7 Pieces of Advice from an ApostleSample

## Trust God, Not Money Who are the rich? Does that word apply to Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and others who make a gazillion dollars? Is it the people in your community who live in mansions? Is it anyone who makes a lot more money than you? There’s nothing wrong with being rich, nothing at all. But there is a danger. If you are rich, your tendency is to put your hope in your wealth. Your tendency is to trust your assets, your resources, your income, your investments, and your 401(k). Your tendency is to trust your wealth, saying, “I just want security for my family,” rather than to trust God. There are two problems noted in 1 Timothy 6:17 with trusting wealth. First of all, it is haughty. It is haughty to put your hope in wealth because that means you are not trusting God, dependent on God, or desperate before God. In fact, you are only trusting yourself. In effect, you are saying to God, “I can do it myself. I don’t need you.” That, my friends, is haughtiness. Second of all, wealth is uncertain. You can’t depend on it. You have $100,000 in the stock market, and suddenly it’s only $50,000. What happened to the $50,000? It sprouted wings and flew with the wind. Houses, jobs, income, savings, and the stock market—they’re all so uncertain. Many people today know this from first-hand experience. The problem is not money itself; the problem is trusting in money. The problem is depending upon money, loving money, thinking that money will make you happy, and thinking that it will always last. You can enjoy the things God gives you, for He “richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” He is a good and generous God. Enjoy His gifts, but put your hope only in the Giver.