As I was driving home from the office, I saw a minivan proudly displaying a bumper sticker that read: “Money Talks: Mine Says Goodbye.” I think a lot of people can relate to that sentiment.

Much of our living is spent acquiring and using money, which doesn’t last. The stock market crashes. Prices go up. Thieves steal others’ goods. Things wear out and break down, requiring the acquisition and expenditure of more money to replace what has been lost. The temporary nature of material wealth makes it a poor bargain in the search for security in an insecure world. Money is much better at saying goodbye than it is at sticking around.

Nowhere does the Bible say it’s wrong to have money or the things that money can buy. Where we lose our way is when money becomes the driving purpose of our lives. Like the rich man and his barns (Luke 12:13-21), we end up pursuing the accumulation of things that eventually will be forfeited—if not in life, then certainly at death.

How tragic to live our entire lives, only to end them with nothing of eternal worth to show for our labors. To paraphrase Jesus’ words, it is much better to be rich toward God than to work for treasure that can’t last (v.21).  — Bill Crowder