The Only Wealth That Lasts

The Gospel of Luke tells two stories centered on wealth. In the first, a man asks Jesus to settle a dispute over an inheritance. But Jesus refuses to get involved. Instead, He tells a parable about a rich man who saves up for retirement. Does the man get to enjoy the wealth he has stored away? No. That very night, he dies.

This story is revealing. Many of us spend years, decades, trying to earn more, save more, and get ahead. We treat it as the most important thing we can do. But we need to pause and hear what Jesus is telling us. Why? Because at the end of our life, none of this will matter.

Qoheleth, the author of Ecclesiastes, makes the same point. Whether a person is wise or skilled, no matter how hard he works, he still has to leave his possessions to another. All his toil turns out to be in vain. He spent his life chasing what cannot satisfy.

The rich man in Jesus’s parable wasn’t evil. He was just focused on the wrong things. He made careful plans for a future he never reached, and forgot the eternal future that was always coming. It’s a quiet warning to each of us.

We live in a world that constantly tells us to seek more: more money, more comfort, more success. But Christ calls us to something greater. He doesn’t condemn wealth itself, but He warns us not to trust in it. Our worth is not found in what we own, but in who we become.

We must put to death our attachment to earthly desires. We must put to death the idolatry of wealth. If we have been raised with Christ, we must seek what is above. We were not made for comfort. We were made for love.

No matter how much money we earn, it cannot fill the soul. But the relationships we nurture, the good we do for others, the love we offer to God and neighbor, these things endure. These things are eternal.

Sow the harvest of eternal life, not the harvest that will rot and decay to dust. Store up treasures that rust cannot consume. No amount of wealth can make you truly happy. Only love can do that, love of God, and love of neighbor.

There is nothing else that truly matters.

The only wealth that follows us into eternity is love.

This week, try to let go of one small comfort and offer it to God. Use the time, energy, or money to love someone in need. That small act may bear fruit in eternity.

So ask yourself: Do I spend more time building comfort for this life, or preparing my soul for the next?