Saturday, October 6, 2018

Some Things Matter More than Money

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:”

Genesis 14:21–23

The noted poet and author Edgar A. Guest said, “We were discussing a certain man the other day—a man rich and almost friendless. Men who once tried to like him gave him up as a hopeless case. He is now old and has more money than he will ever need. To one with whom he quarreled bitterly more than twenty years ago, he said recently: ‘I don’t understand it. You have hundreds of friends about you, and I have almost no one outside of my own family to whom I can turn.’ And the man replied simply: ‘I was making friends years ago, while you were busy making money.’ It’s all in that one sentence. We carry into old age only the things we have thought to bring along the way.”

Every day we make choices that will impact our future, both in this world and in eternity. Many people live only for the temporal and material benefits that can be gained in this life, without any thought of the impact it will have on their own lives and on others. But some people rise above the fixation on money and things, and live for what is truly important. That is why Abraham declined to take the legitimate spoils of war after he rescued Lot and the other residents of Sodom who had been captured by enemy armies. He valued his testimony above financial gain because he knew what mattered most.

Today’s Growth Principle: 

It is impossible to love God and money at the same time.