“The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” (ESV)
The Bible warns us about the deceitfulness of riches. I have come to the conclusion that money is like a rattlesnake. It has to be handled carefully.
It is paramount we understand and take to heart what the Scripture says about money. If we are not careful, it can become the god of our life. In fact, we are counseled to desire God and his Word more than riches.
Here are some passages that tell us the same thing.
In Proverbs we learn, “Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold.” (Proverbs 8:10, NIV)
Job tells us, “…and assign your nuggets to the dust, your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines, then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you.” (Job 22:24–25, NIV)
In comparison to having God be our gold and silver, gold and silver should be relegated to the dust of the ground.
Here again, we see our relationship with the Lord is more valuable than any amount of money.
“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.’” (Genesis 15:1, NKJV)
God is literally to be our gold and silver, and to be cherished much more.
In KingdomNomics we know this is true; gold and silver, along with everything else in this world, is perishing. There is no intrinsic eternal value in gold and silver or any other form of wealth.
Therefore, we want to be sure to follow Peter’s counsel, “So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God.” (1 Peter 4:1–2, NLT)
By arming ourselves with this attitude, we will aim to live a life of investing our perishable 3 Ts—time, talent, and treasure—in the imperishable values of heaven.
Today, ask yourself:
Am I sensitive to the dangers of money?
Where does the Word of God stand in relation to the other things I consider important in my life?
How much do I value the instruction and wisdom from the Word of God?
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