I grew up in a house/home full of school teachers. As such we didn’t have a lot of money. Then my dad died and I grew the rest of the way up with a single (widowed) mother who was still a school teacher and we had even less money. We always had enough to eat and mother was a really good cook. We had a roof over our head which was being built by my dad when he died and it was still unfinished. We had clothes to wear and I had no complaints (it was before the era of designer jeans). In those days only the kids who were hoodlums wore jeans. I was not a hoodlum but I wore jeans. And my best friend in high school who was also not a hoodlum, wore jeans too.
My sister told me recently that we were poor growing up. I didn’t know.
But when I got to college and started thinking about the rest of my life, I decided I wanted to be rich. I did finally make it through college after significant challenge but learned along the way that I wasn’t very smart. I ended up with an ag econ degree and did economic research and corporate planning for several firms until I had the opportunity to take very early involuntary retirement. I had not become rich.
Then I discovered what the Lord had to say about rich. It is in His book at Matt 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Well, I had to look up to see what mammon meant. I thought maybe I knew and it turned out to be true. Mammon meant money. So sad.
Until February 1974 I didn’t know this but then I was convicted to pray to receive Christ as my personal savior and I eventually ran across this Matt passage.
I have known some Christians who are rich. I am not one. But I am trying to serve God as best I can. I realized a while back that there is really only one thing that is important. Where you are going to spend eternity. There is nothing more important! Eternity is a really long time. So, do you know where you are going to spend eternity? Are you rich? Do you want to be rich?