C A R L B. G A R N E R

29 MILLIONAIRES

I remember a History professor telling our class about a day in 1929 in which 29 millionaires jumped from tall buildings to their death. I guess the numbers help me remember the incident, but it also serves as a reminder of the problem of overemphasizing money and material possessions. Many other people on many other days also succumbed to the pressure of financial losses during the days of the Great Depression. The entire world suffered through those days, and it left an indelible mark on the emotions of many men and women.

I don't know very much about the intricacies of economics, but if the newspapers and the newscasts on TV give an accurate reflection of the real situation, we may be in for a few months of a "Bear Market." That means investors will be more reluctant to put their money into some stocks and securities. Others will buy while stocks are low, hoping to "make a killing" on the market. And the cycle begins again.

Money is not an evil thing. Neither are possessions necessarily tainted with wickedness. The term "filthy lucre" is found 5 times in the New Testament, but it is not the money that is filthy so much as is the attitude toward it, or the means by which it is obtained that is under consideration. The rich fool of Luke 12 was so named because he was laying up "treasure for [himself], and not rich toward God." In Mark 10 it was not riches that alienated a young man from God, but the fact that he put his "trust in riches." No, money is not innately evil, but when money, or the lack thereof, becomes so important to us that we consider taking our life when it is lost, then we have put money on the throne that belongs to another.

Note some passages on the subject of money and material goods:
€ "Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith," Proverbs 15:16.
€ "Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain," Proverbs 30:8-9.
€ "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep," Ecclesiastes 5:10-12.
€ "And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth," Luke 12:15.
€ "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows," 1 Timothy 6:10 [ASV].
€ "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" 1 John 3:17.

However, there are some other misconceptions we can have about money. Some just assume that if a person has money he must be covetous. But the patriarch Abraham was wealthy, and he was a righteous man. Job was not a covetous man, but he had great riches. Paul wrote about those who were already rich:
"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life," 1 Timothy 6:17-19. Riches are here spoken of as being the gift of God. They are not to be looked upon as being evil if they come from God, but used in ways that would be helpful to others.

The most common mistake is to assume that money will bring us peace and happiness. But Solomon had more than his share of riches, yet he concluded, "Whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun," Ecclesiastes 2:10-11.

Those who plunged to their death in 1929 evidently believed riches were their only reason to live. But Christians have "treasures in heaven," Matthew 6:20. No one can steal those from us, but we can, like Esau, trade our "birthright" for the "cares and pleasures" of this world, Luke 8:14. But why would anyone trade their soul, for any amount of money?