Money and Stuff: Money isn't everything

A little over a week ago 189 people died in terrible bushfires in Victoria. The people that survived the fires know all too well the true value of things. On TV I watched one resident exhorting an old lady whose house had burned to the ground – “This is nothing! This can be replaced!”. Another person talked about how relationships are the "real" and "essential" things in life. Similarly, Jesus said that “a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15).

What those people have learned remains true even when life is good and our possessions are intact. Money is Good and things are Good (1 Timothy 6:17), but they’re not everything. There are better things than physical riches. Relationships and spiritual riches are better by far.

Spiritual, eternal riches are also more secure than money. Money is unreliable and passing away (Ecclesiastes 5:13-14; Mathew 6:19; 1 Timothy 6:17). Anything can happen. Eternal riches are far more worthy of trust (Mathew 6:20).

And those eternal riches will include physical blessing. God has made us to be physical and to live in a physical world. Heaven will be a beautiful, abundant, peaceful, joyous, physical place and we will have physical bodies there (Revelation 21 & 22; 1 Corinthians 15). That’s what we have to look forward to.

But now is not the time for guaranteed physical riches. Being a Christian does not mean that you will have lots of money and stuff. It means you have something far better and more lasting (Matthew 13:44).

Think back to your life before you were a Christian. Were you happy? Did you feel secure? Did life make sense? Did you carry around regrets and guilt? Were you scared about dying? Did you screw up and disappoint yourself? Then think about what peace with God has meant for your life. Is this peace worth more than a house? More than sexy clothes? More than travel? The superiority of spiritual riches is not a trite platitude. It’s actually true: spiritual riches in real life, in lived experience, are actually better. They may not be visible but they are nonetheless real. “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) But Christian, all is well with your soul.