For Sunday school today we discussed 1 Timothy 6:17-19. The Message version says it like this: “Tell those rich in this world's wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage - to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they'll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.”
I don’t know about the rest of the world but in the United States we talk a lot about money. We invest, we save, we hoard. We judge others who don’t have money and we idolize those who do. We get lost in a world of MORE. We must have more. Whatever we have is not enough; we want more. The interesting part is that for most of those of us, we already have more. Compared to the rest of the world, we have so much more. We are rich. If we have a house for shelter, food in the fridge and a car to drive, we are rich. If we have access to clean water, we are rich. If we have health insurance, and can see a doctor when we’re sick, we are rich. If we sleep at night without worrying about violence or war, we are rich. By the world’s standards most of us are very rich indeed.
These verses are also about generosity. When we realize how rich we are we can respond with generosity. For those without, we can share what we have. For those ravaged by violence or war we can act for peace. We can share the love of God and the riches He’s provided by sharing that wealth with others. And we can be grateful! We can thank God for providing for us so much. We can pray – and act – to bring God’s abundance to all His children. We can “build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.”
Photo by Mathieu Stern on Unsplash
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