Riches that Profit

"Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease! ⁵ Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven."

Proverbs 23:4-5

It is good to set goals during our lives, perhaps even financial ones.  But there is one goal which will never be satisfied even when it is obtained:  the desire for more.  Dissatisfaction with our current income or financial net-worth leads to a lack of thankfulness and generosity with what God has given us.  Many people set their sights on being millionaires from their youth and many have obtained this desire.  There is no evidence the more money people have the happier and satisfied they are in life.  In fact, the evidence seems to suggest otherwise.

The Swedish pop band ABBA wrote a hit song in the '70's titled, "Money, Money, Money."  The chorus repeats, "All the things I could do, if I had a little money.  It's a rich man's world."  A desire for a little money, which as King Solomon says makes wings and flies away, leads to a need for more money.  The perspective of the ABBA song is one of longing for more money so life would require less work and offer more fun.  But this approach assumes being able to afford the things you cannot do now is where happiness can be found.  Through his experience Solomon has something to say about that.

King Solomon was a man in the ancient world with unrivaled wealth, power and peace in the height of his reign over Israel.  He received vast revenues of gold and silver annually to amass anything he wanted:  he acquired land, male and female servants, bought chariots and horses, completed building projects, hired professional chefs and singers, and even imported peacocks and apes.  He gave himself to entertainment, wine, women and song.  Few can say what Solomon did in Ecclesiastes 2:10:  "Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labour; and this was my reward from all my labour."  After doing anything Solomon wanted his conclusion, however, was very different from the romantic notions of the ABBA song:  "Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun."  In the end Solomon, in his great wisdom, realised all he had and did was empty and pointless.

Solomon did not set his eyes on what was not:  he looked upon all he accumulated and accomplished and determined it was vanity.  He could not keep it, and all he had worked for would pass to another who had not worked for it.  Alcohol could not deaden this reality, and all the entertainment, laughter and excitement he enjoyed could not deliver him from depression and hopelessness.  There are few of us who could possibly make the claims Solomon did based upon experience and so we bop along to the ABBA ideal:  if I had a little more money I could work less (though useful work was a source of satisfaction for Solomon) and do more things because "it's always sunny" in a rich man's world.  And exactly when is a person considered rich?  This is a strange dynamic because the "rich" may not view themselves this way as it is more an elusive feeling than objective fact.  The richest people may live like paupers because they do not want to lose what they have--ignoring that one day it will all pass to others:  to family, friends, the government or foundations run by people they cannot hold accountable.

The Bible does not teach we live in a rich man's world:  by grace we live in a world governed by God.  True satisfaction is not found in health, wealth or financial prosperity but in the God who supplies all good things.  Comparing ourselves with others is unwise, and setting our eyes on what is not causes us to pursue the mirage that a little more money is what we need.  Riches certainly make themselves wings and fly away, yet the soul that rests in the LORD and His abundant provision is eternally rich.  The day we believe we need more than we need is a day when faith is exchanged for walking by sight and caters to the love of this world.  The true riches are found by faith in Jesus Christ, as it is written in 2 Corinthians 8:9:  "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich."  Isn't it wise to receive the riches of the Gospel, to value Christ over our temporary net worth on earth?