Americans Worry About Finances More Than Anything Else

When the Bible speaks about "Idol worship" many of us think to ourselves, "Whew!  Glad that's not me cuz I don't have any little statues by my bed that I pray to!"....and that's maybe about the end of their thought process.

But hold on there.....idols are ANYTHING that we place in front of our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Could our money and material possessions be an idol?

Yep!

Americans Worry More About their Finances than Anything Else

It’s increasingly hard to figure out whether Americans have a bigger problem with their finances or with chronic worrying.

While there is plenty of research to suggest that the financial concerns are real — at least for some people — there is an increasing body of evidence that may suggest people have some sort of anxiety disorder when it comes to money.

Two pieces were added to that discussion recently, both surveys showing the financial problems with an underlying current on the emotional ones.

The 2015 “Life + Money Survey” from GoBankingRates.com, released this month, showed that Americans think more about money on a daily basis than about anything else, including their health and fitness or their love lives.

One in five Americans fears living paycheck-to-paycheck for the rest of their life, with almost as many people worried about being in debt forever. Never being able to retire was a common worry for more than one in seven survey respondents.

American workers don’t understand the retirement-planning process, which is ironic because studies show that a way to reduce financial stress is to have a plan.

Not surprisingly, those fears are biggest among the age groups most likely to face them, with younger respondents — those in the early stages of their work career — scared about a lifetime of debt or paycheck-to-paycheck struggles, while older Americans can’t see retirement in their future.

Meanwhile, the 2015 “Financial Confidence of American Workers” survey, released by the Financial Planning Association and LifeCare Inc., showcased many of the same concerns, just in different language.

Here, the worry was that day-to-day finances are a drain on the ability to plan for the long term, and that savings is a primary area of stress.

“The survey showed some good things and some areas where investors are confident, but also their big areas of concern,” said Ed Gjertsen, FPA president. “I guess you could say that there is definitely a problem with worrying for a lot of people — they worry even when they probably don’t have to — and then that some of those people also have very real reasons to worry.”

Here;  http://thetrustadvisor.com/headlines/americans-worry?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRoksqnJZKXonjHpfsX%2B7ugoUbHr08Yy0EZ5VunJEUWy3IIFRdQ%2FcOedCQkZHblFnVQITq2tV7QNrKMF

Wow!  We worry more about our earthly treasure than about our ETERNAL DESTINATION?!?

This makes one wonder again, is America a God-fearing nation anymore?  Why should God continue to bless America?

Jesus clearly warns us that we can't worship God AND Mammon (the god of material goods and money)...but according to this article Americans are much more worried about their relationship with Mammon than they are worried about their relationship with Jesus Christ.

"Work out you salvation with fear and trembling."