Christian Living

A Better Wealth

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
09/17/21
Free to Share
Author requests article critique

  Message Writer
  Hire Writer

Tweet

“For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.” (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20)

I started my life at the age of five with a 25 cent allowance. Today I am amazed that 25 cents were sufficient back then. My dad gave the stipulation that I would tithe that 25 cents for the Lord’s ministry. The remaining 22 cents took care of all my wants. As a year passed, I had desires and wants. A bicycle to ride over the neighborhood and far-off places. Dad said if I wanted a bike, then I would have to save my money. Not exactly the plan I had, but I wanted that bike. After twenty weeks of saving 10 cents a week, I had ten dollars. I had never had that much money in my pocket and thought myself to be a boy of wealth. Dad was impressed I had saved each week without giving up and believed I wanted a bike. He threw in 5 dollars, and I got my first Schwinn bicycle.

I liked that feeling of buying something for myself and, at eleven years, started my lawn cutting business. I did well until we moved to Florida and was making seventeen dollars a week. Florida ended my lawn cutting business, and it was high school before I found further employment. From then on, I’ve been chasing the ever-illusive one more dollar. The lesson I learned from my dad was the same as my grandmother has always told me. If you want something bad enough, then you will save up for it.” That is good advice, and for the most part, it works. Not all things are possible at seventeen dollars a week or my present income. Now and then, you have to take a loan.

Over the years, thoughts have changed in my way, or I should say from my way. Saving and buying and maintaining what I purchased was not as fun as it once was. Things are helpful for a little while, and then you want something else. It never ends, as the Jones’s are always one thing ahead. The older I got, the more futile this cycle became, as nothing I wanted would last. Finally, the truth became apparent that the wealth trail in this world has a losing end. There is nothing here that can be taken when you leave this world. What there is will be squandered by those who didn’t work for it. Either way, I go the way I came, naked.

There are some truths to be considered when planning for retirement. The first truth is, don’t be short-sighted. Some spend fortunes to bury themselves. Great monuments were bearing their name, monuments that are visited seldom and in a time forgotten. Monuments are not much to show for life and a name that will quickly fade. We may know many of the famous names of the past, but we don’t know them at all.

As Solomon said, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” A worthy legacy is only found in eternity. Short-sighted is securing anything in this world, as it will remain here. We need to place our more considerable attention on where we will spend the most time, which is eternity. I began to think about all that when an understanding came for this verse. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)

I take care of myself and myself provides for my family. With the abundance of blessings I share in ministry to neighbors. I do this because God has placed His love in me. Many people are charitable and display good intentions. It feels good to help people to feed them with their material needs. The good deeds we are created to do in the service of our Lord are to advance the Kingdom of God here on earth as Kingdom ministry is the only salvation from God’s wrath that is soon coming. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

The real wealth is this, not the work we do for our glory but the work we do in the power of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God the Father as Jesus spoke in the Gospel of Matthew. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21) Therefore, I no longer serve the god of this world, as that path leads to destruction. I serve my Lord and Savior as His path leads to the gates of Haven. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matthew 6:24)

So how do I accomplish that good work? It took me a while to know that I couldn’t. I read a fantastic insight the other day, which explains the point perfectly. It is not Lord, what can I do for you today, but Lord, what will you do with me as your instrument? What can we do together? His answer is in John. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Jesus is the model of the abundant life here in this world, as He lived it perfectly. At the beginning of His ministry in the synagogue, Jesus stated His mandate from the Prophet Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19) In the power of His Spirit, all these things are possible for us to be instruments of. Inside the Church body and, more importantly, outside of the Church building. Paul said to his son in the faith. “Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” (1 Timothy 6:18-19)

The grace of God receives offers salvation freely through faith. (Ephesians 2:8) Good deeds will never earn you a place in Heaven or secure your salvation. The lack of good deeds by Christians causes a question of their faith, as James points out. “But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:18)

Many will have false security in the wealth they have gathered in their lives. They will live their lives in the false peace of their wealth only to realize that none of their wealth can help them as their life fades away. “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!” (James 5:1-3)

I have been at the beds of the dying, and none have asked for their portfolio to comfort them. They want to know what is next in the future. There is time for them as long as the body has life, but many cannot humble themselves and accept they lived for naught. Some will and cry out the name of the Lord, Jesus, and they receive Him in faith. The truth, in either case, will soon be known, as death reveals the truth of God. Jesus will return to His creation, and He comes to judge what has been done in the lives of people. Will He find faith in the Christians, or will he find despair in the unrighteous? “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.” (Matthew 16:27)

The small pittance my loved ones will receive when I leave this world will not carry them much farther than the bank. However, little or much, it is will not do anything for me. As my sacrifice of labor carries on in the ministry of the gospel of Jesus, I see it not as a burden but a blessing stored in the Kingdom bank. For me and all of us, that is the better wealth. “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” (Luke 6:38)

Thomas Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, June 11, 2020