"Daddy... You're Rich!"

“Yes, God's riches are very great, and his wisdom and knowledge have no end! No one can explain the things God decides or understand his ways.”
- Romans 11:32 (NCV)

This last Fourth of July, I took my two boys, Matthew and Jonathan to a fireworks display that was being held at an area high school. We got there about 6:30 p.m. and the fireworks were not supposed to start until about 9:30 p.m. While we were sitting there waiting and listening to the band play, the boys just happened to look around and see that there was a concession stand nearby. The boys being bored, with nothing to do, immediately started asking me if we could get something. I said to them: “Why not? Sure, let’s go”. We went up to the counter, made our selections, got what we asked for, and as I was paying the bill, I heard Jonathan say to me: “Daddy…you’re rich!” I just smiled, not really thinking about just how much truth there was in what he was saying.

We went back to our seats, and as we were sitting there eating our snacks, Jonathan looked over at what I had bought and suddenly decided that my item looked better. With Jonathan, the other person’s selection always looks better. He asked me if he could have one too. I figured it didn’t cost that much and so I bought him one. I handed it to him, and after doing so, he repeated the words: Daddy…you’re rich!”

After I got home that night and was lying in bed, I kept repeating the words to myself that Jonathan had said to me: “Daddy, you’re rich”. I realized that Jonathan was right. I was rich. I may not have the best vehicle or the biggest house or the best paying job. But I do have an awesome wife, two wonderful boys, a van that runs (most of the time), and I work for a Christian publishing company whose main objective is getting the written word of the Lord in to the hands of those who desperately need it.

I remember a while back reading a story (I can’t remember all the details) about a man who was very rich but very godly, and was about to die. He was sitting with his lawyer writing up his will, and was dividing up all his wealth among his three children. None of them knew the Lord, or even wanted anything to do with God. They didn’t have Jesus in their lives. His lawyer commented on the fact that the man’s children would be very wealthy upon his passing. The man nodded and said: “That’s true. But you know…I can give them everything I have… but if they don’t have Jesus in their life, they don’t have anything!”

The man was right. All the riches in the world don’t amount to anything in light of eternity. We can’t take them with us when we die and pass from this life into the next. Jesus speaking in the book of Mark was right when he posed the question: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)

We may have nothing of value in our lives according to the world’s standards. But if we have Jesus in our life, by God’s standard we have the most valuable possession of all! And His standard is the only one that counts! I love praying to God, my Heavenly Father, and saying the words to Him: “Daddy…you’re rich!!!”