Enviou$?
In the twenty first century, money can evaporate. An October 26 headline on Forbes reads, “America’s 10 Richest People Are $14 Billion Poorer As Stock Market Has Its Worst Day In Almost Two Months.” Big names like Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos appear in the list of men who have just taken a hit as their stock value drops so suddenly.
This reminded me how a couple verses in Proverbs:
Do not toil to acquire wealth;
be discerning enough to desist.
When your eyes light on it, it is gone,
for suddenly it sprouts wings,
flying like an eagle toward heaven (23:4–5).
This is exactly what happened to these men. The stock market has faced a lot of up and downs in the current times of uncertainty. This should cause those of us of lesser wealth to remember that our fulfillment and happiness won’t come from money. It is tempting. But the Bible talks differently about money. It’s not something we should worship. Our hearts want to see people who have money as having more value, but God values things like character and wisdom much more than wealth.
It can be tempting to envy people who have great wealth. Paul Tripp says, “Money is a very accurate window on what is truly important to us.” It reveals what we really care about. We want to spend it on ourselves to feel better, so we are jealous when others seem to have this privilege and we don’t. But the issues are not external, they are internal. Tripp lists four major heart issues which can lead us into money problems: ingratitude, neediness, discontent, and envy. Personally I think envy is the strongest of the four. There is always someone who has more than us, unless we are one of the ten names on that Forbes list. And does that solve all their problems? Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, was recently divorced. What an example that even the richest of men can experience such hurt.
The Bible’s instructions about money are plentiful. Instead of comparing to others, we should work hard but never to make more than is necessary to be used for selfish pleasures.
“Sex & Money.” Tripp, Paul David. Crossway, Wheaton Illinois, 2013.