P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

LAST BUT NOT EASIEST #6

THE TEMPORARY MILLIONAIRE

It was quite a moment for Mr. Jeff Ferrera of Waukegon, Illinois. He was working on his checkbook, trying to get his numbers to balance out, and eventually called up the bank, using one of their automated toll-free numbers in order to get the bottom line right from the horse's mouth.

Well, the horse's mouth was actually one of those digitized voices that speaks at you one syllable at a time. "Thank. You. For. Calling. First. National. Bank. Of. Chicago." That kind of thing. "You. Are. Our. Favorite. Customer." And the disembodied voice Out There then proceeded to tell him that he, Jeff Ferrera, had exactly $924,844,204.32 in his checking account. He was almost a BILLIONAIRE! What?! He played it again. Same good news.

$924,844,204.32. Apparently there was just a tiny glitch in some computer chip, and a total of 826 Illinois customers were temporary custodians of something like $764 billion. That's more than six times what the entire bank corporation is worth.

One of Jeff's friends said: "Quick! Transfer the money out and stick it in some secret Cayman Islands account. Then make a run for it!" As in: "I'll go with you!" But Jeff, along with most of the other temporary ERPs – that's "extremely rich persons" – said, "Thank you very much, but I really don't think this dream is going to last." You do have to wonder what even one day's worth of interest would be on $924 million, though, don't you?

Well, it's a cute story, and an admirable one – as we think about people like Jeff turning down those virtual-reality dollars. But you know, as we continue to think about this Tenth Commandment and the challenge we all face in being content with the REAL dollars that we actually DO have – or DON'T have – there's an important lesson to learn here, isn't there? Friend, everything we own – and everything our neighbors in that nice house next door own – is like that $924 million. In the light of eternity, it isn't real. It's imaginary. It's not going to last.

I remember so well a couple of years ago, when one of our staff members spent Labor Day weekend speaking at a Christian singles retreat in Arkansas. Most of the singles there were actually NEW singles – meaning a marriage had recently broken up. A home had been torn apart by disillusion or by infidelity or just old-fashioned boredom. But you talk about good times and good bank accounts not lasting! One woman there told how she, wife of a doctor, was comfortably used to an income of around $100,000 a year. All at once she was trying to get by on about a fifth that amount, maybe $18,000 or $20,000. Others had gone from nice homes to the tiniest of one-bedroom studio apartments. Children were suddenly gone, cars were gone, dreams were gone. And where before, as others might have coveted THEIR things, now they were the ones doing without.

But do you want to know the kicker to the story? Everyone at that retreat was kind of stuck out in the woods at these facilities on a remote lake. Which is fine. But Sunday morning as they began to drift back to civilization, the news started to pass from one to the other: "Did you hear? Princess Diana died in a car crash last evening." That's right – remember? – it was Labor Day weekend back in 1997. And as those singles began their long trips back home – even maybe to loneliness and a rather spartan home – they were reminded that at least they had their LIVES. They still did have a future, unlike the lost jewel, the departed sweetheart of the British realm, who had died in that Paris tunnel.

I've shared the story before of the man – a good Christian – who also enjoyed plenty of material success. Nice home, cars, paintings, the works. Which is fine if God blesses you that way. But somehow he had avoided the trap of jealousy, of covetousness, of looking even HIGHER up the block there on Rodeo Drive or wherever he lived. He wasn't in the rat race of "I've got five cars, you've got six"; he had possessions but didn't seem hung up about getting more. And someone asked him how he managed to avoid the pitfalls of the Tenth Commandment. "Easy," he told them. "I envision a red tag on every single thing I own, which reads like this: ‘Soon to be burned.'" That's a sobering thought, isn't it? Everything we own in this world, or would LIKE to own, will someday be nothing but ashes.

And friend, the Bible tells us repeatedly to remember how the bank can make you rich, and then take it all away again. Over in II Corinthians 4:8, we find these testimonial words from Paul:

"So we fix our eyes NOT on what is seen, but on what is UNSEEN. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Over in Hebrews chapter 11 is a list of many people who seemed to understand that the trappings of this world weren't to get very excited about. Noah lived in a world where it never rained. That seemed to be reality: no rain. But he went ahead and built an ark – because God said so. Abraham was told by God to leave everything he had and go someplace else – and God wouldn't even tell him where. No problem. Enoch – this is the best one – just plain left this world! He knew this wasn't the real world; God had a better place for him. In fact, verses 10 and 13 seem to spell the whole story of these heroes of faith.

"For he [Abraham] was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. . . . And they [all these visionary people] admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth."

Now friend, you and I don't have to ACT like obnoxious aliens while we live in these temporary surroundings. But doesn't this perspective completely SOLVE the challenge of the Tenth Commandment? "Don't covet the possessions of your neighbor," God tells us. "Because those things of his, AND those things of YOURS . . . aren't the real things! Everything there is temporary: it's tents and suitcases and sack lunches and MREs – ‘meals ready to eat,' the kind soldiers scarf down out of an army box on a desert battlefield." They know, and we should know, that there are mansions in that Better Land, permanent homes that will never get knocked over by an earthquake, banquet tables where the food supply will never run out, friendships where the love will never wax cold, loving communities where no one will ever move away or be evicted.

Paul writes a letter to a young friend of his named Timothy. And who knows, but maybe even in that culture a young would-be missionary like Timothy might look back over his shoulder and see his friends making a lucrative living trading and bartering there on the Mediterranean. But here's the advice:

"Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

Did you catch the two points we've been discussing? First of all, "We brought nothing in, we take nothing out." As a preacher once said, there isn't a U-Haul being towed behind the hearse. Secondly, though, is this line: "Some people, EAGER FOR MONEY, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." What did they do? They chose the temporary OVER the permanent. They preferred the dollars, which aren't permanently REAL, over heaven's currency of faith, which is EVERLASTINGLY real.

We want to stay on the theme of what makes true contentment, but please notice with me this Bible verse, also found in Hebrews, just two chapters over from that great list we just read. Here's 13:5:

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have." Why? Listen to this: "Because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'"

Isn't that incredible? Right here is contentment that can't be shaken or stirred. Let me take you back to that man, Jeff Ferrera, who, for the blink of an eye, had himself something like $924 million. For two minutes, Mr. Ferrer-A probably thought about a Ferrar-I. But what if that money had been REAL? What if there really WAS that amount in the bank – almost a billion dollars? Would it be as important as these ten words from God? "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you"? Someday all bank accounts, even with REAL totals of $924 million, will evaporate just as surely as that digital pile of dollars did for Jeff and the other 825 temporary tycoons. Money doesn't last, whether it's Monopoly money or real U.S. greenbacks. Only your relationship with God counts for always.