We all have, at one time or another, been consumed with the desire to have riches of one kind or another. It may have been that lure on Facebook that you have won $600,000 or the email from the FBI saying you have $6.5 million from a claim from Nigeria (both are real and have been sent to me. Though they are not real.) Other people's riches are the most tempting. We see our friends with a new car, clothes, buying a house or however else they are going into debt and we want that...without the debt! When the church falls into this space the Gospel is no longer being delivered. The gospel (small g attached to $) is being preached and encouraged of it's members by the leaders. The government, not to be outdone, has it's own means of taking your riches. I'm particularly vexed with the taxes on just about everything but air. The resale of a vehicle 12 times brings about taxes on that sale 12 times. There is no end of taxes except death. Guess what?! There are taxes after death as well on your estate! So, what exactly are the riches we need versus the riches we want?
Most of us know the first part of that famous song in Fiddler on the Roof: "If I were a rich man..." I remember seeing that movie when I was younger and wasn't impressed with money at the time. Why? Because we didn't have any. No one told us that. It was something called a "fact". We were poor farmers/ranchers who struggled with everything including the weather. My memories would shock many of you. You would think I grew up in the depression. Yet, I didn't KNOW I was poor. "Back in the day" no one talked about their financial status or what they did and did not have. People were generous with whatever they had. It's just the way it was in life growing up on a farm in North Dakota. I'm sure I would have liked to have had this clothing, car, status like any teenager. Who wouldn't. Yet, we were clothed, housed, fed and educated. We worked hard, were serious about our futures and had no aversion to serving our country. Compared to today's youth, we were rich! Rich beyond measure. We were rich in ethics, morals, and freedoms. You can't put a dollar sign on that. We didn't have allowances or money to do as we wished. We worked for our money even at an early age. We had a beat up old truck that the 7 of us kids would be bundled into the rear (covered with a tarp) and make a 70 mile one way trip to Grandma's house for holidays when it was 20-30 below zero. We would get one bought gift at Christmas. We were rich! You see, being rich really is in the eye of the beholder.
Some of the biggest names in Christian preachers are the richest people I know. Some of the biggest names in Christian preachers are the poorest people I know. And, there are those anywhere in between. Same goes for those who follow their preaching. You know what I mean. Billy Graham is the most outstanding preacher of our era. He is the most widely known and respected Christian preacher bar none. He limits his income, has his clothing donated and relies on what God brings his way. The rest goes into people. He takes his riches and passes them onto others by way of Jesus. He is one of the richest men on earth. Billy is a real man of God and rich beyond what any televangelist would ever conceive. Why is that? Because his riches are found in Jesus. His retirement is in Jesus. His belongings belong to Jesus. His wife, kids and grandkids belong to Jesus. Everything about Billy Graham shouts "I have all the riches of God in heaven because I have Jesus!" He needs nothing else and will tell you so.
If you are like me, you fall into the middle ground between the two extremes. There are times when my faith is great and I know that all God needs to do to sustain me is to sell one of the cows he has on a 1000 hills. Other times I wonder where the money is going to come from to buy toilet paper. Thank God for newspapers! The news is bad but the use of the paper is great. I struggle with life as many of you do. I try to not complain about it to anyone but God. What profits it a man if he has the world but not Jesus? I am the richest man on earth. He has blessed me beyond my imagination. He has blessed me in the future beyond my imagination. I'm a stranger in this land passing through like a sojourner seeking the path that leads home where Jesus has prepared a place and a banquet for ME. He did it for me. My past does not dictate what Jesus has for me. My present and my future don't either. God has fixed it in his heart that he would and does love Steve with all he is. Who could be richer than that? Wow! The God of the universe thought I was so precious that he died so that I could be blessed in spite of myself!
Riches are in the eyes of the beholder. What do you behold?
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