The Wisdom of Wealth

The Wisdom of Wealth

“I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” Luke 16:9 NIV

I’ve had the privilege of having a successful career and living out what many would consider to be the American Dream. Good education, good job, nice house, nice car, traveling, good family, good friends, etc. And I cannot tell you that I have not enjoyed it all. because I have and I do. Of course I never had everything I wanted, but I’ve had plenty. I am grateful. But those things don’t last forever. Especially when God is trying to teach you something about His kingdom.
What you do with your “worldly wealth” can influence what happens to you when you are without it. If you use the time you have when you may experience abundance to be selfish and fearful with your wealth, then when it fails you at some point, you will find that you have little refuge. However, if when you are in that place of abundance, you use what you have to not only care for your own needs, but the needs of others, then you will find that in your time of need, you have an opportunity to have some refuge.
But the question is, when are you in that place of abundance? Most of us will probably say that we have not experienced that yet, and are still waiting on some type of “breakthrough”. But this is where we get it twisted. Wherever you are right now is an abundant place because you don’t know what tomorrow will hold. Today, if you have a roof over your head, food on your table, money (no matter how little) in your pocket or bank account and your health, then you have something that someone else may not have. Even still, you may not have one or all of those things tomorrow. Sometimes we only recognize that we were in a place of abundance when one of the things we took for granted is gone. Maybe you complained about your job so often that you weren’t grateful to have one, until you got laid off. Maybe you thought you had a terrible family, filled with issues until a loved one passed away. Maybe you lamented over your small savings account until you had to use it for an emergency. Maybe you complained about your weight until you developed an illness that forced you to lose weight involuntarily. You don’t know where your place of abundance actually is, therefore use what you know you have today to be a blessing to someone else.
Invite people over to your home for a meal, or someone who needs a place to stay might be able to use your extra bedroom. Use your small paycheck to help someone who has lost their job. Buy them some groceries, or a gift card to take care of some basic necessities. Ten dollars can stretch a long way when you have coupons. Be grateful for the little you have and use it wisely, because you don’t know what might happen tomorrow. You may look back and discover that you had more than you knew you had. And then you might want to go back to it. But there is no going back. You can only move forward in wisdom.
I have learned over this past year of my faith walk that it doesn’t matter where I am financially. I can always find abundance, even if it takes me a while to find it. There is wealth that you cannot measure. And for those things that I cannot afford right now, I have discovered that others in the body are happy to provide. There is always someone willing to use their abundance to bless someone else. But if we don’t open our mouths and ask, we will never know. And if you are someone who is willing to share what you have, then seek out the opportunity to help. The principle of this is something we must utilize always. Trust that whatever you have right now is enough and using it wisely will create space for you to still have, even when what you had is gone.