Alabama’s Governor is already talking about gambling and some supporters are smacking their lips at the idea of making millions off of foolish people easily separated from their money. The recent economic downturn seems to be the perfect time to once again tempt the voters of Alabama into accepting a lottery.
Well here is a story about what happens to some people after they win. It doesn’t really prove things one way or anotehr but it is interesting.
After giving some thought to the previous article about greed, I was reading in the Old Testament at Zephaniah 1:18. That so-called minor prophet was writing about the coming destruction of Judah. He wrote of their torment:
“Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord’s wrath…”It simply reminds us how brief and transitory wealth really is. At the end, there will be no barganing and nor purchasing of second chances. Our fate will have been sealed by our own lives and conduct. Jesus says men of wealth will call for the mountains to cover them (Luke 23:30). Oddly, the same fate awaits the slave (Revelation 6:15,16). Wealth is simply irrelevant at the last.
The material blessings of life give great comfort but little security.
Greed will likely be the byword of 2009. Just think about it. Thousands of people bought homes they should have known they could not afford. Businessmen handed out loans to customers who could not repay and a slick salesman named Bernard Madoff took the wealthiest among us for billions in a scheme to get rich quick.
We see such schemes all the time. They come into our email inboxes and arrive via US mail constantly. Signs along the highway and ads in the paper all proclaim the end to our financial worries if we will just buy someones secret money making program.
Hogwash.
Here’s some more wise advice from Solomon:
A faithful man will abound with blessings, But he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished. (Proverbs 28:20)As his custom in this section of the Proverbs, Solomon offers a positive followed by a negative. Let’s reverse it. The warning of haste in making riches is another way of warning against greed. Earlier Solomon has warned that the treacherous man will caught by his own greed (Proverbs 11:6).
When we seek to gain wealth quickly we often take shortcuts and liberties that we ought not. Often our vision becomes more and more focused upon our selves and less upon others. While we truly hurt for those who lost everything in the Madoff scandal and the other economic downturns we must be honest and observe that many are suffering because of their own greed.
The real source of wealth is often found in a different direction. Wealth is found in obedience to Jesus Christ and full submission to his will. Remember the Solomon searched for happiness but finally came to the conclusion that true happiness and contentment is found in serving God.
There is an abundance of blessings awaiting the faithful if we will just cling to the Lord.
Your thoughts?