It’s a tragic thing when a person exchanges a heritage of faith for a wad of “here today, gone tomorrow” cash.
How does this happen? Here are a few examples:
- Rampant missing of church in order to make money.
- Destroying a personal testimony via unethical actions that boost sales or job promotion prospects but corrupt faith.
- Refusal to show compassionate generosity to people in need, particularly family members or close friends.
These sorts of behaviors are bad enough by themselves but when they are witnessed by children, the offenses are made worse.
Why?
Because they show that wealth is more important than faith.
No caring parent would offer his or her child an arsenic pill.
But when we act as if money is more important than God, are we not doing something far worse? Something that could lead to destruction of our child’s soul?
No matter what money we “leave on the table” by protecting our heritage of faith, it’s not worth destroying our testimony in the eyes of our kids and other impressionable people.
We are to be seen as role models for Matthew 6:33, seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and trusting God to provide what we need for living.
Why this topic today?
Today’s daily Bible reading included the I Kings 21 story of evil Israelite King Ahab wanting the land of a farmer named Naboth. Ahab offered to buy the land that he wanted for a vegetable garden.
Naboth said “No” to the sale, saying that the land was his ancestral inheritance from the days the Hebrews entered the Promised Land. There was no way he was giving the land up for money. Such would show that he cared more for himself than for his descendants.
Heritage comes first, Naboth told the king.
Ahab ended up with the plot, however, because Ahab’s wife, Queen Jezebel, had Naboth murdered.
Naboth’s descendants lost the land and their father/grandfather/etc…., but they were given a heritage of testimony that is still impressive nearly 3,000 years later.
Let’s embrace Naboth’s commitment to a heritage of faith, no matter what carrots of cash or vanity or lust the world might wave in front of our noses.
In 100 years, our descendants would much rather have a heritage of faithfulness from us than they would the minimal — if any — remnants of wealth left after generations of taxes and possibly poor spending decisions.
As always, I love you
Martin
