God's Story Is Our Story: From Acts to New CreationSample

God gives us good things, and it is right for us to enjoy them. Imagine a father giving a gift to his son or daughter to enjoy but that his son or daughter refuses to enjoy it. To refuse to enjoy the beautiful and wonderful things God has put in our lives is not pleasing to God. Nor, does the Bible teach that it is sinful to be rich even though Paul earlier warned that the love of money or greed can lead to all kinds of evil.

However, Paul is also aware that there are temptations that come from being rich. Two he names here are becoming arrogant and putting our hope in riches. Arrogance is a temptation because we can credit ourselves for our success. We can look down on others who just haven't applied themselves or worked hard enough. Our wealth opens up certain social groups. There are certain rings that you can run in when you have money to spend. There are certain privileges and roles in society that come from wealth as people look to get something from you.

It's also easy for wealth to begin to become our security against whatever hardships might come our way. Or, we can look to money as what will enable us to live the good life.

Paul encourages us instead to see ourselves as stewards of the wealth we have been given. Instead of just getting wrapped up in how wealth can advance our own personal story, he tells us to see how we can use it to be a blessing to others. He tells us to look to God to be our security and to his will for our vision of the good life.