True Riches
As we see unfolding right in front of us in our nation, it’s something we can’t trust. It fuels the stock market’s rocketlike ascent. Its withdrawal brings it crashing down. It causes retirement accounts to fluctuate wildly from one day to the next. It can upset lives, cause fights, destroy relationships and make people bitter and resentful toward one another. It has started wars and caused the downfall of empires. It tends to happen when people make this the main priority. The Bible says that the love of it causes all kinds of problems, as in—“the root of all kinds of evil.” You must recognize by now—it’s money!
We’re still experiencing a pandemic and they’re saying the stock market is experiencing the greatest rebound ever. This financial rollercoaster ride and tenuous relationship with some international trading partners, along with the loss of once-trustworthy companies, could change that tomorrow. It just reminds us that hope in what Jesus calls “unrighteous wealth” (Luke 16:11) is futile.
As evidenced in a survey of lottery winners, 95% of respondents said that winning had ruined their lives. The survey’s conclusion: If money becomes the most important thing in your life, then you’re living the wrong life! Yet companies, nations, families, individuals and even churches still make the mistake of pursuing the wrong kind of foundation for their existence, that of riches.
When you listen to political candidates debating the major issues for our country, the bulk of it usually has to do with the economy. Currently, other major issues loom large. Even with everything else going on today, voters are very concerned about the economic foundation of the nation and of their personal lives. If we could solve wealth concerns on a personal and national level, the assumption is that life would be easier, simpler, and more stress-free.
If a candidate for office could promise—not just a campaign ploy, but really guarantee—wealth for everyone, he or she would be a shoo-in. Any product that could assure a remedy to all financial woes would enjoy a limitless market. Then doesn’t it make sense that if you are trying to sell wealth-promising, greed-satisfying religion, you package it in pledges of satisfaction of every earthly desire?
In his book Christianity in Crisis, Hank Hanegraaff writes,
“We must shift from perceiving God as a means to an end, to recognizing that He is the end. We must shift from a theology based on temporary perspectives to one based on eternal perspectives.”
That’s very true, but what about those temporary things? Do they matter at all? Of course they do. God cares about your financial situation. He cares enough to give us sound biblical principles upon which to build our lives and to live with a healthy balance.
As Christ readies His church for His return, one key quality He will expect to see in us is that we know the difference between a foundation built on things of eternal importance and those built merely on temporal value. Though He expects us to be good stewards of those temporal things, if they become the most important things, we’re living the wrong life and building upon the wrong foundation.
Are you building your foundation on the solid rock of God and eternity, or the shifting sands of today’s temporal wealth? Are you investing in a foundation that will endure, or things that are here today but could be gone tomorrow? Jesus made it clear that we cannot serve both God and money. Serving God means gaining true riches. How is your spiritual bank account?
“Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.” —1Timothy 6:17