Often we ask: why do those with the least amount of faith in God enjoy so much material wealth? The flip side of that question, coming from the non-believers camp, would be: why do those with the least amount of material wealth enjoy so much peace and joy?
Our life's journey is but a moment compared to Eternity. While some measure success by the material possessions, others measure it by the serenity and meaning they find in life. In fact, the greatest is "wealth". The book of Mormon is replete with examples of a society run a muck because it had too much wealth.
If wealth should be bestowed on us, heaven help us. Yet, wealth is the final and perhaps only real test. For when can we be given an opportunity to bless those in need, if not when we are wealthy?
When can we remember to be modest, than when we are prosperous? What better time to demonstrate our gratitude to God than when we have been blessed with a surplus?
And yet, history has shown that wealth is the final stumbling block which causes many to falter and perish in their selfishness and greed. For this reason the Savior said: "it is easier for a Camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into Heaven. Yet with God all things are possible."
There is no greatness without humility and paradoxically, no humility without greatness. For a great primer on wealth and its destructive force one has to look no further than the Book of Mormon. Helaman Chapter 12 gives a concise summation of our natural inclinations, and of God's boundless love for us.
It is not as though God does not want us to have wealth. Quite the contrary. But, He knows that few can handle abundance. And it is for this reason that abundance without an eternal perspective is a recipe for disaster.
Our life's journey is but a moment compared to Eternity. While some measure success by the material possessions, others measure it by the serenity and meaning they find in life. In fact, the greatest is "wealth". The book of Mormon is replete with examples of a society run a muck because it had too much wealth.
If wealth should be bestowed on us, heaven help us. Yet, wealth is the final and perhaps only real test. For when can we be given an opportunity to bless those in need, if not when we are wealthy?
When can we remember to be modest, than when we are prosperous? What better time to demonstrate our gratitude to God than when we have been blessed with a surplus?
And yet, history has shown that wealth is the final stumbling block which causes many to falter and perish in their selfishness and greed. For this reason the Savior said: "it is easier for a Camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into Heaven. Yet with God all things are possible."
There is no greatness without humility and paradoxically, no humility without greatness. For a great primer on wealth and its destructive force one has to look no further than the Book of Mormon. Helaman Chapter 12 gives a concise summation of our natural inclinations, and of God's boundless love for us.
It is not as though God does not want us to have wealth. Quite the contrary. But, He knows that few can handle abundance. And it is for this reason that abundance without an eternal perspective is a recipe for disaster.
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