Luke 16:11
If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of worldly wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?
In God's word there is a direct correlation between the use of our money and the understanding of true riches. Are you handling your money in a way that honors your family? If so, you are in the right place to receive an understanding of true riches. True riches are priceless possessions. I am able to enjoy the rich satisfaction of giving to others, the rich sense of peace that accompanies living within our means, and the rich hope that comes from knowing God sees my need before I speak it aloud. God not only owns the cattle on a thousand hills, but the silver and the gold, too. He is a God who finds joy in blessing His children.
The Lure of Money
I discovered some fascinating statistics the other day. Did you know that out of 38 parables that Jesus told, 16 deal with money in some form or other? If you add up all the times that heaven and hell are mentioned, it comes to fewer times than money is mentioned. The New Testament says 5 times as much about money than it does about prayer. There are about 500 or so verses on prayer and faith combined, but there are 2000 verses dealing with money and possessions.
You can see from those figures that money must be an important issue for the Christian. But why is that? Is it because there’s something inherently wrong with money? No, the Bible never suggests that. In fact if you look at some of the Old Testament stories, wealth is often associated with God’s blessings. But what we do discover is that the love of money is the root of all evil. It’s when we elevate money to godlike status that it becomes a problem for us. As we read in our first reading, from 1 Tim 6, "those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction." Money becomes a trap, it captures us in a way that causes us to lose our perspective on life. In the end money becomes everything.
God bless you,
Charlie Marsolini
