Walking through the forest you will find an abundance of plants, bugs, and creatures, and depending on what kind of trees are in the area, you may find fruits, nuts, seeds, or pinecones littering the forest floor.
A common site that I will see frequently while walking through the forest will be a gigantic pile of pinecones at the base of a tree, or in an old hollow log. And if you sit long enough staring at that pile you may just see what it was that put them all into a pile in the first place. A squirrel. Because for some reason squirrels seem to feel the need to store up so much food for themselves. Even though there is no way that they could possibly eat all of the food that they have stored up for themselves they continue storing up more and more.
There are people in the world like this too. They will have an abundance of treasures and possessions, yet they continue to store them up even more. Not just one car, or two, or three. But maybe twenty, thirty, forty. How many houses can you live in at once? Just one, yet people will amass countless homes and properties.
I kind of think of it as a child at a picnic table with a large package of cookies in front of them. There is no way that they need that entire bag all to themselves, but they sure want it, don’t they? I have been a little child in that exact situation and I can indeed confirm that I definitely wanted them all. Not just the one or two that I could eat, but I wanted the cookies that the kid across from me had, and the kid next to him as well. I wanted them all. And you know, this is like a situation that happened in the Bible.
Luke 12:13-15 And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.
And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
That is the “quality” that many people today will display. Just like the squirrels in the woods or a little child with a huge package of cookies, they are filled with a desire of covetousness for the things which other people have. They desire to attain as many earthly possessions as possible, and going to great lengths to do so.
As we read in the passage above, the man wanted his brother’s inheritance, but apparently it wasn’t granted to him. But because his desire for those things were so great, his covetous desire caused him to go up to the Lord and ask Him to tell his brother to split the inheritance. It hadn’t been given to him! His brother had something that he didn’t, and it caused that desire inside of him. But as the Lord told the man, our lives do not consist of the amount of things that we have.
We cannot take our possessions with us when we die. All of the money that one could acquire will not benefit them after death, it will all stay here, as Paul told Timothy.
1 Timothy 6:6-10 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
So we see how the love and pursuit after money and possessions doesn’t lead to contentment. It is a continual cycle of wanting more and more, and this covetous pursuit after wealth will only lead one away from what they truly should be seeking after, in our Lord Jesus.
Money isn’t happiness. Wealth and treasures and possessions do not do anything for you after you die, so why spend your life trying to attain them? Instead of coveting the things of the world, covet the things of God. Seek diligently the Word of the Lord, and covet the knowledge found therein. That’s where the true treasure is found. Not in a bank account. Covet the things of God!
In Christ,
Andrew
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