If You Gain Riches, What Will They Do to You? Here's How to Find Out...

By: Steve Kroening

You've undoubtedly heard many stories of people who get rich quick by winning the lottery or gaining a substantial inheritance, only to squander the fortune and become worse off than before. But there are also plenty of rags-to-riches stories, where the newly found riches are a very real blessing to the recipient, as well as those around him. What's the difference? Why do some people find misery in riches, while others find blessing?

To find the real reason this happens, we have to understand the nature of money. Most people think money is just a tool. Others think it's the key to happiness. But money is something much more.

My good friend and financial planner Bill Palmer put his finger on it. According to Bill, money is simply an amplifier. But if money is an amplifier, what does it amplify? Your heart!

In other words, if your heart is stingy, like we see in Proverbs 28:22 (A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty will come upon him), money will only make you stingier. And the result, according to this verse, is that you'll likely lose any riches you may find.

If your heart is greedy, money will only intensify your greed. If your heart is prideful, money will boost your arrogance. If your heart is fearful, more money will make you horde. And if your heart is full of self-love, more money will make you even more self-centered. All of these traits end only in poverty. If not financial poverty, then moral and spiritual poverty.

On the other hand, if your heart is humble, more money will make you more humble. If your heart is giving, more money will make you an even bigger giver. And if your heart seeks after God's own heart, then more money will become an even more powerful weapon for the kingdom of God.

Some may argue that riches actually spoil a pure heart. Where that happens, the money is simply pulling out the real measure of the heart. What looked like a pure heart still has plenty of darkness in it. And there are times when God will use the money to test a heart's purity, as He did with Solomon. It effectively amplifies the impurities so they come to the forefront, where they can be dealt with more readily. In these cases, a man with a heart after God will repent. If there isn't repentance, then the purity wasn't there in the first place.

So if you desire money, know what you're asking for. It will bring out who you really are -- and you may not like what you see.

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Steve Kroening writes for Success magazine and also publishes Wisdom's Edge. You can get Biblical tips on health, finance, relationships, parenting, and success, delivered to your email inbox every week. Simply visit www.wisdomsedge.com and sign up for this free e-zine.

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