Have you ever heard, read or seen something that touched and moved you deeply to the point of tears? Was it a movie, a book or something someone said to you? I watched a video some time ago which provoked me to my very core! It was about a homeless man, Curtis. He has been assisting a woman and her son through some difficult times. Curtis himself lives on the street and panhandles for a living.

When I was watching this video, what moved me was Curtis’ response to the reporter regarding his ‘lack of possessions.’ The reporter told Curtis he had nothing himself, but Curtis’ response was, “I have God; I am one of the richest men on this earth because I have God.” Yes, indeed, what a compelling statement to make!

Think of your own life. When faced with difficult times, are you confident like Curtis to affirm that you are indeed rich in this life because you have God on your side? One of my favourite passages is Matthew 6:25-38. In summary, it tells us not to worry about what we will eat or drink or wear. Our heavenly Father KNOWS what we need, and HE will provide for our needs when we seek first His kingdom.

I also liked the fact that Curtis goes on to say that “money is not my master, and that is what is wrong with this world; money is his master.” Luke 16:13 talks about this very issue in that ‘no one can serve two masters, either he will hate the one or love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” We live in a world where we are bombarded daily with all forms of materialism, and sometimes our ‘thirst’ for wanting more leaves us void of the understanding of what it means to be content.

While it is not wrong to have material possessions, we must ensure that those things do not consume our entire life. Remember the account about the rich man whose harvest was so plentiful that he decided to tear down his current barns to build bigger ones? He thought he was pretty set; he would relax, eat, drink and be merry. He was focusing on himself and got caught up in his materialism. We all know how his life ended that very night (Luke 12:16-21). The passage ends (vs 21) by saying that such is the end for those who store up things for themselves and are not rich towards God.

God has richly blessed us, and we need to use our blessings to glorify Him; we need always to put things in perspective and like Curtis said, if we have God, we are indeed rich beyond comparison, and God will always take care of us!