What can a billion dollars do?

The net worth of the world's richest person is 400B, so says Google. Other billionaires are listed. Write a one followed by nine zeros, you get 1,000,000,000 = one billion! Think of it as a thousand million to better grasp its enormity. 

Or try this: Let 250 sheets of paper, about 1 inch thick, represents 1 million. How tall would the stack have to be to represent 1 billion ? Since 1 million equals 1 inch, so 1 billion would be 1000 times that, or a stack of paper 1000 inches tall. This is 83 feet, four inches illustrating a billion. This is as tall as an 8 story building! Imagine a city with 400 of those buildings.

Spoiler alert… While the combined money of the world’s billionaires would solve world poverty, what is it doing for those who have it? While money can buy a lot of things, it cannot benefit anyone who is dead. 

If that sounds like the rationale of someone who wishes to be rich, it does not describe those who take God seriously. I can remember wanting to have more money. I had many bills to pay and not having the funds, yet God provided. The first was $100 rent due on a propane tank. No money. But I received a short letter in the mail from someone I didn’t know who wanted me to paint a portrait of her dog. She included payment, which never happens, and it was $105, enough for the tank, the canvas and postage to mail the painting. Since that, I stopped worrying  about finances or running short. 

He has also shown me the dangers of making money a priority, even as He has always taken care of all my financial needs. 

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Timothy 6:9–10)

The next verses tell me to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness” and get a grasp on eternal life. This life is short and all of us are terminal. It is not sinful to have money, but to love it… 

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. (1 Timothy 6:17–19)

Some rich people do that; others not so much. Jesus offers a far better goal than a fat bank account. He says:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. . . . And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? . . . . But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:21–33)

A sheet of paper can also represent the brevity of life here. However, a stack that illustrates eternal life has no ending. It reaches to heaven and beyond. While I am here, I can use the funds God supplies to bless those in need because hoarding it for myself is folly. Only the spiritually blind are unable to acknowledge that they cannot take it with them.

PRAY: Jesus, this freedom from any desire to accumulate wealth is from You. You were given what You needed, trusting Your Father for it without any greed or desire for even one cent of it. Keep my focus off money and on You, trusting You to take care of me, and to save me from the sin of loving money.