We live in a society which we would call materialist or consumerist. All too easily we are caught up in the desire to have more and more. Such desire comes from within each of us and is reinforced by the advertising media which tells us we deserve to have more and more.
We often know that there is something not right about this. The popular saying, ‘Money can’t buy you friends or happiness’, is one indicator. Yet we still fear to be left behind, miss out, or not ‘keep up with the Joneses’.
The Bible has an enormous amount to say on this matter. It speaks of the deceitfulness of riches (Matthew 13:22) as if we are so easily led astray by the false belief that money and consumerism can somehow make us ultimately happy or provide for us for all time. In The Parable of the Rich Fool the rich man said to himself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ However, the reply from God was, “You fool! This night your life will be demanded from you.” (Luke 12:13-21).
We are warned in particular about how material things become a god to us and draw us away from the true God. We “cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24) “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
We do not believe that wealth is wrong in itself. It is the love of money, not money itself, that is “the root of all evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10) We are urged therefore to have our priorities right. We are to “seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33) Whatever is added to us we are then required to use wisely, “not putting our hope in wealth which is uncertain …. But to be right in good deeds, generous and willing to share.” (1 Timothy 6:17, 18)
We all know the difficulty of getting our priorities right in regard to using what we have. Jesus spoke of the struggle it is for the rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. (Luke 18: 24, 25) Yet he showed great love and concern for the rich. The rich, and all of us, need to reciprocate his love. The rich ruler of Luke 18 went away sad because he would not accept Jesus’ ‘difficult’ teachings on wealth. By contrast, in Luke 19, Zaccheus, the wealthy chief tax collector, decided to give half of his possessions to the poor, and repay fourfold any he had cheated.
We commend the words of Jesus to all. “Do not store up treasures on earth but store up treasures in heaven for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6: 19-21)
