A Much-Needed Lesson From King Midas

One of my favorite stories that I learned in elementary school, was the story of King Midas. The king was already rich, but became obsessive in his quest for more gold. Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry, warned the king to think well about his wish of turning everything he touched into gold, but King Midas was adamant about his wish. So Dionysus promised the king that from the following day on, everything he touched would turn into gold.

The next day, everything the king touched did indeed turn to gold (including his food!). However, his attitude toward wanting more gold, was dramatically altered when he turned his daughter into a statue of gold. Because the king was greatly saddened, Dionysus took pity on him and granted his request to turn everything that was turned to gold back into its original form.

There’s a much-needed lesson we can learn from King Midas:

Like King Midas, many people in today’s materialistic world become obsessive in wanting more and more gold in the form of “things” (Ecclesiastes 1:8; cf. Proverbs 27:20). In fact, the world’s definition of success includes everything pertaining to the material.

Sadly, just as King Midas touched his daughter, causing her to turn into lifeless gold, we too can touch [influence] our children into valuing material [lifeless] things over things spiritual.

Jesus once stated that a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses (Luke 12:15). He then went on to relate the story of the rich man building bigger barns in order to hoard his material goods (Luke 12:16-19). However, when his soul was required by God, he was not spiritually ready (Luke 12:20).

What do we value today? Material wealth that is temporary (Matthew 6:19), or spiritual values that are eternal? (Matthew 6:20; cf. 1 Timothy 6:17-19).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets