THE COLOR OF MONEY

Paul Newman reprises the unforgettable role of Fast Eddie Felson from The Hustler (1961)in The Color of Money (1986). Twenty-five - years after “The Hustler,” Fast Eddie, now retired from the pool–room hustling, finds inspiration for a comeback and a grand finale in an immensely talented younger protégé played by Tom Cruise.
The connection between the title and the plot is in Fast Eddie's interpretation of the traditional green cloth (baize) of a pool table. To Eddie, the sight of the green baize of a pool table is always an opportunity to make money.
How one sees money doesn’t really begin in the eyes but in the heart and the way a person sees money really depends on the lens the person is looking through. If he is looking through the lens of society he would see money as a simple means of meeting his own personal needs and possibly sharing with others if there is a little bit left over after he had met his own needs. At least it is his own money and he could do anything he wants with it. And if one is looking through the lens of God, he would see money as an opportunity for accomplishing God’s purpose in his and in the life of other people. At least it is the Lord’s money and he has every right to use it any way he chooses [Psalm 50: 12]. And that changes the entire landscape of most books on personal finance. In the words of the Lord, “Be careful to guard yourselves against every kind of greed. Life is not about having a lot of material possessions” [Luke 12: 15]. When you look at money through the lens of God, even the little that you have becomes a big opportunity for accomplishing God’s purpose [1Kings 17: 8 – 15].
Society defines money as “what you make for yourself and spend on yourself” but the Christian should define money as “what you are blessed with by God and uses for God.” The color of money should never be the same to the saved as it is to the unsaved. To the unsaved, money looks like “Then I'll say to myself, “You've stored up a lot of good things for years to come. Take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself”' [Luke 12: 19]. But to the saved, money should look like “From time to time, people sold land or houses and brought the money to the apostles. Then the money was distributed to anyone who needed it” [Acts 4: 34, 35].
And that also seems to be the color of money to Allen and Violet Large, an elderly Canadian couple who recently won $11.3 million in the Canadian lottery. The money was a "headache" they told a reporter - mainly, it brought anxiety over the prospect that "crooked people" might take advantage of them. So they began an $11 million donation spree to get rid of it and help others. They took care of family first and then began delivering donations to the two pages' worth of groups they had decided on, including the local fire department, churches, and hospitals in Truro and Halifax, where Violet underwent her cancer treatment, and the list goes on and on. And they only retained about 2 percent for a rainy day. And to Allen and Violet Large, "giving" is the true color of money.
Each of us is given the opportunity daily to use some of what we have been blessed with to bless those who have not been blessed like we have been. The color of money really depends on whose lens you are looking at money through. Have you looked at the color of money lately? If you have, then what do you see? If all you see is green rather than grace, you might need to swap lenses. In this article, the color of money is not in the color green of the US currency ($$$), but in the essence of what money means to the one looking at it. By the way, I do acknowledge the fact that you could be reading this from another nation whose currency is not even green. The message remains all the same. The color of money is not in what money looks like at all but rather in the essence of where one's priority and purpose for money lies. And I pray that you discover life the way God intends. This has been one page from my Inspirational Files, I am  Richard James.