Pertinent verses to ponder:
"...I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go" (cf. Isa. 48:17). "Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well" (3 John 2, NLT). "If your riches increase, do not set your heart on them." "For one's life doesn't consist in the abundance of his possessions" (cf. Luke 12:15). "He who mocks the poor insults his Maker" (cf. Prov. 17:5).
They say that the classic definition of an Englishman is a self-made man who worships his creator! Did you ever wonder what was more important: Your ambition or the grace of God? I thought it curious that President Obama says his favorite word in any language is "grace." This is what sets apart Christianity from religion which relies on merit or works for salvation.
Have you ever heard of a taxi driver with a Ph.D.? Eccl. 9:11 says: The fastest runner doesn't always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn't always win the battle. The wise are often poor and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don't always lead successful lives..." (The New Living Translation). "Time and chance happen to them all."
If you are successful it is because others have suffered, and if you are suffering, it is so others may succeed," a wise preacher named Judson has said. Amos had a lot to say to the rich of his day: "And just as stupid is this bragging about Lo-debar [nothing]. You boast, "Didn't we take Karnaim [something strong] by our own strength and power?" Isaiah says in Isa. 26:12: "All we have accomplished you have done for us." Remember that the poor and the rich have this in common, according to Proverbs: God is the maker of them all. "And always remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you the power to get rich" (cf. Deut. 8:18). They say There, but for the grace of God go I. "I am what I am by the grace of God" (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10).
I heard about one politician say that in an economic system the cream always rises to the top. This is another form of class warfare and thinking we should live in a dog-eat-dog world or a system of evolution where the "survival of the fittest" rule rains in the law of the jungle. I think the ideal of American society is that we are really a classless society and that people should remember their roots ("...Look to the rock from which they are hewn, the quarry from which they are dug" it says in Isa. 51:1) and know from where they came. I believe that in a free society all can aspire to improve themselves because they are no "untouchables" and there no caste-system. "Do not abhor an Edomite [who is offensive], for he is your brother," (cf. Deut. 23:7).
Money is not how we keep score: Like they say that he who dies with the most toys wins! Rather the better measure of our riches is not in the abundance of our possessions, but in the fewness of our wants according to Billy Graham. Soli Deo Gloria!
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