Wealth

Heavenly kingdom may be compared to a treasure hidden in the field which has been found and hidden by man. Full of joy he comes, sells everything he's ever had and buys this field.

Nowadays, the world doesn't look for such treasures. It has its own God - money. It doesn't either love or make us happy. It is satisfied with worldly pleasures. Even "love" and "friends" can be bought by it. Conscience? Spirituality? What for? It won't feed our stomachs.

A lot of people think and act this way. Somehow, they have forgotten that God has granted us freedom of choice. They will have what they have ever chosen. If man ties himself down to earth, he will stay tied up this way even after his death, unable to get back to spiritual worlds. The spiritual spark, which brings spirit back to life, cannot die, because it is eternal; however, the spirit's consciousness may perish if man keeps it asleep by his materially oriented life, which can be compared to a spiritual death. The spiritual spark will leave him/her alone and it comes back home without him/her. The Bible writes that this is the eradication of the name from the book of life. The period in which we have an opportunity to be born on this Earth is slowly but surely coming to its end and for many people who are living here it is their last chance. Therefore, it is an absolute insanity to exchange the eternal life for a few years of worldly pleasures, for money, career, luxury...

However, it does not mean that it is wrong when someone is wealthy. Mind you, how would you help anybody, or give a material support to the poor, if you have nothing? Had we all lived according to the God's Commandments, we would all have been even more materially wealthy. Jesus said: "Anybody who has left his house, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or his field to follow me and the gospel, will be granted much more". Even today, He offers hundred times more than anybody else and therefore He will make man even more materially wealthy. On the other hand, Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to go through the needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the heavenly kingdom. These words contradict with each other only at first sight. The explanation is simple - to be wealthy is not a crime, but it is very bad when man is obsessed with his material wealth and his means of life gradually become the only purpose in his life. He is tied up to his wealth like a young man who wasn't able to follow Jesus because of his material wealth.

Material wealth cannot saturate us forever. If we reach one goal, we must immediately search for the other one. If we gain a decent place for living, we long for a bigger flat; when we have it, we desire a family house. As soon as we have it, we want a new car, villa, yacht... and when we have everything we have ever wanted, we start to long for fame, political influence, respect... In the end, this marry-go-round of hurrying on the way of collecting worthless things is interrupted by our death. There are many flashes of moments when such a collector of material fortune has no time to enjoy his wealth.

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." [Matthew 6:19-20]