I’ve never watched Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. But I have heard of celebrities installing gold bathroom faucets, purchasing fleets of expensive cars, or sporting diamonds on their teeth! Even “celebrity pastors” fall prey to the lure of opulence, with mansions and private jets. I wonder what they hope to gain by spending so lavishly on themselves. Maybe they should take a cue from the wealthiest man in history.
King Solomon began his reign surrounded by privilege. His father, King David, probably handed down the greatest fortune ever amassed by anyone in history! He collected a mountain of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and precious stones. Yet he gathered it for building the temple and solemnly urged his son to fulfill that vision. David supplied his son with the plans, a majority of the supplies, as well as the manpower needed for the project, on a silver platter!
To his credit, Solomon got to work. He built not only the temple but also a palace and other impressive edifices. Excelling at commerce, he commissioned fleets of ships and built numerous harbors. He stabled thousands of horses and chariots. 2 Chronicles 1:15 says, The king made silver and gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones. His wisdom and riches made him such a celebrity that even the Queen of Sheba traveled all the way to Israel to see if the rumors were true. What she saw left her speechless!
During his lifetime Solomon accumulated more wealth (and women–700 wives and 300 concubines) than we can fathom. Yet before his death at age 80, he penned the book of Ecclesiastes, sharing his reflections on a productive but self-indulgent celebrity lifestyle. His book summarizes a life searching for fulfillment apart from God. Observing everything he had stockpiled and all he’d accomplished, he summed it up as “vanity.” In a word, he felt empty because he never found what his father David had. Despite his celebrated wisdom and wealth, Solomon never sought out the one thing King David had treasured most–God’s fellowship and love.
Unlike his son, David clearly saw the emptiness in living merely to get rich. In Psalm 62:10 he exhorted, If wealth increases, do not set your heart on it.
Jesus echoed David in Luke 12:15: “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one is affluent does his life consist of his possessions.” I Timothy 6:17 advises, Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. And Hebrews 13:5 explains, Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.”
Celebrities or not, we can all learn this lesson. Choosing contentment with God’s benevolent care for us beats striving for the vanity of riches. In reality, our lives only take on meaning when we delight in God’s love and faithfulness–just like King David did.
