Accumulating the Worthless—

“They have succeeded in accumulating a greater mass of objects,
but the joy in the world has grown less.”              — Dostoyevsky

“Take heed and beware of covetousness:  for a man’s life
consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” —Luke 12:15

[2col1]I‘S  MY MONEY.  I earned that money.  This is a common idea (especially in America).  People generally believe that a person has absolute authority over his own stuff, over what he has earned or accumulated.  Yet, the reality is very different—

The earth is the Lord‘s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.  —Psalm 24: 1

Whatever we have has come from the Lord’s hand, and only indirectly by our earning it—

Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation: and David said . . .  Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all . . .  But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. —I Chronicles 29: 10, 12, 14

 

[endcol] [2col2]Our wealth belongs to us in the same way that a child’s bedroom belongs to the child.  The room actually belongs to the parent, but the child is given temporary and accountable charge over the room.  This is even more so for Christians because as Christians, we have been bought at the price of the death of Christ—

 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.  —I Corinthians 6: 20

Our lives and all our stuff are utterly at the disposal of the God who bought us.

Wally Shores

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Based on a talk given before a church. Church of Christ, Valley Congregation (Phoenix, AZ).
Used here by kind permission.