The Bread Lover

“I’ll keep my name anonymous. But let me tell you my story. You’ve heard the term young people use for money. ‘I need some more bread!’ ‘Can you loan me some bread?’ ‘This will cost you some bread.’ So let me tell you about me—and some of my ‘successful’ friends who know a lot about “bread.’ In fact, we fell in love with money. At least I did. I mean I loved money the same way somebody says ‘I love my wife,’ or ‘I love God’.

“Talk about lusting for bread (money). I didn’t want a loaf or two—I wanted the entire bakery. But I didn’t know where my god would lead me. And I sure never knew how my choice to love money would leave me broken, miserable and empty at the end of my road. I just figured my search for terrestrial life—you know, happiness and fulfillment on this planet—would be satisfied with wealth and all it could buy.

“My other ‘bread lover’ friends and I used to shake our heads in sorrow over people punishing themselves. Like the man cutting himself in order to appease his god. Or others torturing themselves or others in the name of some deity—or blowing themselves up in order to go to some martyr’s heaven and send unbelievers to hell. Little did I know that I was also killing myself in a more subtle way while the devil drove me, and my friends applauded, my ‘determination’ and ‘single-mindedness’ to get my piece of the pie, or, shall I say, my loaf of bread.

“So give a listen to my story and keep your priorities straight. Paul had it right. I mean, he got it from Jesus, so you know it has to be right. Look closely at I Timothy 6:3-11. Come on—I’ll take the journey with you. These are warnings I didn’t know (I probably would have ignored them anyway). But if you listen and learn, you won’t cause yourself the agonies that I lived and died with.

“First, pay attention to wholesome words (verse three) and those are found in Scripture. Remember that Trump, Gates and Buffett don’t have the recipe for a life that counts forever. Jesus does! Next, beware of any who preach or teach that ‘gain is godliness’.  Rich guys are all godly? Poor folks are all ungodly? What baloney! It’s usually the opposite.

“Now check out verse 6: ‘godliness with contentment is great gain’. That just means that the more of God you have in your life and the more you do what pleases Him, the richer you are. And what God says in verse 7 ought to make you shout it, and never doubt it: ‘For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.' You know the old saying: ‘No U Hall truck follows a hearse’ or ‘No dead man ever came back to check his portfolio.'

“In verse 8 you can see that contentment comes from having enough bread, but not choking on it. Because here we cut right to the heart of the matter in verse 9: ‘But they that will be rich (that means to set your heart on being wealthy, not on knowing Christ) fall into temptation and a snare (the devil’s trap), and into many foolish and hurtful lusts (senseless cravings—harmful ambitions), which drown men in destruction and perdition.’

"You see, the problem is not needing more money or even wanting more money. After, all, it takes money to pay for that house you live in or to buy food, clothing and the works. No, the problem is, ‘For the love of money is the root of all evil.' Using money wisely is the root of much good. I was the guy who made money my  first love. I craved it. Lusted for it. And the crazy thing is you don’t even have to be rich to be destroyed by just the desire to be rich. Like the Good Book says, ‘which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith (turned away from God), and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (caused themselves untold agonies of mind).'

“Let me tell you of my personal miseries even as my net worth appeared to be soaring.

1)      Even when I tried to sleep, I couldn’t because of investment overload.

2)      Whenever I lost a lot of money, I found myself popping more Advil or Rolaids just to calm my poor stomach.

3)      I started to envy and become jealous of those who did better then I did. I even hated a few of them. That brought on my colitis and ulcer.

4)      Time with my wife and kids in prayer and the Bible? Are you kidding? Even when I thought about it, another ‘emergency’ would call me back to my bread line. I hardly noticed my wife’s loneliness or my kids becoming distant. ‘After all,’ I told myself, ‘I work all the time to give them all they need.’

5)      I never was faithful to my church or to serving other believers. Okay, once in a while I gave them a nice check to remind them that gain made me godly.

6)      When my son got in trouble with the law, he stood in court for his sentencing. I was so humiliated that I shouted: ‘How could you do such a thing? I gave you everything!’ Do you know what he shouted back with hatred in his eyes: ‘You gave me everything, but you never gave me you!’

“Well, I could go on—but those six miseries are enough to leave you a warning to go after the only six joys that will last. Here they are in verse 11: ‘But thou, O man of God, flee these things (run from all these evil things); and follow after RIGHTEOUSNESS, GODLINESS, FAITH, LOVE, PATIENCE, MEEKNESS!' Make doing God’s will your aim and His Spirit will cause you to hit the target. Make wealth and all that goes with it your aim, and it will finally blow up in your face. Remember, I warned you!”

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1)
The ST. PAUL SCHOOL, with Frank Eiklor, Eileen Young and Cecilia Contreras