Here are seven Bible verses about riches.
Proverbs 11:4 "Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death."
Solomon knew the wisdom in the fact that "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold" (Prov 22:1) and the truest wisdom about riches is to pray, "Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, "Who is the Lord?" or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God" (Prov 30:8-9). It is so easy to have money take the place of God as it provides for needs and wants but the risk is, we make it a god and do all but bow down before it. Money will do nothing for those who have never repented and trusted in Christ.
James 5:1-3 "Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days."
James was not easy on the rich. Perhaps it was because he'd seen how the rich took advantage of the poor and became rich at their expense but their riches will come back to witness against them on the Day of Judgment. That's what James is saying…that they have laid up treasure for the last days but the treasure will take the witness stand against them before God because they have reaped at the expense of the poor.
Matthew 13:22 "As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful."
How true it is that riches can choke out the Word of God. The Parable of the Sower is where Jesus said that the Word of God was sown among a certain group of people as "Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them" (Matt 13:7). The thorns seem to be symbolic of the nature of mankind as we saw happen in the fall in the Garden as both Adam and Eve desired to be like God and choose for themselves the knowledge of good and evil and their lustful hearts chocked out obedience to God.
Proverbs 11:28 "Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf."
If we are trusting in money, then we are trusting in something that's not a sure thing because "riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all generations" (Prov 27:24). Job got it! He understood that riches and possessions were nothing as he said "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21).
First Timothy 6:17 "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy."
Money can make people feel superior to others (haughty) but the Apostle Paul warns us to not set our hopes on things of this world like money because there is so much that can go wrong; it can all be gone in a day. The main riches are found in God's mercy and grace, most significantly in Jesus Christ, because He has already richly provided "us with everything to enjoy" and if we have food or clothing, isn't that enough? What more do we really need than the basic essentials of life? Most people in the world have much less than we do and live day by day and yet, seem happier than those who have much.
Luke 16:13 "No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."
Don't think we can make a god out of money? Jesus says we can have only one of two masters; money or God and we can't worship both at the same time. It's like having two spouses; one will be neglected and one loved more to the hurt of the other. Money is certainly an idol and if we love money more than God, then we'll do all we can to serve money because we can't serve both.
Ecclesiastes 5:13-14 "There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand."
The Wisdom of Solomon surfaces in these two verses as he actually says that accumulating wealth can hurt the person who accumulates it. Instead of owning money and possessions, money and possessions can own us and we can become slaves to it. That is the human heart and that is the tendency of my own heart and I would imagine yours too.
Conclusion
We should not set our heart on riches but upon Jesus Christ. Just think of "the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways" (Rom 11:33) and so let us "praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight" (Eph 1:6-8).
Article by Jack Wellman
Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer's daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.
