0714. 697. Riches

697. Riches

“Let Not the Rich Man Glory in His Riches” Jer_9:23

A leader in a recent newspaper gave the following: “Seventy-nine millionaires and eighty-eight bankers committed suicide in the United States in one year; which proves once more that the mere possession of wealth does not produce happiness or contentment of mind. The eternal struggle for money is based on the false assumption that wealth unlocks the doors to the Elysian fields on earth. Yet no sooner has the goal been reached than the winner of the race finds himself still surrounded by human problems and difficulties in many cases more irksome and exhausting than those from which he has just escaped. The truly rich man is the philosopher who is satisfied, not to be a sluggard or mere drone, but who fills the niche in life for which he is best fitted; who looks on money as a means to an end, and not the end of all, and who cherishes health and the good-will of his fellows above the mere gathering of gold. The contented poor man never commits suicide. He is the one to be envied by millionaires.”

When gold is our god how poor we are! When money is our objective, what subjective slaves we are to its rule.

1. Riches are Unreliable. “He that trusteth in his riches shall fall” (Pro_11:28). Anything short of God will fail us.

2. Riches are Uncertain. “Riches certainly make themselves wings and fly away” (Pro_23:5). When we think we have got them, they are gone.

3. Riches are Unsatisfying. “Neither is his eye satisfied with riches” (Ecc_4:8). Gold is not bread, and riches cannot feed the heart.

4. Riches are Unproductive. “Deceitfulness of riches choke the Word” (Mat_13:22). Riches promise much, but produce nothing.

5. Riches are Unprofitable. “How hardly shall they that have riches enter the Kingdom of God” (Mar_10:23). Riches block the way to higher things.

6. Riches are Unsettling. “Trust not in uncertain riches” (1Ti_6:17). If we trust in anything short of the living God, we shall find ourselves unsettled.

7. Riches are Unfruitful. “Your riches are corrupted” (Jas_5:2). A corrupted thing cannot produce anything that is beneficial.

By: DR. F. E. MARSH