Have you ever met anyone who is wealthy in material things?  I knew many of them while working with my husband.  There were times they would confide in us about family problems, divorces, wayward children and other problems.  Of course, others less well-off had some of the same problems, but for the most part, they which were rich in this world’s material wealth were often the most discontented.  They were always looking over the horizon for that “one thing” which would make them content.  And it never came.  One extremely wealthy man I knew died just a few months ago.  I remember him as being angry most of the time.  The yelling at his son and wife always made me cringe.  He cursed with every sentence.  His father had left him wealthy beyond belief, but the man, till the day he died, was sorely unhappy, discontented and never found peace.  When I read the man’s obituary, there were glowing statements about him.  They apparently didn’t know the same man we knew.

I know of another who has never married; he is very wealthy and has no one to share his life with.  He doesn’t retain God in his knowledge and his speech betrays him.  He knows money, how to make money and that’s about all he knows besides drinking and partying.  I call that wealthy but poor.  It is a very sad commentary on his life.  And if one says anything to him about a better way, his response is, “he doesn’t need it and doesn’t want to hear it.”   One day those very words will come back to haunt him, but it will be too late.

Yet another is a veterinarian.  Yesterday I learned he is dying of cancer.  Life is too short to travel through it without having a direction nor purpose other than to make a living and acquiring wealth.  In the end we must leave it behind.  And then what?

“Wealthy but poor.  There are lots of poor rich people.   They have lands that stretch beyond the eyes, stocks that bulge bank boxes, bonds that bind cities and states, oil wells that flow, and skyscrapers that mark the concrete jungles – but they are poor.  Riches are not always what people think they are; neither is poverty.  Being without money can be a problem, but being with money can be a bigger problem.

Powerful, but poor.  David was king, but he had enough responsibilities to make him the object of pity – poor king.

There is but one measuring rod to determine whether one is rich – is he rich in joy and hope?  The Master Teacher said the rule of measurement is not in earthly possessions:  “For a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth”

“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.”    (Luke 12:15)

David, suffering persecutions and reverses, was poor because he felt desolate, forsaken and crushed.  Any man who thinks he’s poor is poor.

Additionally, one is poor, if he:  1.  Cannot enjoy what he has.  2.  Is not content.   3.  Is short on good works.    4.  Has no self-respect.    5. Has no real friends   6.  Has last the zest for living.   7.  Has little joy.   8.  Has lost his health.    9.  Has no Divine comfort.   10.  Has no eternal hope.”      ~  Leroy Brownlow

“Not that I speak in respect of want:  for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”      (Philippians 4:10)

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”    (Ephesians 2:10)

“For we are bought with a price:  therefore glorify God in our body, and in your spirit, which are God’s”    (I Corinthians 6:20)

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”  (III John 1:2)

Contentment, n.  1. Content; a resting or satisfaction of mind without disquiet; acquiescence. 
Contentment without external honor, is humility.    ~ Grew
“Godliness with contentment is great gain.”    I Timothy 6:6      ~ American Dictionary of The English Language – Noah Webster 1828

Eileen Light