Some Things Money Can’t Buy

By in Bible & Money, Spend

The verdict is out on whether or not money can buy happiness, however, there are certainly things that money cannot buy.

And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”  But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!  Acts 8:18-20

In the book of Acts, we read that Simon tried to buy the “power” manifested through Peter.  Imagine that, trying to buy something that is freely given because Jesus paid it all!  The very act of offering money for a gift from God shows that he didn’t understand the value of what was being presented.

As I read this scripture I began to think about other things of value that do not have a price tag:

Love

It is often said that money can’t buy you love.  This is an indisputable truth.  Money may be the appearance of love, but true love is an emotion that cannot be expressed with a dollar sign. Some Things Money Can't Buy

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.   - 1 Cor 13:4-8

No where is there a dollar amount placed on love.  Jesus paid it all and no amount of money we can offer can outbid the love He demonstrated when He died for us.

Respect

It is often said that respect must be earned.  Its easy to make a correlation between earnings and money, however, money can not buy respect.  Money, position, and power may cause people to treat you a certain way, but true respect is earned when we demonstrate excellent leadership qualities.

John Maxwell, author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership says the highest level of leadership results in respect.  Money, position, and power may afford you the ability to speak or dictate, but it isn’t until respect is truly earned that people will listen.

Time

Money may dictate how we spend our time, but actual time itself cannot be purchased, exchanged or redeemed.  Rather you are conscious of it or not, we are all “spending time”.  The key is to make sure we are spending time doing something fruitful.

Luke 16:19-31 records the story of an unnamed rich man and Lazarus.  When their time was up (euphemism for death), the rich man faced certain torment and begged to go back to warn his brothers.  His request was not granted.  His riches could not be redeemed for more time.

We spend time, kill time, and we rarely recognize the value of time.  Please make sure your time is time well spent.

Joy

As stated at the beginning, there are differing opinions on the relationship between money and happiness.  However, joy is different than happiness.  Happiness is based on circumstances, where joy is eternal.  Joy is from the Lord.  Nehemiah 8:10 says the joy of the Lord is your strength.  No matter the size of your bank account, investment portfolio, or net worth, your joy will not be defined by material things.

What about you?  What are some things that money can’t buy?

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About Lakita Humber

Lakita is an IT Systems Administrator by profession with a passion for the things of God, worship arts, and financial stewardship. She started Personal Finance Journey as a way to help and encourage those on the road to financial freedom. She has been blessed with the opportunity to minister throughout the U.S. and Internationally as a workshop speaker and presenter. Connect with Lakita on Twitter & Facebook.
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  • http://www.moneyhelpforchristians.com Craig Ford

    Great list! Interestingly, these are the things of life that really matter to me. It is better to sit at a table where there is peace than to eat meat at a table where there is strife.
    .-= Craig Ford´s last blog ..Blogging Tips and Tricks | Craig Ford’s Interview with Craig Ford =-.

  • http://www.onemoneydesign.com Jason Price

    Lakita, the only other thing I can think of (and you pretty much nailed it with the scripture) would be God’s grace.
    .-= Jason Price´s last blog ..God Led Investing (Aside) =-.

  • http://personalfinancejourney.com Lakita (PFJourney)

    @ Craig – Great quote!
    @Jason – Amen! That about says it all!
    .-= Lakita (PFJourney)´s last blog ..Ask the Readers: Help Me Purchase a Slightly Used Car =-.

  • http://juliekinnear.com/ Julie Kinnear

    I would sum up your list in one word: “Satisfaction” Love, respect, joy – all these say how you are satisfied in your life, how your days are flowing and if your nights are calm. No money can secure this!

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  • http://www.thunderdrake.com/blog/ Aury (Thunderdrake)

    Hah. This is an interesting post to say the least, but I certainly have to enter a bit of a contrarian mindstate. These are all fantastic points, but there’s a lot of debunkings to it.

    For joy, first let me get started by saying that when it comes to money, there’s a difference between being happy with your financial life and being miserable. Often enough those who iterate the ‘money can’t buy happiness’ phrase are actually often unhappy individuals themselves, be it because of money or not. But the way I see it, having a lot of money is what I call a symptom of happiness, be it directly or indirectly. Having a congruent spirit allows someone to see the big picture and achieve that needed wealth.

    But for the various points, sure, it cannot buy love. Which is true in the social sense. But constantly, I find people are often driven into unlovable neuroses through financial deprivation. Perhaps people are too materialistic and put too much weight on money…

    Having a lot of money is also a symptom of having powerful leadership skills. Most businesses are founded not only on the management of people, but the management of finances as well. Money cannot buy respect, but commanding it certainly generates it.

    Time lost is time that cannot be gained back. Yet those with a lot of money can outsource anything they darn well please. They cannot buy it… But they can prevent frittering time.

    I’d like to consider myself fairly content. Wealth is something we dragons often seek out, but it’s important that all this money is fake anyway. I just play along with the system. <3

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  • http://dld.bz/RCMy success

    I can’t stress enough how people need to define success for themselves. Thanks for your post.