Want to be rich?

 

My father often criticized the lazy people he knew, many of whom were not financially well off. The end of my first marriage left me in a poverty state, so dad’s value system meant that I had to work hard. These experiences of life formed an admiration for the rich and a distain for the poor, thinking it was all due to how hard they worked.

Since then, God has taught me to think differently about both ends of this spectrum. For one thing, arduous work does not always result in a hefty bank account. Not only that, some have money because they inherited it rather than worked for it. The Bible has much to say about money yet the instruction is often about the attitude people have toward it, and the attitude to have toward those who have money and those who are poor.

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? (James 2:5–7)

God challenges my attitude toward people with or without money by challenging my attitude toward money. I know how easily money and wealth can become idols, and that Jesus said:

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24) and later added, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:23–24)

This is a sad thing. Being rich is a snare to the point that those who are wealthy forget that they cannot take it with them when they die. Some of them tend to ignore the fact that we are all terminal and neglect to think about eternal matters. Those in poverty tend to think more easily of what really matters in life.

Either way, rich or poor, salvation and eternal life are important. If we have that, it will be ours forever. Thus, James says: “Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away” (James 1:9–10) and reminds his readers to pay attention, “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (James 2:5)

Someone once said, “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. And, believe me, rich is better.” I could say that too, but I also know that the size of my bank account has very little to do with the peace and joy I experience. If I let it govern my happiness, it will, but God shows me the reality of, “doing good, being rich in good works, being generous and ready to share” (1 Timothy 6:18) and the wonder of His care when I think His way about money,

PRAY: Jesus, I am so content in Your care. When I was poor, You gave me all I needed. Even now (when I have more than I need), the principle of You being the source and me being the conduit is richer than a wad in the pocket or in the bank. You show me that if I give anything away and wind up needing it, You simply give it back. This is true when in poverty or when money is plentiful. Trusting You is the thing, the truth that every person needs, rich or poor.

PONDER: I’ve heard that “Some people are so poor that all they have is money.” Far better to have a heart full of trust in God and with gratitude for His promises to take care of all my needs. This is key to living in poverty or plenty. Read 1 Timothy 6:6–19 and be blessed by God’s standard of contentment and His description of true riches.

 

 

 

True wealth . . .

 

For some, this pandemic has clarified what it means to be well off. Isolation and other factors reveal that money cannot buy peace of mind or physical comfort. Today’s Bible word is RICHES and what it says about the wealth of God, rather than human ideas of being rich.

The OT does speak of material wealth using rich or riches, usually about physical wealth rather than God’s riches. Even though the OT encourages human diligence, it does say that the Lord supplies all material and spiritual riches.

1 Samuel 2:7. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts.

1 Chronicles 29:11–12. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.

Because God is the source of wealth, we can freely share it, trusting Him to supply our needs. Proverbs 11:24 put it this way: “One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.”

In the NT, riches is used to describe physical wealth, but also describes God’s everlasting riches. These include the riches of His grace and mercy as well as the riches of Christ. Also described are the richness of His kindness, glory, wisdom and salvation. Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

These riches from God have purpose in our lives. For instance:

Romans 2:4. “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

Romans 9:22–23. “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory . . . .”

Even though “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek” and the Lord “bestows His riches on all who call on Him” the failure of the Jews to accept their Messiah “means riches for the Gentiles” until that time the Jews will be included. Colossians 1:27 and 2:2 says, “God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory . . .  that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ.”

Paul was deeply blessed by God’s plan. He declared in Romans 11:33: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”

The salvation plan is rich in many ways —Jesus left the wealth of glory so we could have it:

Ephesians 1:7. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”

Ephesians 2:4–7. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Scripture contrasts riches in material ways with being rich toward God and rich in doing good. Some thought they were rich according to outward appearance, but were poor, while others who were poor are described as being rich in Christ. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Colossians 3:16 tells me, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” because He saved me, not because of works done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on me richly through Jesus Christ my Savior. 2 Peter 1:10–11 says I must “be all the more diligent to confirm my calling and election, for if I practice these qualities, I will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for me an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Every day I’m to demonstrate that all that I have in this life is nothing compared to the riches I have in Christ!