Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 5:18-19 (ESV)
A life obsessed with riches is destined for spiritual ruin. Washington Irving made this point in his folk tale “The Devil and Tom Walker.” When Tom sells his soul to the devil, Satan establishes him in Boston as a prominent, unscrupulous moneylender. Preying upon the misfortune of others, Tom amasses great wealth until, one day, his conscience is pricked: “Having secured the good things of this world, he began to feel anxious about those of the next.” But it is too late; at the end of the story the devil carries Tom away on horseback. When reading stories like this, one can easily conclude that wealth is ungodly. Of course, riches can be treacherous for the soul, but there is another biblical message not to be missed: To have and enjoy wealth is a gift from God.
Ecclesiastes teaches that investing in the things of the world is foolishness: “all is vanity and striving after wind” (Eccles. 2:17). Consequently, wealth will never be fulfilling: “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money . . . this also is vanity” (5:10). But a word of balance comes in verses 18 and 19, where the reader is told that satisfaction and even enjoyment are to be found in the pleasures of eating, drinking, working, and, yes, possessing wealth.
These activities are not in vain with the proper perspective—that blessings are a “gift of God” (v. 19). This point is made repeatedly throughout the Scriptures. John the Baptist confessed, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven” (John 3:27). Paul confronted the proud with the words, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not” (1 Cor. 4:7) James agreed: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. . .” (James 1:17). None of these verses teaches that God guarantees good jobs, health, faithful children, or even deliverance from trials. They do teach that the good things His children receive, including wealth, come from Him.
Believers who have been given great riches ought to ask themselves the question, “How does one enjoy wealth properly?” First, those with the gift of wealth enjoy it by enjoying the Giver. In other words, they take pleasure in their possessions by delighting in the source. To enjoy wealth without knowing Christ is less than true enjoyment, it is mere “vanity and a striving after wind” (6:9). Second, the believer enjoys his wealth by using it to bless others. As Isaiah prophesied, when one gives to the poor, “the glory of the LORD shall be [the] rear guard” (Isa. 58:8).
Money is not worthy of worship and the opposite, namely an ascetic lifestyle, does not insure holiness. After all, one can worship money while in poverty. As Ecclesiastes teaches, the issue is not what one possesses, but what possesses one. If the heart is hostage to a spirit of relentless personal acquisition, then the soul atrophies. If, though, the heart is consumed with gratitude to the Giver, great enjoyment flows to his life as he eats, drinks, works, and disposes of his wealth in wholesome ways.
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