RICHES DO NOT SATISFY

Prov. 23:4-5 Don’t weary yourself trying to get rich. Why waste your time?  For riches can disappear as though they had the wings of a bird!  NLT

       In a world that glorifies riches, we must hear this message.  The pursuit of riches for riches’ sake is a waste of time, a waste of one’s life.  No matter how much one may have of the world, he will never be satisfied.  It’s a vicious cycle that never ends.  The more one has, the more he wants to have because he discovers that what he has cannot satisfy the longings of the soul.

       It is so easy to buy into the notion that once riches have been obtained that they will never go away.  But life proves this notion to be so wrong.  We read of stories all the time and may even know from personal experience, how people of great wealth have lost it all.  Bad decisions or circumstances can cause riches to disappear in a moment of time. 

       Little real thought is given to just how empty the promises of riches really are.  We spin our wheels hoping to get more believing that once we get more then we will be happy and content.  The reality is that nothing we substitute for Christ in our lives will ever make us happy and content.  Only Jesus can satisfy the restlessness of the soul. 

        Riches cannot make our sins go away.  No amount of money in the world accumulated or given away can get rid of one iota of our sins.  Once a sinner always a sinner unless the sinner finds grace and mercy at Calvary.  Those who are rich will meet the same fate as those who are poor.  They will die and stand before the judgment seat of God and give an account for the sins of their lives.  They will be judged like everyone else by the merits of His Word.  The only thing that will save them from God’s wrath is the shed blood of Christ.

      The redeemed may get rich, but the quest for riches do not consume them.  They have much better things to do in life.  They build their foundation on Christ and the things of the Kingdom of God.  They do not get stressed out and weary over the things of this life for they find their satisfaction in Christ’s saving grace alone.  They seek first the things of God and rest in the knowledge that He will take care of all their needs today and forever.

      Riches for the redeemed becomes tools in their hands to bring honor and glory to Christ.  We use whatever we have to help others come to saving faith, whether we have much or very little.  Souls for the redeemed are far more important than whatever they may, or may not, have in this life.