When Money is Never Enough

Written By Edna Ho, Malaysia

After completing my Master’s degree in Kuala Lumpur, I decided to stay and work in the Malaysian capital instead of returning to my hometown in East Malaysia. There, I took on two jobs. On weekdays, I worked as a full-time secretary at a real estate firm, and on Saturdays, as an English teacher at a language center. Teaching has always been my passion, and I find great satisfaction in teaching English to kids.

Because I was taking on two jobs, I was earning good money—more than what an average fresh graduate earned. In fact, the job that paid me well was the teaching one on Saturdays.

One day, however, my church leader asked me to resign from the weekend job so that I could spend more quality time with people under my care. I am currently the life group leader of a group of undergraduates from my university.

I immediately objected. I tried to justify why I needed the job, and said things like, “If I quit, are you going to feed me?” and “It isn’t good for the kids to keep changing teachers.

Yet, deep down, I knew the real reason why I didn’t want to let go of the job: I simply didn’t want to give up the extra income. I thought and prayed about it, but I still couldn’t surrender the matter fully to God.

A few days later, as I was serving as a backup singer, we started to sing “Christ is Enough”. To be honest, I had not reflected on the lyrics of the song for a long time because I had heard it so many times. But that day, God used the song to speak to me.

As I sang the chorus the second time, the lyrics, which spoke about how Christ Himself was all that we need, struck me hard. Tears began to run down my cheeks. God was reminding me that He was enough for me. Money would never be enough, regardless of how much I had. I could find everything I needed in Him. At that very moment, I was overwhelmed by gratitude. That day, I went home thinking to myself that if I really had to, I would resign.

As of now, I am still holding onto two jobs. But God has brought me to a point where I’m willing to give up the opportunity of earning more money and to sacrifice my wants, in order to have more time for God’s kingdom if He calls me to.