The Danger of Trusting in Riches.

(Homily for February 27, 2017).

In what constitutes your hope? Where lies your confidence? What do you consider as your insurance against the uncertainties of tomorrow? In God or in your Bank Account. If we decide to sincerely answer this question, we would discover that we trust more in what we have in our bank accounts than in God. And this is a fact! Many times we sing the song: “Because he lives, I can face tomorrow…” but in actual reality, our real confidence for tomorrow is our current account balance, our job, our degrees or even our friends and family. We trust more in what we can see than in what we cannot see!

A real test of where our trust lies is whether or not we can afford to let go of all that we have and trust ourselves to God. A young man came to Jesus desiring to inherit eternal life and after he had passed Jesus’ examination, Jesus then asked him to sell all his property and give the money to the poor but the young man went away sorrowful. He could not afford to give out his wealth because he had placed his trust for survival on riches. Even though he desired to inherit eternal life, his true master was his riches. He believed more in riches than in God. He trusted more in material thing than in the one who created Heaven and Earth.

This is our story. Like this young man, we try to serve two masters, deceiving ourselves that it is God we want to serve when it is money we seek. We hold so dearly to money that we are too afraid to perform acts of charity, we are too afraid to give because we feel we don’t have enough, we fall into temptation and offend God all in a bid to acquire as much wealth as possible forgetting that God can actually provide our needs in abundance if we walk in his light. There is nothing wrong with working hard to create genuine wealth for oneself but there is everything wrong with telling lies, duping people, altering figures, stealing and committing all sorts of atrocities just to make money. If our desire to become rich lands us into sin, then we are saying to God: “I don’t trust you can take care of me so I am taking care of myself.”

Wealth by themselves is not an obstacle for going to heaven, but trusting in wealth over and above God is a grave stumbling block from attaining heaven. This is why Jesus said: “How hard it would be for those who trust in their riches to enter the kingdom of God.” When we trust in riches instead of God, we make riches into gods and our zeal for more riches becomes a form of idolatry. Let us always be conscious that we brought nothing into this world and we shall leave with nothing. No matter how much we acquire, the day we die, our riches will become useless to us. There is no need feeling inferior before a rich person because no matter how rich he or she is, it is the same fate that awaits both of you.

So why offend God because of money? Why try to take care of tomorrow when you do not know if it will come? Why being stingy to those in need when you have a God who is capable of providing more than enough for you? Let us learn from this young man and repent today. As our first reading says: “Turn to the Lord and forsake your sins… return to the Most High and turn away from iniquity…”

All those hefty lies I used to tell because of money, I tell them no more. All those bad things I do because of money, I do them no more. No more joining bad gangs, no more sugar daddies and sugar mummies, no more selling my body for money, no more stealing and changing figures in the office, no more accepting bribes for favours, no more cheating my customers by selling fake products in place of genuine ones, no more, no more. I repent today. I trust my future and its needs to God. I will stop trying to take care of myself and let God do his work. I will seek first His kingdom, I will give out generously, I will help the poor, I will build my treasures in heaven and no longer on earth.

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, help me to trust you more than my money. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Monday of the 8^th Week in Ordinary Time. Bible Study: Ecclesiasticus 17:20-28 and Mark 10:17-27).

Fr. Abu.