The Folly of Riches
Sometimes when I make an offhand comment about the way God is working in my life, I can get really blank looks that seem to say, “You really believe that God cares how you live?” If you believe the pollsters, many in this world believe in God, but rather obviously, they aren’t all living like they do. I’m all about striving to apply to my life what I’m studying and reading, and the older I get, the more I find myself making spiritual appraisals about everything I encounter in the Scriptures (and often seeing where I fall short); since I teach English literature, the novels that I teach often inspire reflection of a spiritual nature. My AP class just completed The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and they discovered a somewhat recurring theme in literature that money cannot buy happiness. My connection is this: I’ve been reading recently in Ecclesiastes , and Solomon has much to say about wealth. In chapter five, he addresses the folly of riches: “He who lo