Can You Handle Wealth?

Sometimes you may wonder if you could handle poverty.  You look at people less fortunate and wonder about the faith it would take to trust God in dire economic circumstances.  No doubt, it takes faith to trust God when you're living paycheck to paycheck or when there isn't food on the table every night.

Can I handle wealth?

When I read my Bible it seems to scream that this is the better question.  I've been reading through the life of Solomon.  When you read about Solomon you're left wondering who can handle wealth.

Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived.  God appeared to Solomon twice.  Solomon saw the glory of the LORD fill the temple.  And Solomon was taken down by the unholy trinity of money, power and sex.

If Solomon can fall, we all can fall.

"The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents, not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land." 1 Kings 10:14

"Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses... Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt..." 1 Kings 10:26a & 28a

"King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter... Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.  They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, 'You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.' Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.  He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray." 1 Kings 11:1-3

666.  The weight in gold was listed as "evil, evil, evil".   His horses and chariots were from Egypt.  His unequally yoked sexual partners numbered a thousand. Solomon was in direct disobedience to what Moses commanded.

"The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, 'You are not to go back that way again.' He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray.  He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold." Deuteronomy 17:16-17

Solomon was famous for his immense wisdom.  He had access to Yahweh Himself, and yet he sinned and led the nation into sin.  Money, power and sex ruined him and wisdom alone couldn't stop it.

Money, power and sex seep into the heart like no other drugs.

No wonder Jesus warned the rich (Luke 6:24) and the powerful (Matthew 23:13-39) so much.  While we are so busy wondering if we could handle poverty, Satan is sedating us with wealth.  You and I are part of the most wealthy group of human beings in the history of the world and we tell ourselves we aren't.  We live pampered, unsatisfied lives.

You and I may not be like Solomon in as much as we get 666 talents (25 tons) of gold a year, but we are wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of most humans who have ever walked this planet.

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.'

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, 'Who then can be saved?

Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:23-26

We are wealthy and it is hard for us to enter the Kingdom.  If Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, could fail so miserably then we are hopeless.  Except we aren't hopeless.  We have the Living Hope.  We have the One who enables us to enter the Kingdom whether rich or poor.

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:12-13

Christ is our only hope.  Praying "Be Thou My Vision" is the only hope we have.  Christ gives us the strength to do the improbable and the impossible.

My fellow rich friends, recognize the comforts that want to strangle you to death.  These things can either be a tool for spreading the Gospel or a designer noose we bought for ourselves.  The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10).  Fight the urge to love money, power and sex.  Fight the urge to trust in your bank account instead of Christ.  Ask God to give you the power to handle wealth today.