We might currently find ourselves focused on football with Major League Baseball in the heart of their offseason, but that didn't prevent the New York Mets from making a historic move that caught the sports world's attention.
A few days ago, news broke that the Mets were signing young superstar Juan Soto to a record-breaking contract worth $765 million over 15 years. It includes a $75 million signing bonus.
According to The Athletic, Soto's contract is worth more than the original price 22 owners paid for their teams, and his $51 million annual salary is nearly the total of the A's entire payroll a year ago.
Money is a huge part of sports, and in baseball, we often hear about the teams with the deepest pockets and the crazy amount of money they pay for the best players.
However, as USA Today points out, "Besides, if baseball has proven anything, it's that money doesn't guarantee a darn thing. The Yankees haven't won the World Series since 2009. The Mets haven't won it since 1986. The Dodgers' championship last season was their first in a full season since 1988."
Teams with the most money and highest payrolls don't always win and are often dissatisfied with what their money gets them.
We'll see how it works out for the Mets and Soto, but his eye-popping contract can make it difficult for many people not to envy his current situation. After all, it's hard for most of us even to fathom what it would be like to be guaranteed so much money for the work we do at our job.
We tend to glamorize having lots of money and think our lives would be much easier and our problems alleviated. We believe we'd "win more" if we had deeper pockets! However, that sort of thinking is inconsistent with how the Bible speaks of money.
The book of Ecclesiastes includes Solomon's quest to discover purpose and happiness in life. While attempting to seek such answers, he ends up plunging himself into many earthly pleasures in hopes that they will fulfill the longing in his soul.
But after utilizing his exorbitant earthly wealth to attempt to "buy happiness," he concludes in Ecclesiastes 5:10 (ESV), "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity."
While we certainly can acknowledge that money is not inherently evil and used for good and practical purposes, we must also recognize that God has not designed us to look to money for satisfaction.
Ultimately, our purpose is not to make money or acquire great possessions but to glorify God.
We only have a short time here on this earth to complete our purpose faithfully, so we must always ensure that we aren't dedicating too much time or focus on pursuing something that will never ultimately satisfy and distract us from more fully bringing glory to God.
Proverbs 23:4-5 (NASB) says, "Do not weary yourself to gain wealth; Stop dwelling on it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens."
Rather than focusing on acquiring great wealth in hopes that it will solve our problems, we must focus on the fact that God has already solved the most significant issues we will ever face.
God sent His Son to live a perfect life and offer Himself as a sacrifice so we might be reconciled to Him. No amount of earthly wealth would have been enough to pay for our massive debt of sin, but God paid the highest price by offering up His perfect Son. He purchased our victory!
At the end of the day, how much money we make in this life will be of little consequence in eternity. As such, we should endeavor to focus more on living a life of obedience, prioritizing the things that matter most to God so we can glorify Him.
Proverbs 11:4 (ESV) explains, "Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death."
I'm Matt Osborne, and you can UNPACK that!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please help me to have a biblical view when it comes to money. Help me to be content and satisfied with what You have given me so that I might spend my time and energy on the things that matter most. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen.
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