Working To Acquire More "Stuff?"

The story is told of a rich industrialist who was one day disturbed to find a fisherman reclining lazily on the dock of his boat. "Why aren't you out there fishing?" he asked.

"Because I've caught enough fish for today," said the fisherman. "Why don't you catch more fish than you need?" the rich man asked. The fisherman replied, "What would I do with them?"

"You could earn more money," came the impatient reply, "and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon, you'd have a fleet of boats and be rich like me." The fisherman asked, "Then what would I do?" "You could sit down and enjoy life," said the rich industrialist. "What do think I'm doing now?" the fisherman replied as he looked peacefully out to the sea.

The above story illustrates an important truth. If we live only to accumulate more material wealth, we'll never acquire enough (Ecclesiastes 1:8; Proverbs 27:20). In fact, we'll more than likely frantically work more and more and more, until we finally collapse (or worse, have a stroke or heart attack). Have we been working 70 or more hours per week? Are we refusing to take vacations? Are we refusing to take sick leave when we're sick? Are we working to acquire more "stuff?"

Dear reader, our life is worth far more than any possessions we might accumulate in this earthly life (Matthew 16:24-26; cf. Luke 12:13-21). Have we ever thought about how much money we really need? Do we really need a whole lot of money to exist? The answer is a definite "no." We only need enough money for one day — for tomorrow is not promised (James 4:13-15; cf. Job 7:6-10; Job 9:25-26).

Let's think about it! — and then after we think about it for a while ........ let us learn to trust more fully in the God who has given us "all things to enjoy" (Proverbs 3:5-6; Matthew 6:24-33; 1 Timothy 6:17).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets