, but let me tell you this -if you base your happiness on these things, if you value these things more than you do God, then you will never be happy.
Everything changes and will never remain the same. Except for you know who – God. You may have heard this like a hundred times, and so have I; but even with the countless times I get told, I sometimes still prioritize and value earthly things more.
As it says in Matthew 6:19-20,
“19: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth. and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
Why would you work so hard, get good grades, study, have a career, just to get loads of money, then after that is death. Money can be stolen, money can get burned, and it is important for us as Christians to remember that we are not of this world, because after we die, it doesn’t stop there. Earthly riches are nothing, for they are just things we humans value for some reason or other.
But why is it that we work that hard to satisfy ourselves, make ourselves happy, but then become lazy when its about “God”. The truth is we can do both – we can satisfy ourselves and make ourselves happy by working hard for God, for we were created under His will and our purpose is what He sets us to be, not what we decide.
Us fully trusting in him and fulfilling our purpose, is the happiest version of ourselves.
Happiness other than that will never fully satisfy.
Emily Santoso (14) is a writer for RE Generation-Z. Through serving in this community she hopes to build her personal relationship with God and challenge others to do the same. She enjoys playing basketball, listening to music and socialising.