One major upheaval in America today is the poor condition of the stock market. So many people places all of their faith in money. When the money ran out, they lost their hope. I'm not saying that having money or physical wealth is bad, I'm saying our attitude about that wealth can be. Over and over again, the bible teaches us not to put our faith in anything but God himself and His things. We see Jesus trying to teach this very thing in the following verses.
Matthew 19:16-22 (NIV)
Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?""Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.""Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied,"Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,'and 'love your neighbor as yourself." "All these I have kept,"the young man said. "What do I still lack?" Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
I've always thought this passage only had to do with this guy's greed for physical money, but as I was meditating on it this evening, it occurred to me that Jesus might have been trying to teach a much bigger lesson. I think He was trying to re-shape the man's thinking and realization on what true wealth was and how to properly invest it.
By Jesus telling the man to get rid of all He had, He was telling him to take his eyes off of worldly things and to focus on Godly things. He told him to get rid of the worldly wealth (possessions) and the hollow way of investing (appreciating assets, stocks, bonds, etc) and to transform it to Godly wealth (giving), investing it in a Godly way (giving to those in need).
What does this mean to us? Well, we could be just like this guy and not even realize it. We could be "good Christians", going to church, being an active part of one or more of the ministries, tithing, praying, and even studying the bible. But just like this man, if we don't have a heart for investing wealth in a godly way, we could be just as empty as he was. Just because we can show up and unlock the church doors every week doesn't mean we have provided shelter for someone in need. Just because we can quote several verses of scripture, doesn't mean we've fed a person that desperately needs it. Just because we pay our tithes, doesn't mean we are clothing real people.
Where are you investing your wealth? 401K or For the One King?
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