9781644683224 by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-08-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Is Something Wrong with Being Wealthy?

So is anything wrong with having great possessions and wealth? Of course not, if it is acquired in a legitimate God-honoring way. God has prospered many people with riches because he knows they will be good and wise stewards of what he entrusts them with. He knows they will use his money to bless others, to further the gospel message, and to help meet the needs of the poor. There are many, many wealthy, generous people in the world. They understand that it all belongs to God in the first place. What really jumps to a high mark on my personal irk gauge is how all rich people are often vilified and painted with a broad brush as evil and stingy by some people. Wealth obtained through honesty and hard work should always be praised and should inspire others to emulate those who have met with success by following that principle. Of course, there are many rich people who are greedy, using their wealth only for themselves. No dispute there, but we can all think of people at the other end of the financial spectrum who are equally greedy. In fact, the reason God has not bestowed many of them with wealth and possessions is he knows they would be poor stewards. Please understand that this suggests in no way that there is something wrong with being poor. But there is nothing necessarily wrong with being rich either. The determining factor is the stewardship point—do we view what we have as ours or belonging to God?

The admonition concerning wealth is to not seek after it. First Timothy 6:10 is one of the verses that readily comes to mind: “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (emphasis mine). Another teaching on wealth is found in Matthew 19:16–23, concerning the rich young ruler, and another very familiar example is given in Luke 12:16–21. All of these are admonishments to us that seeking after riches is dangerous, because riches and possessions can easily become idols in our lives. What we do with our time, talents, and treasures should be done with eternity in mind. That is, the “three Ts” should be used to bring glory to God by advancing his kingdom. Acts 4:32 is a very good example of the early Church practicing that principle. The King James Version of the Bible records the verse this way: “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own: but they had all things common” (punctuation mine). These early believers knew that God owns everything and that he entrusted them to use it for his glory. Verse 34 reveals that because they took stewardship seriously, none of them lacked for anything.

Another point about this verse that

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.