”But the ones wanting to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires, which are plunging these men into ruin and destruction.”
-For some, this is the main course on the menu. To be rich. Constantly having much in terms of material resources. An abundance of earthly possessions of every kind. This can mean one is wanting to BE rich or to BECOME rich - but does it really make much difference? More, and much. Much and more - if someone is wanting to be rich, regardless of how achievable this end may be, this is what drives them. Greed. Much and more. And I will never be satisfied. I think these earthly possessions will bring me satisfaction, but they always leave me wanting.
-Instead, in my pursuit of much and more, I find a host of things I did not expect. Temptation. A trap. Foolish and harmful desires - many of them. As well as ruin and destruction. A deep dive down into ruin and destruction, like a ship sinking and all the cargo is lost. And I’m like, whoa - I just set out to be rich, to get much stuff and more stuff. I didn’t expect to wind up with these things! But instead of gain I get loss. And ultimate loss - the loss of eternal life. But why is this? Why do I wind up in such a pickle, such an awful contrary predicament, in a completely opposite place than where I set out? It is a question... of definition. How do I define happiness? What do I need in order to be happy in life? When I define life in material, temporal terms, when I let much and more be both my compass and my rudder, then greed becomes good. And the values of eternity and of right and wrong cen get relegated. I will cut corners and compromise because what God values is not the utmost of my highest. See, I’m not thinking about eternity. I’m not thinking about the fact that I can’t take it with me. And I am sure not focused in the least on the breathtaking goodness of the One Who made me. I choose then to either live in denial - denying His supreme goodness and supremacy - or in short-sightedness. And the reason my eternal destiny hangs in the balance is that when I prioritize wealth and abundance and make it my goal it can then become my god. I put it in God’s rightful place in my heart and that is precisely what separates me from Him, and will separate me from Him eternally. In essence what I am doing is relegating the question of what God wants behind what I want, and relegating the value of the Creator to below that of the created. And asking God what He wants is a risky proposition if I think I need much and more to make me happy because there is a distinct possibility that if I were to defer to the Lord and ask what must I do to obtain eternal life, He might answer me the way He answered in Matthew 19.21-22. Sell all you have. Which is not a ledger question, a matter of how much I do or do not have. It is a treasure question. Again - a question of definition. What do I treasure? What do I define as treasure? Fundamentally, what is treasure to my heart? My Precious? Is it the stuff of heaven, the Lord of heaven? The Creator of heaven and earth and all that is in them, including my heart? Is He my Precious? Or is it some ring of power, some earthly trinket? Something(s) created, something other-than? Is mine the earthly pursuit of much? Much stuff? Is it so much kindling, something destined for the great bonfire to end all bonfires? The sell-all question is only a risky proposition if my great desire is to be rich, to acquire and accumulate the created.
-If you would like to be rich, I suggest that you ask the Lord to show you if perhaps you have skewed the definition of happiness. It goes back to a question of what do I seek first? Matthew 6.33 - if I get THAT order right, then everything else - including eternity - falls right into place.
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