We live in a world where people judge you according to your wealth. If you are rich, people look up to you as if you are someone great and wonderful. If you are poor, people look at you as if you are a piece of poop.

Beloved, that is not the way it is supposed to be.

Many years ago my uncle sent me 50 billion dollars. When I received it, my mind went into a spin, and I imagined myself going on a cruise ship for the rest of my life, sailing all over the world. Having a good time! No more worries!

Then I noticed it had an expiry date, and it had just expired. My heart went ‘plop.’ What a bringdown! My uncle wrote to me that getting mail out of Zimbabwe was a problem, as he didn’t trust the system. He had to wait for someone he knew who is going out of the country, and then they would take the mail and send it on to me.

I had a brief time in my life when things were going well with me, and when that happened, some people were very jealous of me.

Most of my life I have been poor, not knowing sometimes where I will sleep next, and sometimes wondering where I will get my next meal. Somehow God has always looked after me, and a lot of the rich people that I have admired have passed away long before reaching my age.

I remember sleeping one night in the house of a millionaire. I remember one night sleeping on a concrete floor, and another night on a park bench. At one point in my life, we didn’t have a home and we all slept in the car every night as we travelled around America.

As Jesus travelled around Israel, he said that the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but he has nowhere to lay his head. One night Jacob slept with his head on a rock. For many years David was hiding in caves. Many of the prophets roughed it too. John the Baptist could have walked into Jerusalem and demanded his share of the tithe, but he chose to live in the wilderness and prepare the way for JESUS.

Beloved, whether we are rich or poor, we must make sure we make it through the pearly gates!

Money – Guard yourself against the love of money

Luke Chapter 12 – My version:

13 Then someone in the crowd shouted to Jesus, saying: “Teacher, tell my brother to share the family inheritance with me.”

14 So Jesus replied to him saying: “Human, it is not my job to be the judge and divider between the two of you.”

15 Then Jesus turned to the crowd saying: “Be aware of the danger of being greedy, and guard yourself against it, because true happiness in life doesn’t come from how many things that you own.”

16 Then Jesus decided to tell them a little story. “Once upon a time a rich farmer had a bumper crop.

17 Then his brain kicked into gear saying: ‘I don’t have anywhere to store my bumper crop.’

18 Then he said to himself: ’I know what I will do – I will build much bigger barns and store all my things in there.’

19 Then I will say to my soul: ‘You have no more worries old chap, just live it up for the rest of your life. Eat, drink and be merry!’

20 Then God said to him: ‘You are a fool. Tonight you are going to die, then who will own all those things that you have stored up?’

21 That is like the man who stores up all his treasures on earth, but has nothing in his bank account in heaven.”

In verse 33, Jesus told his disciples to store all their treasures in their bank accounts in heaven.

In verse 34 Jesus told them that where their treasure is, that is where their heart will be also. Amen.