One time I bought a new car and my secretary at the time exclaimed that I sure was “lucky”. I told her that it was amazing how luck has worked for me in that the harder I worked the “luckier” I got. Just the other day I had someone exclaim that I was “too blessed” by God. “Huh?” I asked, “Do you suppose God got it wrong?”
He then told me that I should give him some of the money that I have, because “God has given me more than my fair share”. He went on to tell me how lucky I am.
I told him that I do not remember God “giving me any money”. I related that I am not very lucky and have never hit the lotto, won in bingo, or won anything for that matter. I’ve never found any buried treasure. I have never inherited anything and God did not lay a million dollars on my doorstep with a not saying – “Enjoy!”.
I started my career in Atlanta cleaning mortar off bricks with a hatchet in order that they could be reused for fifteen dollars cash per day and lived in a boarding house that cost me fifteen dollars per week. It was not the Four Seasons. I had many addictions to conquer, no resume, a criminal record, no education; I just had a strong desire to succeed. My first real job paid $350/month and I remember having to drop out of college at night, because I had a wife and baby to feed, and I worked exceedingly long hours at my day job to ensure they had what they needed.
When I started my own business I remember literally working 20 hours a day for years (as in 7 AM until 4 AM – day in and day out – and never missing working on Saturday and yes even working too many Sundays. I remember investing everything I had and taking risks that would make a brave person shudder. I remember banks turning me down for loans and further humiliating me by laughing out loud in my face when I told them I needed to borrow enough to start my business.
I remember my family, friends, and acquaintances telling me the same thing as that stupid banker and adding that I was crazy to start my own business, and that I was doomed for failure and to forget about it and get a “real” job. I responded that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and I didn’t forget the verse says “I can do” as in God is not going to do it solo for me.
I remember getting on a plane on Monday and returning on Friday night for decades, flying over two million miles going from prospective new clients to existing clients to check on them and make sure they were happy. I missed too many of my children’s baseball, football, soccer, and basketball practices. I even remember celebrating my birthday on a plane heading for India to teach our programming staff when I had a sinus infection so bad that I thought my head would explode on the 30-hour plane ride. I remember being the first one at work and the last to leave for years; right up until the day I officially retired. I remember tenaciously maintaining perseverance even when I was worn out, discouraged, and felt like quitting.
I continued by telling him I am blessed by God in that He forgave me my sins, He endowed me with ability, and He loves me for reasons unknown and I love Him with all my heart and have unswerving faith in Him. I love Him for who He is and for what He did for me.
I missed out on a formal education due to running away from abuse from my father and the mental problems caused by it and turning to the dark things of life, but God gave me a brain and some aptitude and I fought my way out of it with His help. He provided me opportunity, but I had to be the one to take advantage of it. If it were not for my determination to succeed and my strong work ethic, I would not be successful at much of anything and if it were not for my love for Jesus and my desire to obey God I would be just like so many of those who have nothing and have spent their lives eating, and drinking, watching television, and in some cases drugging, chasing ugly women, playing golf and spending more time at parties and barbeques than work or church, not necessarily in that order.
We have choices in our lives. There are no free rides in this world. Because of sin, God told Adam that he would eat bread “by the sweat of his brow” until he returned to the ground. God cursed the ground and told Adam that he would toil all his life and so would his descendants. The Bible tells us that if a man will not work he should not eat. Liberals listen up! If you want to succeed in this life, then work harder and smarter and don’t quit at the first hint of trouble. Accept your fate in this life and stop whining about all the things you do not have!
God has blessed me with a wonderful wife, family, and pretty good health and a life already over three times the number of years I expected. He has saved me from my sins and loves me. He has provided me with my wiles and talents, which I have tried to use to the best of my ability to earn a decent living for my family. I have accumulated some money and I use it to both reward my effort and to help others and to further God’s important work. I am sure that God wants me to do just that, and I sleep well at night and do not apologize because I may have a few more possessions than the next fellow.
Frankly, I do not think God cares much about money or even thinks of it or material things. He knows that all that stuff is passing and will not even be a consideration throughout eternity. Now that I have accumulated some stuff, I can understand why it is not so important to Him; it is not all that important to me either and certainly is not what those who do not have it and long for it think it is.
I realize that soon all that stuff will be gone like the wind and in as few as a mere hundred years or so all that I have accumulated will already be rotted and blown away like the dust of my body where it will return to the earth from which it came; like one song declares, “we are all merely dust in the wind”.
However, billions of years from now the righteous work that has been done in this lifetime by God’s children will still shine brightly. So the moral of this long story is don’t wish for the wind of fading materialism; rather focus on the everlasting foundation of Jesus Christ. According to statistics it is doubtful that God or anyone is going to give you money. If you want more money, you need to earn it! Understand how it works; the harder and smarter you work, the more money you will have. God gives us all opportunities, but make no mistake about it; we must take it from there.
Finally, if you are “lucky” enough to accumulate some wealth, keep it in perspective in relation to eternity. Don’t make wealth your God, stay humble, fear the Lord and enjoy life – you earned it!
Proverbs 22:4
By humility and the fear of the
Lord are riches and honor and life.