NOT EVERYONE HANDLES WEALTH SUCCESSFULLY

According to Proverbs 10:22, God does entrust some people with wealth: “It is the blessing of

the Lord that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it.”

Yet the Scriptures warn us against the perils of wealth. For example, the more you have:

1. The more people will show up to drain off your resources:

“When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof,

saving the beholding of them with their eyes.” (Ecclesiastes 5:11)

2. The greater the potential for strife among family members:

“And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle.”

(Genesis 13:7)

3. The greater the temptation to hoard and to take life easy:

“And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my

fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow

all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many

years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” (Luke 12:17-19)

4. The greater the tendency to put your hope in material possessions, rather than in God:

“Charge them that are rich in this world, [not to] trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God…”

(I Timothy 6:17)

5. The greater the tendency to become conceited:

“Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded… ” (I Timothy 6:17)

Perhaps that is why Solomon struck a balance between wealth and poverty in praying,

“Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, lest I be full and deny Thee

and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or lest I be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God.” (Proverbs

30:18, 19)

Clearly, God’s word instructs us to not love or desire wealth (I Timothy 6:6-10). However,

should God entrust us with riches, we are to then carefully follow Scriptural guidelines on its

stewardship, such as those outlined in I Timothy 6:17-19.