Money VS Life—Will You Make the Right Choice at a Critical Junction?

A merchant was walking through a desert with a lot of gold coins, and he couldn’t bear the extreme heat, so he had to make a trade-off between coins, food, and water. He hesitated because he was so unwilling to give up even a gold coin. He chose to abandon food and water and then kept walking.

He didn’t get very far, but there was not enough food and water left. At that point, several people passed by, and the merchant hurriedly sought help. They would only give him food and water when the merchant could pay many coins. He was so hungry and thirsty, but after he touched his purse, he made a determination and said, “I will not buy it. I will hold on and after a while, I will walk out of the desert.” Then he kept walking. The passerby yelled behind him, “Coins and life, which one is more important?” The merchant was impervious to this question.

On the second day, he finally arrived at the edge of the desert, but he was already tired out and fell down. He sighed before he died, “If I could abandon the coins earlier, I would not have to die. It’s late, too late. …”

Many people will feel sorry about the ending of the merchant, but when we reflect on ourselves, aren’t we the same as the merchant?

The Lord Jesus said, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).

Many people have spent their whole lives pursuing fame and wealth, and even when they were threatened by illness, misfortunes, and death, they still thought of how to safeguard their hard-earned money. They didn’t awaken until the last moment of their lives: Money cannot recuperate health; fame and gains cannot extend a dying life; lost time is never found again, and a withered life will impossibly revive.

We are all created beings made by God and our life and fate are controlled by God. During the best years God gives us, He hopes that we can read God’s words seriously, seek to know God, obey His sovereignty and arrangement and entrust everything to Him. Only then will God protect us from Satan’s temptations and seduction.

When money, fame, and power become unable to shake our minds to pursue the truth, it will mean that we have walked on the right path of life under God’s guidance: Living before God and gaining the truth as life is the only meaningful life.