GatherRiches.com

There can be many things, but one you might not have thought of. This is something you may carry deep in your mind, a leftover from a religious upbringing. It is the idea, found in the Bible, that we should not gather earthly riches, as they are transitory and in no way to be compared with those that God has waiting for the good in heaven.

But this instruction cannot be as straightforward as it sounds. It seems to make no distinction between how riches are gathered, or for what purpose they might be used afterwards.

Surely if you are born with a God-given talent to gather riches (as Warren Buffet and Bill Gates obviously were), you have a moral duty to do so? If you don’t use this talent, the riches you do not gather might then be gathered by others less scrupulous than yourself and used for evil ends (think Goldfinger).

In Psalms 39.6, it says: “. . . he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.” This suggests that even if you use your wealth to do good, you have no way of knowing what will happen to it afterwards. But, of course, there are now legal ways of ensuring that your money goes on working for good after you are gone. Many philanthropists have put their money into trusts with this intention.

There is a well-known story about a parson who was told by his parishioners that he shouldn’t accept money from a particular man because it was the result of ill-gotten gains. The parson’s reply was that using this money for the good of the parish was a wonderful way of beating the devil.

So what is probably meant by the admonishment not to gather earthly riches is that you should not gather these at the expense of others or at the expense of your own spirituality. Bearing in mind the transitory nature of the joy to be got from gathering earthly riches, you should use them to do good or put them them at the disposal of others who wish to do so.

In this way they will become more than transitory and will take on an eternal aspect. This seems to be the right way to use a God-given talent, rather than hiding your light under a bushel and allowing others to gather riches that will be no earthly use to anyone else but themselves.

The Bible tells us that Christ told his disciples (Matthew 19:21): “If you go and sell what you have and give to the poor, you will have riches in heaven.” But there is also the story of Mary and Martha, where it is made clear that while it is right for one woman to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to him preach, it is also best for the other to serve by her work in the kitchen doing practical things.

There is nothing more practical or nurturing than gathering riches so that they may give good livelihoods to others and help them to grow their families in love and peace. This is not a calling that is in any way inferior to that of becoming a preacher or working directly for the poor while remaining in poverty oneself.

So, if you have been held back from attempting to gather riches by some idea that it is wrong to do so, you should now discard this feeling. It is an unnecessary scruple that does no good to anyone and may, in fact, be against God’s plans for you.

But how are you to go about gathering the riches that have been intended for you? You can learn how to take the first step here.