From Jeffrey R. Holland and his book ‘For Times of Trouble’:
Psalms 37:16; 49:16-17; 73:3
A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Adam and Eve were told when they left the Garden of Eden that they would be required to earn their living by the sweat of their brow. We have all been sweating ever since, some with more success than others. The history of humankind down through the ages has been the history of men and women striving to acquire enough goods of this world to sustain their lives and protect their children.
If a question were asked of the average man or woman on the street, “What causes you the most stress in your life?” it’s entirely possible that he or she would answer, “Finances—how to acquire them, how to use them, how to save them, and in some cases how not to let them destroy us.
We all yearn for the day when there are no poor among us, when every man, woman, and child will have sufficient economic and temporal blessings to meet our needs. That is a worthy community goal to strive for. It is one of the principle Zion-like characteristics of perfect societal living. We may not achieve that standard until the great millennial day under Christ’s personal rule, but we can strive for it.
In the meantime we should do everything we can do to reduce the stress that finances impose on our lives. We should prepare ourselves for provident living the best way we can, with all the education and training we can get to facilitate that. In the process we need to curb our appetites, not to spend more than we make, not to want more than we need, and not to think we need more than we really do. It is a cliché—but true nevertheless—to note how little of this worlds goods people need to be happy and conversely, how many unhappy people have a great deal of this world’s goods. Again, that is not to be cavalier toward those who are truly poor—true poverty may do more to destroy the human spirit than any other condition except sin itself. And how doubly tragic if circumstances of poverty lead to sin. Money, for its own sake—more and more of this and more and more of that—has since the beginning of time proven to be not only insufficient for happiness but sometimes a countering force against it.
Strive to live within your means. No one can keep up with the Joneses because the Joneses are going to refinance. Be modest, save regularly. Pay tithes and offerings, help the poor. Live with the peace that comes from righteous use of money. ~Jeffrey R. Holland, For Times of Trouble (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; 2012), 78-81 (continued. . . .)
(Posts with a preamble asterisk * are for a more general audience and not specific to teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)
