"Tangled Up in Wealth"

"For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth." (Psalms 10:3) A question that so frequently arises among those that are blessed with wealth and prosperity, is, To what extent is enough to much? It is really not an issue of how much that we have that is the question, but rather, how much does what we have have us! In other words; are we captivated by our wealth to such a degree that it now controls how we think, or how we plan our tomorrows? Again, we can go to what Jesus said on this matter for the answer, and to understand the difference between living for this world and living for God. In Luke 12:15-21, Jesus give us an illustration of what it means to have our focus in the wrong place, and He does so using a wealthy man who plans his future according to his wealth. Beginning in verse 12:15, Jesus says, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." He then goes on to show a parable of a rich man who had great wealth; so much so, that he needed to build large storage areas in order to keep it all in. After having stored all of his great wealth, he then said within himself, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry". The point that Jesus was making had to do with man trusting in his wealth as the rest for his soul; as if that which he possessed was enough to sustain his life; but, what is life? For in Luke 12:20, Jesus says, "But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall these things be, which thou hast provided?" It is this principle that David is speaking of when he says, "For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire"; for the heart that David is speaking of, is the seat of appetites, or the passion of the wicked; and the desire, is the lust he has for those things of the world which he believes will fulfill the passion that burns within him. Then to make matters even worse, David says, "and blesseth the covetous"; which is a way of saying that he kneels down to that which he believes to be complete, as if to say that he has accomplished all that he requires for his soul to be complete. It is this attitude of man's heart that God rejects, for it flies in the face of all that is truth; because there are two ways to measure the worth of a man's soul: what his soul is worth without those possessions, and what his soul is worth without this life..."So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God." (Luke 12:21)