The thought of a life rid of the hassles of money is delightful, indeed. Who doesn’t want to be able to retire tomorrow with millions? But for most of us this is the stuff of pie-in-the-sky dreams. I read an article recently by a man who retired at 34 with an annual income of $800,000. He was honest about the downside: In a world where everyone is introduced according to their occupations he felt like he had lost his social identity. He said that boredom became an issue after he had completed his travels and caught up on his hobbies. But most of all he conceded that the statistics are right: external things, like wealth, power, people and possessions do not prevent you from returning to your built-in happiness level.
Solomon discovered that 3000 years ago. He had all the trapping of wealth and power and clearly saw the futility of everything without it having a divine purpose (Eccl.12:13-14). The apostle Paul was a proud tent-maker (Acts 18:3). He praised working-with-your-hands as something to glory in before God; something to settle down to and to get on with (1Thess.4:11). Through manual labour he earned money to support himself and his co-workers (Acts 20:34). He told the Christian slaves that they were working for God to His glory. And that a hard day’s work in the service of the Lord brings eternal reward (Col.3:23-25). Our 34 year old really didn’t retire from work, he just retired from working for someone else. He is now ‘working’ on other things. Lest we start to think that we can win the ‘Happiness Game’ by accumulating the things of this world, Jesus tells it to us straight: “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions” (Lk.12:15).
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