1300) I was fortunate to have stumbled upon Seth Godin and his marketing seminars. (In fact, Seth is the person I credit the idea of writing these minutes. He does the same with daily short, yet powerful emails about marketing.) The things I learned continue to be helpful in promoting all of my writing.

I gained many things by taking his courses, and one of them is the idea that marketing needs to be tied to “the story people tell themselves.” For example, I buy a certain car because I tell myself that successful people drive it, and therefore, I must be successful.

As I read the list Paul makes about characteristics and behaviors people will have in the last days (2 Timothy 3:1-4), I see that lovers of money made the list. I don’t think Paul means that we have a miserly compulsion to hide our money under the mattress, though some have done this. Instead, I think of Seth’s premise of storytelling.

Those who are lovers of money are who they are because of the stories they are telling themselves. This story probably involves equating their personal value with the money and things they have. As Seth says, “People like us do things like this.”  

Because it is a lie that we are more valuable by the things we have or because of the drive to have them, we may continue down this false road and frantically strive to make more money and accumulate more things. This drive can take over your life and as this poison seeps in, life can become a rat race to see who can accumulate the most by whatever means is necessary. This means outdoing, out-talking, outsmarting and even cheating others just so you can tell yourself a story that you are important because of what you have.

When an entire society lives with these lies, the consequences are great. As soon as we stray from truth, as time goes by, the distance between what we think and truth becomes greater. This is what Paul is describing about the last days.

Please consider! What is the story you are telling yourself about money and what it buys?