One day I had a note from an old school friend who was staying in my city briefly, and he asked me to come to see him at his motel. We had been good friends, and I was glad to have a chance to see him again.
It had gone well with him in the world. He had prospered to such an extent that he was able to retire from business, and selling all he had, he invested in government bonds.
“That is the most secure investment,” he said, showing me a bundle of documents. “I have only to use a little interest whenever I want money. My nest-egg is secure.”
“Your certificates have no real worth,” I objected. “They are nothing but paper and contain only promises. What if the promisers become bankrupt?”
“That is impossible, and you know it yourself. The government cannot become bankrupt!”
“Still,” I insisted, “you must admit you are a millionaire only in virtue of your belief. Your possessions in themselves have no value, but you believe that those who promise payment will pay at the proper time.”
“Right!” he answered with a laugh. “I am rich because I believe, and as long as this country guarantees its wealth and its honor, I am sure of my riches.”
“I am also rich, because I believe. Do you understand?”
He did not understand. With all his wealth, he had not found the true riches.
The same day I visited another old friend. This time I had to go to a nursing home, one largely supported by welfare. George had been one of the brightest students, but years of sickness had exhausted his money and destroyed his health. When I told him of my visit to Art, he brought out from under his pillow a well-worn Bible and held it before him. “Frank,” he said to me, “I also am a millionaire! People call me poor, but I possess more than millions.”
Where were his riches?
He said, “It often seems to me as if the Bible had been written for me alone. I find there more than three thousand of the most wonderful promises which, for all the money in the world, I would not sell. The money I should soon have to leave behind, but my property - the promises I possess - will go with me beyond the grave. They can never lose their value, for they were given to me by Him who possesses the earth; yes, the whole universe.”
Two millionaires, and both rich in their belief. The one, because he trusts in the government of the country; the other, because his confidence is in the living God. The one, rich in things which he may lose any day - the other rich in an inheritance which is indestructible and eternal. The one, rich for a brief time - his very days perhaps numbered; the other, rich in wealth that remains his throughout eternity. Who is the richer of the two?
You say perhaps, “The second man will be someday.” No, he is the richer now. Through faith in the promises of God, the glory of heaven, yes, even the Lord of glory Himself, is his now, and in Him he rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory! “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him?” (James 2:55Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? (James 2:5)).
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a [living] hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:34).