This concluding “paper” is addressed to all of us rich people out there. I know what you are thinking but don’t you dare stop reading because…………….YES YOU ARE!!!!!!
You are well supplied.
You have some costly possessions (maybe even quite a few).
You have more than enough to satisfy what we might call normal desires or normal needs?
You own some intrinsically valuable things?
You have more material possessions now than you had last year.
I want you to be real honest now…………..I’ll bet you have purchased something, sometime or another in order to attract attention or to impress your neighbors or to impress the guys you play golf with or the girls you have a Bible study with? You know what I’m talking about.
See, I told you so. And I’m not making this up. I read it in a very popular thick book written by Mr. Mirraim Webster. And, there’s nothing wrong with it, being RICH that is. Do you know why there’s nothing wrong with it? You are exactly right, it’s Biblical. I Sam 2:7 declares, “The Lord makes poor and RICH……”. The Lord is to blame for you being rich. It’s His fault.
In fact, the Lord has recorded in His book the existence of a number of rich people. Some are in the “club” and some are not. Here’s a partial list: Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph of Arimathea, Zaccheus, Solomon, David, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Boaz (don’t you just love that name?), Job, and Paul. I’m sure we could find some additional examples but you can see that there are a few rich people in the Bible.
It’s interesting to me that the Bible is clearly friendly to the idea of some people being rich but at the same time cautions those who are rich or those who want to be rich. If we are honest with ourselves, we know that money has an influence far beyond simply functioning as a medium of exchange, measure of value, store of value and standard of deferred payment. It’s amazing how such a small, innocent looking, inanimate object can have such an enormous influence on our lives: how we live, where we live, where we go on vacation, what we do on our vacation, what we eat, where we eat, how much we eat, what kind of car we drive, how many we have, who our friends are, how many possessions we have, what kinds of possessions we have, our social standing, our relationships with others, the health of our relationships, and on and on. It can certainly be a distraction. It is often deceiving. It definitely breeds discontent (one of the goals of all the advertising). We judge people by how much money they have or don’t have. It impacts literally every aspect of our lives. I’m convinced that it is the reason God uses money, possessions, etc. to teach so many other principles.
Here’s what the Bible says (in part) about riches:
- Those who want to get rich fall into temptation. They fall into a snare. They are foolish. They have harmful desires. These all plunge them into ruin and destruction. That’s pretty strong language don’t you think?
- Riches can be a distraction with serious consequences. There are several passages that convey this same idea from different directions:
- Wealth is deceptive and fleeting.
- Riches cause us to deny God.
- Trusting in riches is iniquity calling for judgment.
- Rich people are deluded into thinking their money and wealth will keep them safe.
- Evil people trust in riches.
- Riches aren’t worth anything in the day of wrath.
- Those who trust in riches will fall.
- Riches are not forever.
- Hurrying to get rich will bring punishment.
- Riches are no guarantee of a good night’s sleep.
- There’s more to life than money and possessions.
- Some people who long for money have wandered away from the faith.
- Rich people can be conceited and treat others roughly. Violent men attain riches.
- God knows that prosperity will draw us away from Him.
- Hoarding riches is a grievous evil.
- People who love money won’t be satisfied by it. The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil.
- You can’t serve God and money (it’s not possible). Your heart will follow the money/treasure.
- You can’t buy salvation. It’s hard for wealthy people to enter the Kingdom of God.
- Workaholism is foolish. (I’ve been there and it’s true.)
- Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles.
I don’t know about you but I think these words of caution for rich people are cause for concern. The real danger is summarized by Jesus in Rev 3:15:17 where He speaks to the Laodicean Church. “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you were cold or hot. So because you are luke-warm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’…………………..”.
It helps me to remember that this is strictly business. We are running a business. We are the managers and simply responsible for making wise use of God’s resources that He has placed at our disposal to accomplish His goals and objectives. Is that how you see it or do you have a different money management philosophy?