| “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” |
| —1 Timothy 6:17 |
Have you ever met someone who was truly wealthy? I have had the privilege of knowing quite well just one truly wealthy man. Oh, like most of us, I have bumped up against a number of individuals who have become somewhat rich in the course of their lives. Most of these people exhibited an arrogance and pomposity that made them quite annoying to a large number of people. But, this was not the case with the one exceptionally wealthy man who crossed my pathway more than forty-five years ago.
This one individual I knew, who was a millionaire many times over, had been born during the years of the Great Depression. His family struggled, through hard work, to keep their heads above the flood of financial ruin that affected so many people of that era. These second generation immigrants from Scandinavia, who also had a strain of bloodline from Anglo-Irish forebears, struggled but persisted. They raised their only son to work hard, study, and make his own way in the world. Without the advantage of family wealth, this man made many very insightful and successful business deals, starting as a mere boy at age twelve. Please let me narrate that part of his story.
It was during the end of the Great Depression in the United States. In a nearby field, the boy spied a tractor. Broken down and left to virtually rot in the pasture, he approached the nearly broke farmer and asked if he could make a deal. “If I can get that tractor started, may I have it. It seems as if it is no longer of use to you.”
The farmer laughed and told the boy if he could get it started he could have it. So, the boy began a campaign to rehabilitate that wreck of a tractor. He cleared the brush from around the tractor and cleaned off the accumulated dirt and debris. Finding the nameplate, he wrote down the name and address of the manufacturer and noted the model number of the machine.
He then wrote a letter to the factory and asked for a copy of the maintenance manual for the tractor. In due time, he received a copy in the mail with a bill for $2.50. Using money he had earned delivering the weekly newspaper, the boy promptly sent off a money order to the factory. His father had always told him to pay his debts promptly. So, he put this advice into practice. A week later, he received a letter from the factory telling him that since he had paid so promptly, they had decided to make him a registered owner and welcomed him to contact them if he needed any further help troubleshooting his tractor.
The boy devoured the maintenance manual. Soon, he had disassembled the engine and carefully cleaned all the parts. Reassembling the many parts, he carefully followed the instructions regarding lubrication. Then, using some of his newspaper money to purchase a couple of gallons of fuel, he carefully poured the fuel into the engine.
The tractor was a manual crank-to-start model. The boy was not quite strong enough to turn the crank. Thinking about the problem for a few days, he built a force-multiplier device out of spare lumber that would amplify his arm motion. On a particularly cool autumn day, he set up his device and cranked the engine. The tractor coughed and sputtered a few times and then roared to life.
Now that he had the tractor running, he turned his attention to getting it out of the mud that surrounded the machine. With hours of careful digging, the use of some scrap lumber, and some thoughtful calculations on how much of a slope he would have to dig to give the tractor proper footing, he started the machine and drove it out of the mud.
The farmer, who had observed the long summer months the boy had worked getting the tractor refurbished and free from the mud, was amazed. But, he kept his word and gave the old rattle trap of a tractor to the boy. The boy used that tractor for the next six years to haul lumber out of the woods, to tow wagons of hay, to pick up feed for farmers from the mill in town, and a dozen other chores that no other young boy would have been able to accomplish.
The same spirit of dogged determination followed the now young man to college where he worked his way through and obtained his degree. When he entered the business world, he now had a significant number of years of problem solving behind him. Soon, he became his employer’s most valued employee. Over the course of his life, he became well-known for his expertise in developing numerous very successful businesses, which grew his wealth enormously. Yet, he retained a very deeply rooted sense of who he was and from where he had come. And the rest, as they say, is history.
I tell you this story to indicate the kind of individual that becomes wealthy and successful because of his own initiative. But, I purposely left out of the story one of the most important aspects. The young boy was raised in a family devoted to God. That grounding in the Christian faith followed the boy throughout his life.
At all times, he was one of the most humble people I have ever met. If you did not know of his great wealth, you would never have guessed just how wealthy, powerful, and successful he was. And, I have not even told you about his successful military career as a pilot during World War II, which included military service first in the Canadian Air Force and later in the U. S. Army Air Corps, his capture by the Germans, and his escape from captivity.
In contrast with this unique individual, one can find legions of people today who have acquired wealth and make certain you know about it. These kind of individuals were the kind the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote to his son-in-the-faith, as recorded in 1 Timothy 6:17:
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
As we begin this day, whether we are rich or poor, as society judges such things, let’s remember that we belong to the One who created all things and to whom all things belong. As the cherished Sunday School song, written by John W. Peterson in 1948, declares:
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills,
the wealth in every mine;
He owns the rivers and the rocks and rills,
the stars and the sun that shines.
Wonderful riches more than tongue can tell—
He is my Father so they’re mine as well.
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills—
I know that He will care for me.
May God grant each one of us the kind of humble spirit that sets aside any arrogance and focuses our attention on loving the One who first loved us. The One who died for us and Who lives today for all those He has called to Himself.
Based on a blog originally posted on Thursday, October 5, 2017
