AS I hear about this or that billionaire, becoming the richest or the second richest man, or making it to the Fortune 500 list, I wonder whether they ever enjoy the happiness their wealth should give them?
I’ve never seen joy on their faces!
Yes, there’s the fixed plastic smile as they meet dignitaries, but never the easy contentment that should have come with such vast wealth. It’s like, “I don’t have time to smile, as I might miss making a dollar!”
Are we like that too? So busy that life is passing us by? Logically speaking, the reason for accumulating money is to buy things that will give pleasure, and let’s agree a private airplane would give us a lot of pleasure right? But the only expression I’ve seen from shots taken of them in their planes is of these billionaires frowning while busily working on their next deal.
They don’t have time to enjoy what they’ve earned because what’s taken over is the addiction of garnering wealth for the sake of making more and more and more!
An addiction that can overcome any of us. It first starts with preparing for some eventuality like sickness or disease and then continues. But hear what Jesus has to say about this: ‘I tell you not to worry about your life. Don’t worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn’t life more than food or clothing? Look at the birds in the sky! They don’t plant or harvest. They don’t even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes care of them. Aren’t you worth much more than birds? Can worry make you live longer? Why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow. They don’t work hard to make their clothes. But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth wasn’t as well clothed as one of them. God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow. God will surely do even more for you! Why do you have such little faith? Don’t worry and ask yourselves, “Will we have anything to eat? Will we have anything to drink? Will we have any clothes to wear?” Only people who don’t know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows you need all of these. But more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.
Don’t worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today.’ (Luke 12:22-32)
Solomon was a billionaire, still his wealth could not give him the covering God promises us.Do you still want to have the joyless face of the billionaire or the joyful face of one who’s put his trust in God?
