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Rusty Miller
"Money don't get everything, it's true,
But what it don't get,
I can't use.
Just give me money.
That's what I want."
--B. Gordy
Whether it is Donald Trump, Jim and Susan McDougal or any number of others, those lyrics echo a sentiment which threatens to overtake Americans. In truth, there are those who are much less wealthy, people like me and you, who are just as greedy, just as covetous as the billionaires who can never seem to get enough.
Everywhere in our nation, people are trying to "make a fast buck," and anyone who tries to stand in the way of me and my fortune had better look out. The main character of the film "Wall Street" a few years ago pronounced, "Greed works. Greed is good." And don't be deceived into thinking that greed was confined to the 1980s and Republican administrations. Greed, for many people in the 1990s, is still working and is still "good."
This is not new. This is not a subject about which the Bible is silent because it is some 20th century phenomenon. Greed is as old as law. In the Ten Commandments, God instructed man, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor" (Ex. 20:17).
Greed was not uncommon in the days of Jesus either: "And when Jesus heard this, He said to him, 'One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess, and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.' But when he heard these things, he became very sad; for he was extremely rich" (Lk. 18:22-23). The rich young ruler is easy to hold up to ridicule, for he is "extremely rich." On the other hand, I have very little. It is only natural that I should want "just a little bit more" (then world's richest man J. Paul Getty's answer to the question, "How much money is enough?").
One of the most condemning factors involved in greed is that it causes us to despise the blessings we already have. We leave our air conditioned homes, drive in our air conditioned cars to an air conditioned church building, where we sing, "Living below in this old sinful world, hardly a comfort can afford." Can we honestly say that we are not immensely blessed by God in this country?
Even more troublesome is that we seek to carry our greed to the next life as well. "I'm satisfied with just a cottage below/A little silver and a little gold/But in that city where the ransomed will shine/I want a gold one that's silver lined." It is not enough that Jesus has promised to prepare a place for us (Jn. 14:2), we want to write the architect's specifications to meet our desires (our greed?). We have based the idea of a mansion on the King James translation of this verse, which is better translated "abode" (as in v. 23) or "dwelling place" (as in NASB).
The truth is, few of us are "satisfied with . . . a little silver and a little gold." We want new cars, new homes, new clothes, new toys, new this and new that. And we are shamed by the apostle's words in Philippians 4, ". . . I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need" (vv. 11-12).
What was Paul's secret? Read one more verse: "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" (v. 13). Paul's secret was the same as the one he gave Timothy, "Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy" (1 Tim. 6:17). Paul's secret was that he trusted in his God, and not in whatever he had, be it humble or rich.
The teaching is actually that of our Lord. "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. 6:19-21).
The uncertainty of earthly wealth is far too fragile on which to fix our hope. Hope must be moored to something great and powerful and strong. Our hope must be fixed on Jesus, who gives us the gift of eternal life in His sacrifice for us. While it may be true that "money can't buy happiness," it is even more true that money can't buy salvation. Only our faith in Christ can give us such hope.
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