Still others, like seed thrown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Mark 4:18-19
You don’t need to be rich to fall prey to the deceitfulness of riches. You don’t even need to want to be rich; you just have to be human.
So how do we break its power over our lives? The first step is to recognize it.
Here is an example of the deceitfulness of riches in action.
The Deceitfulness of Riches
A young couple, recently married, decided to buy themselves a home. They saved up their deposit, took out a mortgage and purchased their first home. It was a modest home but it was the best they could afford. However, over the next two years inflation drove prices up and money became tight. ‘If only we had a little more money…’ they said.
And so the husband put in extra hours at work and got a promotion, and his wife got a job with higher pay. Then they had their first child and found the house was too small. ‘If only we had a little more space…’ they said.
With their higher earnings, they could afford a better mortgage. So they sold their home and bought a bigger house. It was a modest house for a young family but it was the best they could afford. But as their child grew, so expenses increased and inflation eroded their surplus. ‘If only we had a little more money…’ they said.
… and so this cycle continued for forty-five years. They attended church most weeks and heard God’s word. Their hearts sought after God but they were too busy to devote their time and energy to his kingdom. At the end of their lives, they looked back and considered all that they had hoped to do for God in their lives. ‘If only we had a little more time…’ they said.
But they had allowed the deceitfulness of riches to choke the word of God in their hearts and realized that it had made them unfruitful.
How to Overcome
Overcoming the deceitfulness of riches is relatively straightforward to understand. Living out the principles is the hard part.
First, we need to recognize the deceit for what it is. Those moments occur when we say, ‘If only we had a little more money…’ The moment we act on that desire, we fall prey to the deceit. The truth is, we will never have enough. There will always be a bigger house, a newer car, a better holiday, on which we want to spend our money.
Having identified the deceitfulness of riches, we need to learn to be content with what we have rather than give into the temptation. When we learn contentment, we no longer need all those bright, shiny things that tempt us so easily. Consider the young couple in the story above. What if they had bought a slightly more modest home the first time around — and then saved the extra cash and invested it in an income-producing asset?
When inflation drove prices up, their asset would have increased in value and actually provided them with more income to help support them over time. Instead of needing more money to cover their expenses, they would be in a position to save for their next investment.
When the time came to move to a bigger house, this couple would have been better able to buy that home without incurring massive interest charges as they would have a nest-egg. This money saved could then be used to purchase additional assets which, in turn could provide more income.
The income from those assets would have created the freedom for this couple to live out God’s purposes for their lives from an early age rather than finding themselves crippled by debt and monthly bills.