Net Worth

Proverbs 6
12 A worthless person, a wicked man,
Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth,
13 Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,
Who points with his fingers;
14 Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil,
Who spreads strife.

At the time, Bill Gates is the richest man in the world with over 79 billion dollars estimated net worth. Billion. With a B. The youngest billionaire in the world is a 24 year old from Hong Kong. The oldest is a 99 year old American. We’ve talked before about how God’s math is different from ours. In our society, net worth is a handy number to quantify someone’s wealth. And wealth in our society, more often than not, equates to worth.

Take Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Mr. Zuckerberg is 30 years old and has an estimated net worth of 29.3 billion dollars. He is, for all intents and purposes, a rock star. Companies and individuals would, and probably do, pay lots of money for his time and attention. Warren Buffet, with an estimated net worth of over 66 billion, is an incredibly influential person in the finance world. When he speaks, people listen. When he acts, people follow behind.

This is no slam against wealth, or the incredibly wealthy. I mention these folks merely for perspective. Either Mr. Zuckerberg or Mr. Buffet could buy the city I live in a dozen times over; their influence is immense. But you can be a man, or a woman, of high worth and have a relatively meager net worth. My net worth is laughable, especially compared to Mr. Buffet and Mr. Zuckerberg, but when God looks at you and me, he doesn’t look at our bank account, our ledger sheet, or our corporate achievements. He looks at our character.

A man could be rich beyond my imagination or means, but God’s word says that a man’s word can render him worthless. A man who’s words and intent don’t line up, winking with his eyes and signaling with his feet, can bring a man’s net worth down to the gutter. I encourage you to keep striving in your walk to be a man or woman of God. And I hope that you find encouragement in knowing that just a little talk with Jesus can bring your account back into the black.

For those interested, here is a list of the world richest men and women.