It is considered that water is a fixed asset on the earth. It can change forms, but there will always be the same amount here. It is also believed that energy cannot be destroyed but simply changes forms. It is a theory that the same is true of wealth. If this is true, then no real wealth has been lost during this economic downturn. It has only changed hands.
God knows where all the water is, where all of the energy is, and where all of the wealth is. Solomon said: “Will you set your eyes on that which is not? Riches certainly make for itself wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven” (Proverbs 23:5 NKJV). He also said: “Sloth makes you poor; diligence brings wealth (Proverbs 10:4 The Message).
Riches and wealth are not the same thing. Riches tend to come fast and leave fast. Wealth is built with hard work, endurance, patience, learning to overcome setbacks and turning them into opportunities. As someone once said, “If we did not have the experience of making wealth, neither will we have the wisdom to keep it.” This too seems to be one of the social laws of physics. This is why, to date, there does not seem to be a single happy ending for anyone who has won a major lottery. If they did not make the money, but rather won it, they are almost certain to lose it. Entertainers and athletes can earn tens of millions and just as quickly end up bankrupt.
Wealth is more than money or physical assets. There is a wealth of knowledge that can be far more valuable than money. There is wealth in a good name, in a heritage we build through our works. Then there is our spiritual wealth that we have invested for eternity. Which of these accounts has the most of our attention and devotion? Which would we say is the biggest account we have?
Negiel Bigpond is a great Native American leader, and I consider him an elder in the body of Christ. He told us that when his mother was dying she did not just tell him that she loved him, but she told him what translated, “If you do not do what we taught you and prepared you to do, we did not exist.” Negiel finally understood what she meant. She saw life as a river, flowing, going somewhere. If her children did not carry on the family mission, then the river stopped flowing and would soon be entirely forgotten.
Today we are carrying on what all who walked with God before us contributed, and if the church were cut off from the world, eventually it would be as if it never existed—we would all be forgotten. The same is true of America. If we lose the Republic on our watch, we will be losing what so many gave to build and defend over the last three hundred years.
The quickest way to kill a plant is to cut it off from its roots. The quickest way to kill a nation is to cut it off from its history. A few months ago there was an outrage when a new history textbook used in U.S. public schools said that Muslims had discovered America before Columbus. The outcry caused an immediate retraction of these books, but there have been intentional revisions of our American history for over half a century. One history textbook was said to have had more than 100 examples of how Islam shaped America, and only four to our Judeo/Christian roots, and those four were not positive. This too caused an outcry, and now Americans are becoming intentional about knowing our history so that it will not be so perverted when taught to our children.
The Bible is essentially a history of God’s dealings with mankind. If we do not know this, you can be sure that the devil will distort it and then us. One of the most important things we can do as a citizen of the kingdom is know our history. One of the most essential things we can do as a citizen of our nation is to know our history. Then we must be sure that we do our part so that the river does not stop with us.
