Where Your Treasure Is

A story about a 104 year old heiress began to make headlines this week. She has been recluse for decades and has multiple multi-million dollar properties, some of which she has never even visited. She inherited her fortune from her father, a former senator from Montana. The story goes that when her mother died, she withdrew and it seems she lost her will to enjoy life. One of her statements is particularly interesting. She reportedly told friends that wealth was a "menace to happiness".

According to the Bible, there is nothing wrong with having wealth and great possessions. Some of the most prominent people in the Bible were quite weathly by ancient as well as modern standards. The Bible does warn that there are dangers to be found in possessing wealth and it gives a great deal of advice on how to keep our wealth  and possessions from possessing us. Here are just a few verses:

Revelation 3:17 “You say, ‘I am rich, with everything I want; I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that spiritually you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

Mark 8:36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

Luke 12:15 (Jesus said) “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Ecclesiastes 5:11 The more you have, the more you spend, right up to the limits of your income. So what is the advantage of wealth-- except perhaps to watch it as it runs through your fingers!

1 Timothy 6:10 The love of money is the first step toward all kinds of sin. Some people have even turned away from God because of their love for it, and as a result have pierced themselves with many sorrows.

Galatians 6:7 If (a person) sows to please his own wrong desires, he will be planting seeds of evil and he will surely reap a harvest of spiritual decay and death.

Matthew 6::19-20: Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.