WOULDN’T IT BE wonderful to be rich? I mean really rich. To have all the money in the world to buy anything, any time?
The pleasure it would bring… the enjoyment… the security… and the prestige. It’s the source of all happiness, isn’t it? We seek it, crave it, and strive to obtain it, but do we really need it?
Yes, those without it suffer.
But, to what extent is it needed? When does it go from meeting our needs to excess?
Is it wrong to have so many shoes that you can’t possibly wear them all, or an abundance of clothes that can’t be held in one closet? Is it immoral to have so many possessions they need to be contained in a storage unit, warehouse, or larger home?
What does it do to our souls, our lives, our love for others, when we keep what we don’t need and don’t allow God to guide us through its influence?
Cold, heartless, and inanimate, money can alter the good in us, allowing greed to take root and grow, preventing us from serving our Lord, interfering with devotion to family and preventing aid to those who are hungry, hurting and abandoned. It pulls our focus into this temporary place called earth and away from our eternal place in heaven.
In truth… money deceives. It lures us with promises of happiness, fame, and comfort, but instead it becomes a deadly objective without God’s involvement.
Shouldn’t we be rich in the things of God first, so we can handle its power?
Yet, it may be pursued relentlessly by all of us to one degree or another, a tool misused too often in the hands of those who have it.
Peter Michael Lawrence was one such hunter of wealth.
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