Thursday Devotional - Chasing after the Wind of Accumulation

I’m a natural saver. As a kid, I even saved candy for years and years. However, when my sisters or Mom would find my “saved” candy and eat a piece, it wasn’t very good because of how old it was. There is such a thing as saving too much or too long. 😊

We’re to be wise stewards of the money God enables us to earn. However, a focus on accumulating and saving and hoarding more and more isn’t beneficial to us or others around us.   

Ecclesiastes 5:8-15      ⁸ If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. ⁹ The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.

¹⁰ Whoever loves money never has enough;
    whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.
    This too is meaningless.

¹¹ As goods increase,
    so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owners
    except to feast their eyes on them?

¹² The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
    whether they eat little or much,
but as for the rich, their abundance
    permits them no sleep.

¹³ I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:

wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,
¹⁴     or wealth lost through some misfortune,
so that when they have children
    there is nothing left for them to inherit.
¹⁵ Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb,

    and as everyone comes, so they depart.
They take nothing from their toil
    that they can carry in their hands.

A focus on accumulation isn’t satisfying or beneficial in this life or the next. Those focused on accumulation are never satisfied. It’s never enough. Let’s prayerfully be generous with what God has provided, while wisely saving just enough.

Alice