1 Timothy 6:17-21, especially vs. 17: "Command those who are rich in this present age...not to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, Who gives us richly all things to enjoy." When the rich young ruler discovered that he was not willing to acquire the treasures of heaven, he went away sorrowfully from the Lord Jesus. "Then said Jesus unto His disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven....It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God" (Mt. 19:23,24).
How often the "uncertain riches of this present age" become spiritual obstacles! Still, rich and poor, men and women, slave and masters, young and old, all yearn for true Life (vs. 19), and our compassionate and loving Lord and Savior, knowing the deceitfulness of riches (Mt. 13:22), illumined His Apostles to understand both the spiritual pitfalls and the potentials for good that are inherent in material wealth. Hence, in today's reading, we find St. Paul addressing the hearts and souls of wealthy Christians, warning them against the snares into which the heart can fall, but also showing them the way to use riches for laying hold on Life.
Let the rich "not...be haughty" (1 Tim. 6:17). The insidious deceiver, from the beginning, has used things to distract us from God, to lead us into the belief that we might "be like God" (Gen. 3:5) by "having." When things become "pleasant to the eyes" (Gen. 3:6), then the lie appears as true: "that one is wise merely because he possesses" (Gen. 3:6). Seeing only wealth, and not men's hearts, one becomes inflamed with the belief that mere possession makes one wise. God help us!
Awash in this falsehood, hearts easily become "lifted up" so that we forget the Lord our God Who can bring all men into Life through Christ (Dt. 8:14). Even Christians may become haughty through material riches, for wealth gives temporal power and capacity to those who possess, tempting them to believe that they are "superior" to, or "more important" than, others.
Let the wealthy not "trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, Who gives us richly all things to enjoy" (1 Tim. 6:17). As we note: wealth does bestow power, influence, status, and capacity, which the insidious deceiver then uses to suggest that we should have faith in riches. Such trust is the devil's bargain. As the God-illumined Apostle reminds us, material riches are uncertain, ephemeral, and passing. Markets crash. Technology makes obsolete. Sickness eats up estates.
Let each one, rich or poor, first and foremost, "trust in the living God." When we trust in God, we are free to "to enjoy" and to "do good" with whatever He has given us, whether we are great or small among men (vs. 18). However, let us not be confused about the meaning of "doing good." The Apostle cites three aspects of "doing good" with wealth: "be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share" (vs. 18). There are more than enough "needs" among our fellow Christians, as well as among the impoverished and destitute of the world. Each of us can be rich in good works, giving, and sharing with those who need. Notice what follows though: by good works we store up "a good foundation for the time to come" (vs. 19).
In the original, the phrase "storing up" literally means "treasuring up." It is the same word the Lord used with the rich young man: "You will have treasure in heaven" (Mt. 19:21). As St Maximos says: "If...Christ dwells in our hearts through faith (Eph. 3:17), and all the treasures of wisdom and spiritual knowledge are hidden in Him (Col. 2:3), then all the treasures of wisdom and spiritual knowledge are hidden in our hearts....in proportion to our purification...."
O Lord, Who art provident above all we require, enable us to love Thee in all things and above all things that we may obtain Thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire.