Wealth Management

Proverbs 15:16: "Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil."

We live in a society today that is consumed with the desire for material prosperity above all other pursuits. People are selling their souls, their families, their health, their happiness, and their divine purpose in life for more material possessions. Whereas wealth per se is not inherently bad, it nonetheless can become an idol passionately pursued to the detriment of all of the areas mentioned above.

The Apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy said it well: "Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it . . . . People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction . . . . Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs" (I Tim. 6:6-10).

Happiness and fulfillment in life are not necessarily a function of one's wealth. Some of the most contented people are those who do not necessarily have much materially but who are in a love relationship with the Lord and are faithfully fulfilling their Divine calling in life. At the same time, some of the most frustrated and unfulfilled people are those who have much materially but who have consumed themselves with the pursuit of those things.

When we displace the worship of God with the false god of material gain, we should expect that turmoil awaits us just beyond the horizon.