Moth and rust

With the wanna-be Roman emperor Marc Antony in her bed, you would expect Cleopatra to have the man under her control. That’s what Herod’s angry wife Miramne thought when she asked her neighbor for a favor. “My husband murdered my brother,” Miriamne confided to Cleopatra. “Please have your lover call him on the carpet and punish him for his crime.” Cleopatra pulled the right strings to get Herod summoned to what should have been his execution, but it didn’t happen. History records the proof that one thing is stronger even than sex: MONEY. Camel-loads of gold bought Herod a verdict of not-guilty. Today, centuries later, few things impact our lives more than money. Under the echo of Jesus’ words about “Moth and Rust,” Senior Editor Gene Shelburne calls us in a series of devotional essays to contemplate how our attitudes toward wealth mesh with our faith.