Riches Are Not Forever

In this article, I want to give you 11 very strong verses on the riches that this world has to offer, and how we as Christians have got to keep a proper perspective on how material wealth and money will fit into God’s overall divine plan for all of our lives.

If God has a certain amount of money and material wealth in His perfect plan for your life so you can use it to properly work for Him and advance His kingdom, then it is absolutely imperative that you realize where all of this money is coming from in the first place – from God Almighty Himself – and to make sure that you do not ever let any of this money and some of the power that will come with it go to your head and start to pull you away from God and with what He wants to do with your life.

There is nothing that can bring a man, a woman, a marriage, a ministry, or a company down faster than letting any kind of material wealth go straight to your head and puff you up with any kind of pride, arrogance, and greed.

Once all of that money and wealth starts to go to your head, it won’t be long before pride, arrogance, greed, and the lust and love for money will start to seep up into your personality and mindset.

And before you know it, you will then start to forget where all of that money had come from in the first place and what it is to be used for – and you will then think that you will no longer need to do things God’s way since you now have full possession of this money.

You will now start to use all of this money for your own gain and profit rather than using it for what God will want you to use it for.

If not properly handled, money and the love of that money can become like a cancer where it will start to slowly eat away at your soul and your personal connection with the Lord. The Bible tells us that it is not the money itself that is the root of all kinds of evil, it is the love of that money that is the root of all kinds of evil.

One of the main reasons money can have such a bad effect on our personalities is due to the Adamic curse that is still in full operation on this earth. As a result of Adam and Eve’s one transgression against the Lord, we all now have to work for our food and shelter in this life. What we work for are wages, and those wages are paid to us in the form of monetary currency.

And if we do not receive this money on a regular basis in our daily lives, we know we can lose our shelter and food supplies in this life very quickly.

For many people, they are only one or two paychecks away from being totally homeless in this life. As a result, we all have a full appreciation of money and how important it is that we receive our daily ration of it, for without it, we could lose everything we have.

Money then gets tied into our self-preservation instincts and it now becomes to our soul what blood is to our human bodies. Our bodies cannot live and function without our blood moving through them, and in the same way, we cannot live and operate in this world unless we have a certain amount of money flowing into our checking accounts.

Money is also like the oil to the car engine. Run out of oil and your engine will immediately shut down. Run out of all of your money and you could be totally homeless in a matter of days.

When you see all of the homeless people that are still out there on our streets, you realize that but for the grace of God that could be you out there due to how unpredictable our lives can be in this fallen and cursed world, and how fast tragedy and misfortune can hit anyone of us at a moment’s notice.

Since we all know we need a certain amount of money flowing into our lives so we can properly live and work in this life, it is not too hard to see how money can then start to really mess some of us up.

As Christians, there is simply only one way to look at money and how it is to be used and handled in this life. As we have said before in many of our other articles, there is only one way to live this life, and that is under a full and complete surrender to God the Father.

It is our job to fully submit our lives into the hands of God the Father so He can then place us into His perfect divine plan for our lives.

And once we make that full surrender to the Lord, He will now become our real Employer. He will now be the One who will decide what kinds of wages we will be making on the jobs that He will be giving us, along with when we will be promoted and how much money He will want us to actually have in this life.

God will now be the One controlling the purse strings in our lives, and He will now be the One to decide how much money and material wealth He will want us to be having in this life.

Once God starts to release the amount of money He will want us to have in this life, it will be our job to be good stewards of that money and use it in the ways that He will want us to use it for.

This money is being given direct to us by God and we thus should be using it for whatever He will want us to use it for. We should not be looking at this money like it is really ours and that we can now use it for our own selfish purposes and agendas.

And this is where some of the real problems will start to occur. Instead of remembering where all of this money is coming from in the first place, we all of a sudden forget who this money is coming from and why it is being released into our lives in the first place.

We then start to take the money flowing into our lives for granted, and we start to think that all of this money is a direct result of our own hard work. We forget that God is really the One who is controlling the purse strings in our daily lives and that He is the actual source of this money, not us or any of our hard working efforts.

With God now being our real Employer, He will now be the One to decide how wealthy He will want to make us in this life. I know there are some who like to preach a very heavy wealth and prosperity message saying that God wants everyone to be wealthy in this life, but I do not believe this is how God has the big picture set up.

Some people God will want to bless with quite a bit of wealth, as they will need that wealth to run the kinds of ministries and businesses He will want them to run.

But others will be called to do work that will not require a great amount of wealth, such as many of our missionaries who are working in foreign countries for very moderate if not minimum type wages.

Since God will be the One who will be running the money show for each one of our lives, we always have to keep all of this in proper perspective. If we don’t, we could easily lose sight of the big picture and with what God wants to do with each one of our lives in the perfect divine plan that He has already set up for each one of our lives.

What gets so many people in trouble with the Lord is they start placing the money and the pursuit and acquirement of that money ahead of God and with what He wants them to use it for in their own divine destinies with Him.

They start running with the money, trying to use it for their own selfish agendas and purposes rather than using it in the way that God wants them to use it. Before you know it, they will have completely pulled away from God and the perfect plan that He had set up for their lives.

And once they pull completely away from the Lord with all of their money in hand, it is not too much longer before they end up losing all of it, and then everything they had been trying to build up on their own comes completely crashing down on them.

Since God is only releasing this money into our daily lives so we can properly live, work, and function for Him, it is extremely important that we not let all of this money get the better of us and start to pull us away from God and the divine plan that He has set up for all of our lives.

These next set of verses will really drive home the point on how God wants all of us to look at money and the material wealth that either this world or God can offer to us, especially in the more affluent and wealthier type countries.

The Scripture Verses

I will first list all of these verses one right after the other, and then point out some key phrases that we really need to grab a hold of so we do not ever let the amount of money that God will want to release into our lives ruin us or cause us to pull away from Him.

• “For riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations.” (Proverbs 27:24)
• “Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death. The Lord will not allow the righteous soul to famish, but He casts away the desire of the wicked.” (Proverbs 10:2-3)
• “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.” (Proverbs 11:4)
• “Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, but he who gathers by labor will increase.” (Proverbs 13:11)
• “A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked.” (Psalm 37:16)
• And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” (Luke 12:15)
• “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes they have, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear; nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them.” (Psalm 134:15-18)
• “He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who lives abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them; so what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes? The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10-12
• “Do not be afraid when one becomes rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dies he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lives he blesses himself (for men will praise you when you do well for yourself), he shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.” (Psalm 49:16-19)
• Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:23-24)
• “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

Whether we receive money direct from God in the divine plan that He has set up for our lives, or we receive money direct from the world system itself by running our own show and doing our own thing, all of these Scripture verses are telling us one very vital and important thing – and that is all of this money and wealth is very temporary in the big-picture, eternal scheme of things – and that every single ounce of it will eventually be pulled away from us at our deaths and departure from this world.

No matter how much money you make in this life, no matter how much money you end up saving, and no matter how many money-making enterprises you have built up for yourself, not one ounce of this fortune will be going with you to the other side once you die and cross over.

As we have said before, no suitcases will need to be packed on your deathbed, as all of your hard earned money will now be staying right there in the financial institutions that you have put it into, with all of it then being given to whoever you had willed it out to.

So you can get the revelation that is in the above Scripture verses solidly implanted and burned into your mindset with how you should be viewing and looking at all of the money that is flowing through this world, I am now going to bold and number some of the above key phrases.

These key phrases should be kept front and center in your mind’s eye so you do not ever let money and the love of that money come between you and God and with what God wants to do with your life.

• For riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations
• Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death
• Riches do not profit in the day of wrath
• A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked
• Beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consists in the abundance of things he possesses
• Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, but he who gathers by labor will increase
• He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance
• The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he easts little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep
• Do not be afraid when one becomes rich … for when he dies he shall carry nothing away, his glory shall not descend after him
• It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God
• For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness

The first phrase that riches are not forever says it all. This is why I made the title of this article right off that verse. And then it follows up with the statement that a crown will not last to all generations.

In other words, no matter how many crowns you have gained, earned, or bought in this life, and no matter how many fleshly works you have done for yourself, none of it will matter on your death bed, since none of it will be going with you to the other side once you die and cross over.

The only thing that will matter to the Lord is whether or not you had entered into His perfect will for your life, and then did a good job with whatever He had asked you to do for Him in this life.

Jesus Himself perfectly spells all of this out for us when He says that only those who do the “will” of God the Father will be the ones who will be entering into heaven.

Also notice where it says that he who loves silver will never be satisfied. How many of the wealthy people in this life are unhappy, unfulfilled, and are on anti-depressants and having to see shrinks all of the time because they are so miserable with all of their wealth and the type of lifestyle their money has bought them.

Hollywood is living proof that money, power, and fame will not bring you true inner peace, happiness, and joy. Only having a true personal relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can bring you true inner peace, happiness, and joy in this life, not all of the money of this world and all of the material things this money can buy you.

The very last verse states that it is the love of money that is the root of many kinds of evil, and that this love for money has caused many people to stray from the Lord, as their love for the money has made them greedy and lustful for it.

In other words, money has now become their god, and they have now placed money and the pursuit of it before God and with how He wants them to use it for their lives.

How many of our politicians, managers, and CEO’s of companies have all started out with real good intentions, but over a period of time fell too much in love with the money and trying to make more of it. And then after a certain period of time, they ended up falling completely away from God and with what He was wanting to do with the rest of their lives.

With money being such a powerful stimulant to our mind and our senses, it is not too hard to see how so many people in this life can let it get the better of them and cause them to be able to literally pull away from God Himself and the divine destiny that He had already planned out for their lives.

Money, and material wealth and goods can become a very seductive and deadly trap for you if you do not use it in the way that God will want you to use it.

As a result of how easily money can corrupt all of us, Satan and his demons love to try and play the “lust for money game” on whoever they can.

Without question, money and the love and lust for it, has brought down too many marriages, companies, ministries, and governments all across the world throughout history, and continues to do so to this very day, as so many of us still have never learned the lessons from our past on this issue.

Conclusion

All of the above verses from our Bible perfectly lay out for all of us what the big picture is really all about when it comes to money and all of the material wealth this world has to offer.

God will now become your true Employer in this life, not the people you are working for in the different jobs God will be wanting you to work at for Him.

God will now be the One to decide what your pay range will be in the different jobs that you will be working at for Him, along with when you will be promoted and how far up the promotion ladder He will want to take you in your divine calling for Him.

Once you really grasp that you will now be working for God, living for God, and dying for God, then you can learn how to be anxious for nothing and not always be worrying about tomorrow, because you will know that God already has tomorrow perfectly planned out for you with what He will be wanting you to do for Him.

The Bible tells us that the steps of a good man are “ordered” by the Lord. I believe that a step can represent each day in your life. If you are walking in a true full surrender with the Lord, then He already has every single one of your days perfectly planned out for you.

You are now on the yellow brick road with the Lord, with the yellow color on that brick road now being the light of God Himself.

Just follow the leadings of the Holy Spirit on a daily basis and you will then accomplish everything that the Lord will want you to do for Him in this life. And if you do your part for God by trying to accomplish His perfect will for your life to the best of your abilities, then God will do His part.

And part of that will be to make sure that He fully supports you with the specific amount of money that you will need in this life so you can fully accomplish all of His perfect will for your life.

The verse that perfectly captures this big picture revelation is the following verse:

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

In one simple little sentence, God the Father perfectly solves the dilemma we all face about money and trying to make sure we always have enough of it flowing in our lives so we do not end up homeless and out on the streets.

Also notice in the second verse above that it says that God will not permit the righteous soul to famish. Again, it is God’s job to keep us adequately supported in this life so we can properly work for Him in the divine plan that He has set up for our lives.

If God does not properly support us with what He will be asking us to do for Him, then there will be no way that we will ever be able to fully accomplish all of His divine destiny for our lives. God has to bring what money we will need in this life or else we will not be able to do everything that He will be wanting us to do for Him.

A good employer will always want to try and pay his employees a good and fair wage so he can motivate them to want to do a good job for him. It is the exact same way with God the Father. The Bible tells us that God is a rewarder of those who will diligently seek after Him, and some of those rewards can be financial type rewards.

But again, as fully surrendered Christians, we always have to stay on top of our money game with the Lord. Just remember where all of this money is really coming from, who is really controlling the purse strings in your life, and who you are living for and working for in this life.

You are living and working for God in this life, not for yourself or anyone else in your life.