Uncertain Riches

by John Comer

Sometimes things just go wrong. About the time you think you’ve got all your ducks in a row, they suddenly fly away. It happens.

Having been born before our country fully recovered from the Great Depression, I grew up hearing stories about hard-working people who put money in the bank, not considering that the bank would go broke and their money be lost. Or that stock certificates, intended to make them rich, were suddenly just worthless scraps of paper. Or that the mortgage holder would foreclose on the farm. What to do? Life can be hard.

I recently came across a bit of trivia I’d been saving for just such a time as this. It seems that one of my ancestors had a brother-in-law, James Jackson, who was a successful farmer in Troup County, Georgia. When James made out his will, he provided generously for his wife, and he still was able to leave his six children $16,000 each.

And sure enough, when James died, each of these six children received the equivalent of $16,000. It was in the form of Confederate bonds, Confederate notes, and slaves. It was April, 1864. Exactly one year to the very month before our Civil War ended. James was a good Southerner, but he could have used a better financial advisor.

The Apostle Paul warned about placing our hope in uncertain wealth (1 Timothy 6:17). No doubt James Jackson had hoped for a better outcome for the financial legacy he planned for his family. We can only wonder if when his offspring came together for family reunions, they were able to laugh about their “inheritance.”

For the past several years our own economy has been dismal. Stock market down. Jobs evaporating. The threat of terrorism and war compounding it all.

Jesus said, “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:13-21). Can you live comfortably with this statement? When the “abundance” of your possessions gets tampered with, does life go into a tailspin for you?

The Bible says that godliness with contentment is great gain, and that we should be content with food and clothing (1 Timothy 6:6-10). Did the heirs of James Jackson find contentment or resentment? How do you feel about being content with food and clothing?