The lottery can turn people who have been living paycheck to paycheck for years into instant millionaires. Many of us have heard the stories of some of these folks. They thought money would make their lives infinitely better and solve all their problems. For many of them, exactly the opposite is true. Having more money than they know what to do with, they’ve inherited problems they never could have imagined. Family and friends turning on them, relatives coming out of the woodwork and expecting favors, and the person they have counted on most is no longer reliable. Relationships for many couples in this situation have ended. Not thinking about the downside, most of us have fantasized about how great it would be to have lots of money, but those that have become instantly wealthy are often in over their heads. Many of them are not able to hold on to the wealth they always dreamt of having, and some even wish they had never attained it.
Proverbs 28:20(NLT) says, “The trustworthy person will get a rich reward, but a person who wants quick riches will get into trouble.” We can see very easily in this verse that God’s definition of being rich differs from society’s definition. We live in a world that craves more and more, and it is never satisfied. Everyone wants designer brands and labels. People never seem to be content with simple living and simply having their needs met. Craving excess is what the world promotes, and the more a person has, the more accepted they are by society and the more successful they feel. God tells us that He’s designed life in such a way that the faithful person will increase in blessings, and life ultimately will not cooperate with those who rush to get rich.
The mind and heart of a person that rushes to get rich is usually that of someone who is consumed with self-interest. This defies the commandment of Christ. He tells us in Matthew 6:19-21(NLT), “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Ambition can be a very healthy quality when it is aimed in the right direction, and the right direction is upward, where our Heavenly Father is. Our treasures should be the kind that can be stored in heaven. We can’t store greed and selfishness in heaven, because these are not acceptable to God. They are corruptible and will ultimately lead to a very disappointing end. Our ambition should be to store up the kind of treasures that please God. These are the kind that never end.
Through the Apostle Paul, in 1Timothy 6:6(NLT), God teaches us, “Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.” Being a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and doing the Will of God is the best thing that any of us could ever hope to do. There is no greater profession, purpose, or circumstance than living the life God has destined us to live. His Word is true, and every Word from Him is life to us. The difference between His description of wealth and what society considers to be rich is made even clearer by Paul in 1Timothy 6:6. In the eyes of our Heavenly Father, contentment with Godly living is great wealth. In other words, there is no greater profit to be gained other than that of pleasing God by following His Word through the example of Jesus Christ.
Being wealthy is not a sin but using it only to serve a selfish agenda is. Life is nothing to play with. It is a gift from God and an opportunity to prove our faith in Him. It is given to live through the example of Jesus Christ, so when we stand before the Father in judgment, He will call us His child and not say, “depart from me worker of evil. I don’t recognize you as My own.” We need to get this straight, everyone is not going to heaven. It makes us feel comfortable to think that everyone is heaven-bound, but God’s Word tells us this isn’t the truth. Most people are content to stay enslaved by darkness and they don’t want to come into the light of Christ. They don’t want to learn to walk by faith and to depend on God to supply their needs. They want to try to do this on their own, and this will ultimately lead to devastation.
1Timothy 6:11-12(NLT) instructs, “11 But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses.” There’s a war going on inside us. The fight is in our minds, and we will either let our carnal or self-agenda rule, or we will put on the mind of Christ and do what he desires us to do. As Paul instructed Timothy, we must fight to preserve ourselves in the example of Christ. We must hold tight to the Word and stand on it continually.
We must value what God values. If we are indeed His children, the things that are important to the Father will also be important to us. The devil tries to persuade us to move into darkness, so that he can control us, but the Father is trying to preserve us. Through Paul, He teaches in 1Timothy 6:17-19(NLT), “17 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. 19 By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.”
We want so much to be blessed and feel good every day, and God is teaching us how to do it. We cannot feel good if we do not value the same things as the Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, Heavenly Father is teaching us how to stay true to His Word so that we can live a long and blessed life. He tells us in Proverbs 10:22(NLT), “The blessing of the LORD makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.” God gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Heavenly Father has defined what it means to be rich, and He’s told us in Proverbs 10:22 that His blessing makes us rich. Doing what pleases Him is the kind of wealth where there is no sorrow. If we seek Him in all that we do, and we are obedient to follow His Word, we will live a life that is in abundant in every way.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“The Blessing of God’s Riches”, written by JMack, 4theChristianMan.com© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.