He lived in a relatively struggling nation economically speaking and yet that did not prevent him from becoming the world’s wealthiest individual. But on March 9th, 2011, he entered eternity and today is literally penniless!
His name was Carlos Slim, a Mexican tycoon whose telecommunications and mining businesses placed the 71-year old at number one, according to Forbes magazine. To put his wealth into perspective, his reported $74 billion dollar fortune was nearly twice the projected 2011 gross domestic product of Lebanon – the nation from where Slim's father fled to Mexico in 1902 to escape Ottoman rule.
Just as others in his category, like Bill Gates of Microsoft Corporation and Warren Buffet, Slim was involved in some philanthropic causes. But apparently he kept a tighter rein on his fortune, most of which was controlled by his family. He often stated, “Businessmen do more good by creating jobs and wealth via investment and not by being Santa Claus."
The spiritual condition of Carlos Slim’s heart is unknown – at least to me. But a good percentage of students of the Scripture will have one verse surface when thinking of the death of a man possessing worldly wealth that is nearly incompressible. The passage is, of course, the sobering words in question from the Savior’s own lips in Matthew 16:26-27. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul.”
Also, in Luke 12:16-21 Jesus, by use of a parable, declared the ultimate need to avoid being consumed by economic gain and affairs and thereby being fully unprepared to face eternity, perhaps in an unexpected moment like so many in Japan this past week.
In verse 16 He began, "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
Then too, in Mark chapter twelve, the Lord spoke to the real issue of true philanthropic motivation and rewards. In verse 44 we read, “Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood."
Then there comes the warning seen in Proverbs 23:4-5 concerning wealth in general. The wise author cautions all using the following words. “Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.”
Those who possess earthly riches and material goods, on all levels, will all someday leave them behind when they ‘make wings toward heaven’ as Proverbs puts it. And when this life ends, all thinking will instantly turn to one's eternal dwelling place. It will be about arriving or not arriving in heaven - something depending only on possessing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. (1 John 5:12) That, and that alone, will fully dominate every second forever. And along side of that most critical truth comes God's advice and principles on matters of material wealth and worldly goods to those who know and love Him:
1. Seek treasure in heaven, and not on the earth, where rewards are both important and fully secure. (Matthew 6: 20-21)
2. Attempt to help others and do good in God’s name now – especially if you have been blessed in the financial sphere (Galatians 6:9-10)
3. Never forget Paul’s words to Timothy that the ‘love’ of money is the source of all kinds of evil and troubles that can easily lead to numerous and unanticipated sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:9-10)
4. Attempt to adhere to and apply the words of Jesus in Mathew chapter six concerning life’s ultimate practice and priority. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)
5. Hold dearly onto the proper spiritual perspective concerning what is real, worthy and lasting wealth as spelled out by in 2 Corinthians 8:9
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich."
Bill Breckenridge
No comments:
Post a Comment