Being rich toward God

The Sunday Times Rich List 2019 has been published which identifies the 1000 richest people in Britain. The richest people on the list have an estimated fortune of £22bn, (that’s £22,000, 000,000), which has increased by £1.3bn in the past year. Those on the list have built their fortunes in different ways including through inheritances, oil and chemical industries, designing and making vacuum cleaners, gambling, finance and banking, media and internet. Some very rich people are generous in helping others and have set up charitable trust to help the poorest people in the world.

A man once came to Jesus with a request, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus said to him, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” It is easy for us to assume that if we were very rich, we would be very happy. The sad experience of many people who have won large amounts of money on a lottery shows us that this is not always the case. Marriages and family relationships have been destroyed, long-standing friendships broken, and lives damaged through drugs and alcohol abuse.

Jesus went on to tell a story to illustrate what he had said. “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Jesus himself is the supreme example of a someone who was rich making a great personal sacrifice so that those who were poor might become rich. He left the amazing riches of heaven, which were his by right as God’s Son, and came to this earth to live an ordinary life and to die on the cross to pay the price of our sins. Whether we are rich or poor he offers us an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade and which is kept in heaven for us.

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Peter Milsom