Many parents lament that children have no appreciation for what they have. This stems from their own experience of having little when their parents were struggling to make ends meet.
All of us want our children to be financially independent; to have enough to live on and enough to share.
If you have seen poverty, you know it is not something to be wished upon a soul. Wealth, on the other hand, is easy to wish for. Where there is plenty of money everything tends to be shiny and in working order; not so much where money is scarce.
Most of the men I know who are over 60 years old are of modest means. They have invested their lives in their family and church and will leave behind barely enough to look after the wife of their youth.
Solomon spoke about the miserable state of men who have gone from riches to rags:
“I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:
wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,
or wealth lost through some misfortune,
so that when they have children
there is nothing left for them to inherit.
(Ecclesiastes 5:13-14NIV).
You too probably know men who were left with nothing but debt and heartache after their investments evaporated into thin air. They were good men who were very proud of their accomplishments and wanted good things for everyone. But they did not stop to ask what would happen to their faith if their wealth was taken away from them. Money had become their currency of grace; the more money they had, the more divinely blessed they felt.
Whether rich or poor the disciple of Christ operates solely as a servant in charge of God’s things. John the baptiser spoke in the simplest terms about the proper use of God’s material blessings:
“If you have two shirts, share with the person who does not have one. If you have food, share that also” (Luke 3:11NCV).
Nothing has changed in 2000 years.
John Staiger