Proverbs 20:21 (KJV)
An inheritance may be
gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.
January 24, 1848
A man by the name of
James W. Marshall discovered gold outside the Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California.
News of Marshall’s find
brought 300,000 people from all over the United States and around the world
racing into California to find their fortunes.
Most of them lost more
than they ever found:
· They lost their families
· They lost their morality and or a good number of them
· They lost their lives
The California gold rush
was such a significant event that California is one of only a few states that
when directly into statehood without ever being a territory of the U.S.
The gold rush did create
millionaires and reinvigorate the American economy.
But the people who made
fortunes were not, for the most part, the prospectors.
The ones who got wealthy
were:
· The store clerks
· The stagecoach operators
· The restaurants, saloons and hotels
Though some people made
huge fortunes overnight, (and many of them lost them just as quickly) lasting
wealth was made by those who took a slower, more long-term approach to
accumulate their wealth.
That is the lesson of
Proverbs 20:21, conservative financial management.
Doesn’t the verse remind
you of the account of the Prodigal son?
Luke 15:11-32 (KJV)
And he said, A certain
man had two sons:
And the younger of them
said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.
And he divided unto them his living.
And not many days after
the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country,
and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
And when he had spent
all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
And he went and joined
himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed
swine.
And he would fain have
filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto
him.
And when he came to
himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and
to spare, and I perish with hunger!
I will arise and go to
my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and
before thee,
And am no more worthy to
be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
And he arose, and came
to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had
compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
And the son said unto
him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more
worthy to be called thy son.
But the father said to
his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on
his hand, and shoes on his feet:
And bring hither the
fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
For this my son was
dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be
merry.
Now his elder son was in
the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and
dancing.
And he called one of the
servants, and asked what these things meant.
And he said unto him,
Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he
hath received him safe and sound.
And he was angry, and
would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
And he answering said to
his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any
time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make
merry with my friends:
But as soon as this thy
son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for
him the fatted calf.
And he said unto him,
Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
It was meet that we
should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive
again; and was lost, and is found.
There has been this
timeless contest between those who go for the fast money and those who choose a
more conservative approach.
I have three
observations for you this morning:
*I. Profits Can Be Gained Quickly
But it also includes substantial
risk.
Proverbs 20:21 (KJV)
An inheritance may be
gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.
By the way, I am not
talking just now about “get rich quick” schemes. Those are obviously wrong. The
only people who really get rich with get rich quick schemes are those who
convince others to buy their version of the get rich quick scheme.
There are, from time to
time, legitimate opportunities to make a lot of money very quickly
They are not necessarily
wrong, they are just inordinately risky and a person is never wise to put too
much of their resources into them.
When I first got into
the ironworkers I was making more money that anyone in my immediate family
could imagine.
I went from earning
$2.85 per hour to $7.11 per hour over the weekend and that was raised to $10.50
and hour after six months.
I was young and, had I
been wiser, I could have turned that into a huge advantage if I had continued
to live on $2.85 per hour and invested the rest of that money into the right
things.
I was not wise.
· I immediately bought and brand new pickup
· I hired a tax attorney to try to cheat the IRS and
· I put a chunk of money into silver.
Buying silver is not
foolish, but what I got involved in was.
Just about the time I
got pretty well established in the Ironworkers, I heard that the price of
silver was making unprecedented gains.
A relative of mine and I
went together and bought a bunch of silver coins. The price was $22 an Ounce.
Then each night we
watched the news to see how our silver was doing:
$25 per Ounce
$30 per Ounce
$40 per Ounce
$45 per Ounce
I remember setting in my
relative’s living room the night the News Station announced that my silver had
reached $50 per Ounce.
I turned to him and
said, “Let’s sell.”
He said, “No. Let’s wait
a little longer.”
The next day it was
discovered that a pair named the Hunt brothers had been manipulating the price
of silver. They were caught an the price of silver plummeted.
I still have that
silver.
It was worth $17 per Ounce
yesterday.
Silver is a great long
term investment – especially for hedging your assets against inflation.
But it was foolish to
attempt to get wealth hastily by it.
*II. Conservative Stewardship Has Always Been the
Best Way to Get and Keep What We Earn
Proverbs 20:21 (KJV)
An inheritance may be
gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.
I am reading a book[1]
right now by an author who styles himself as a financial expert and leans to
the conservative side of things.
He says there are three
things he leans on to generate his income:
· Real estate
· Indexes in the Stock Market[2] and
· Work (he calls it “business”)
He was asked what he
thought about the current “cryptocurrency” thing. This author doesn’t involve
himself at all but says that if you choose to you should not think of it as
investing but as speculating and only get involved to the extent you can afford
to lose everything.[3]
What he is saying is,
even though it is possible to get quick wealth legitimately through some of
these vehicles, it is safer to choose a long term course for wealth creation
and venture into these faster moving pools cautiously and with only a small
amount of your portfolio.
I think he is right on
tune with Proverbs 20:21.
*III. Blessed Profits Are the Best Profits
Proverbs 20:21 (KJV)
An inheritance may be
gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.
I am by no means a
financial guru.
I have lived by faith my
whole Christian life
For a lot of years I
could not afford to feed my family except for the generosity of different
people in my life.
I was 35 years old
before I could buy a house.
Even then I could only
do it because:
· The guy I bought the property from was in our church and he
paid to put in the utilities and the road
· I bought a used manufactured home (I did not qualify for a
new one) and had it moved onto the property
· I knew a contractor who did the foundation and set up for
free
My situation is improved
today but I still live by faith.
What I can tell you has
happened is this, God has blessed us.
· He hasn’t blessed us with a fortune in the bank[4]
· He hasn’t blessed us with expensive things and furniture
He has blessed us with
the faith to trust Him.
As we strive to live out
what the Bible teaches, God blesses us and meets our needs.
And I am just going to
tell you.
That’s the best wealth
of all.
[1] You Can Retire Early,
Deacon Hayes. The title of the book turned me off to the book until I learned
that Deacon subscribes to Dave Ramsey’s ideas. Ramsey is off on some things. He
is especially off on his doctrine. But his financial advice is sound.
[2] Like the Dow Jones
Index, the Fortune 500 Index, etc. Instead of investing in particular stocks,
he encourages investing in the indexes.
[3] Because, in his
estimation, you probably will.
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