[311 words]
“He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof saving the beholding of them with their eyes? The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. As he came forth of his mothers womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand” (Ecclesiastes 5:10-15).
If you had as much money as Bill Gates, what would all that money buy you? Would it buy you a mansion in Heaven? Would it buy you love, happiness, or even satisfaction? The answer to all of these questions is no, of course not. These are some things money cannot buy.
Money can get you more material possessions, but it can also get you more problems. Solomon lists four of those problems in Ecclesiastes 5:11-14. First, freeloaders will follow after your money, verse 2. Second, you will lose sleep worrying about your money, verse 12. Third, money can bring you many ‘temptations that would do you harm, verse 13. Fourth, you might lose it when you need it the most, verse 14.
Finally, Solomon tells us that we cannot take it with us when we die, verse 15. When we die all we will have left will be the treasure we have laid up for ourselves in heaven.
Jack McNeil
via Chapman church of Christ
Ripley, MS