What would you do with an extra $40,000?

Maybe $40,000 wouldn’t be a windfall to everyone, but to most of us $40,000 is a lot of money.

Recently, three female college students had to come to grips with the dilemma of $40,000 they didn’t expect to have.

It all started with a trip to a thrift store to look for furniture to upgrade their apartment. They found a sofa they liked and I suppose they really liked the price. They paid $20 and took the sofa home. That’s when the fun began.

One of the girls found an envelope stuffed with cash between the cushion and the frame of the couch. Though they never described how they found the rest, I imagined the feeding frenzy they must have had finding so many envelopes stuffed with so much money.

After the fun, they went through the agony. They described the moral discussions they had about the money.  Do we keep it? Is it ours? Who do we give it to?

They finally came to the conclusion they had not earned the money and it had to be returned.

Alongside the envelopes they also found a woman’s name. After investigative work, they located the owner in a decaying part of town.

When they knocked on the door they found a 91 year old grandmother living with her daughter and granddaughter. After they returned the money, they learned the grandmother’s husband had always encouraged her to “squirrel away” a few dollars for a rainy day. Fortunately, the rainy day never came and the woman had forgotten the money when they donated it to the thrift store.

We all face moral dilemmas about greed and generosity. Jesus warned the disciples to be cautious about covetousness. A person’s life cannot be measured by the abundance of possessions. Our lives are measured in the depth of our compassion and content of our character.

Jesus also reminded us the way we accumulate and use money shows the depths of our souls.

It also shows how much we trust God. “Look at the lilies and how they grow. . . . if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you? You have so little faith! And don’t worry about food. . . . These things dominate the thoughts of most people, but your Father already knows your needs. He will give you all you need from day to day if you make the Kingdom of God your primary concern” (Luke 12: 27-31).

But there’s an even greater issue: “A person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God” (Luke 12:21).

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