Riches Are Fleeting!

I said in my last blog that so many people live for “immediate gratification” with very little hope beyond their daily cup of coffee. And some of you might have said, “That isn’t me!” “My whole life is future oriented! Freedom 55 baby! I’m giving it all I have now, so I can enjoy the last 25 years of my life instead of retiring too old and too tired to do anything.” You find yourself in a different group or category because you don’t live for the moment, but I would dare to say that you still don’t live for any bona fide unyielding hope. You work 60 to 80 hours a week. You have no time for any deep relationships or the ones you should be nurturing are being ignored. But one day you’ll have time for everything and everyone. You are like a dog chasing your tail, and your hope is fleeting the Bible says. The richest man ever was a Palestinian king named Solomon, and though he attained great wealth, he was still better known for his wisdom. He said, “Do not over work to be rich, because of your own understanding cease. For riches certainly make themselves wings, and fly away like an eagle toward heaven.” (Proverbs 23:4-5) This was not some poor jealous man uttering the jargon of envy. This was a man “who had it all”, and wisely proclaimed “having it all is not really all there is”. If riches were not fleeting, then over working to attain them might be justifiable. But riches can leave a man in a moment or a man can leave his riches far sooner than he had hoped. So look around at the things and people in your life who are suffering in your quest for gold, and stop over working for the uncertainty of riches, and put your hope, rather, in God.