TWO ROADS TO RICHES

I attended Fulton High School, and another young fellow I will call Sam attended Hickman High School in nearby Columbia, Missouri. Sam was three months my junior. Later, we were in school together at Missouri University. In due time both of us graduated, and Sam became involved in business. By diligent effort and a keen business sense he climbed rapidly out of the trough of the Great Depression and became famous and wealthy.


I should tell you at this point that prior to my college days I also had become wealthy in another way. There are at least two kinds of riches and two roads to riches. The two are poles apart. Some are wealthy in terms of material things. but are not "rich toward God" (Luke 12:21). While we have no accurate knowledge of Sam's spiritual standing, we do know that he got rich by toil and skill in the market place. I became rich by inheritance. Let me explain.


Prior to my college days, I attended an old-fashioned revival in an old-fashioned holiness church. At an altar of prayer, I met Jesus on His terms of "repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15). Repenting and believing were in one package and brought the assurance of salvation from sin. By following on the know the Lord, by consecration and faith, I received an "inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith" (Acts 26:18). All true believers are children of God, "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17)


Salvation is a free gift of God, and while salvation can't be paid for, every true believer feels a great obligation to give something in return for such an immense gift. So, early in life, before I was old enough to vote, I entered the ministry. In full-time gospel ministry, I found plenty of work to do and a place to preach every Sunday. Those were the days of "freewill offerings" for many preachers, and there was a whole lot more of free will than offering. But that was all right. We didn't develop expensive tastes, but stayed within our income and never went into debt. And more than that, we never felt that ours was a hard road or that we were unjustly treated. Didn't our Lord say in the parable of the workers in the vineyard, "Whatsoever is right I will give you"? Also in Matthew 6:33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." As David Livingstone said, "It is the word of a gentleman," and that is enough.


To all who have good spiritual insight, the vast difference between the world's false concept of riches and the Christian's knowledge of true riches is known to be as wide as the sea. So many of the so-called "higher class" are content with vast material wealth, popularity, property, and prestige. Yet many are unhappy, lonely, and morally bankrupt. At the same time, many of the world's poor are rich in moral character, in contentment, and in spiritual experience, the "true riches" of which Jesus spoke. Let us be clear in this; it is possible to have riches of both kinds, both finical success and Christian experience.


And I must tell you that the fellow I called Sam was really named Sam - Sam Walton, as in Wal-Mart.