What would you do with a fortune today?

Have you ever paused to daydream about the wonderful things you could do if only you had the money? Have you ever spent a few hours imagining all the delights that could be, would be yours if only by some wonderful stoke of fortune you were instantly blessed with a longed for fortune? Have you ever pondered if God were to answer this prayer, if the gift of wealth would prove a blessing or cursing to you, your family, and the world around you?

As you read this poem, consider for a moment, if God were to grant you a fortune today, would it prove a blessing that would not only improve your life, but the life of others, or if it would prove a curse and become a dividing wedge that would lead you away from Jesus and would keep you from the path that leads to eternal life.

What would you do with a fortune today?

By Katherine B. Parilli   

What would you do if you had a fortune?

Where would you go?

How would you live?

 

Would you help others,

Or think only of yourself?

Choosing to use your new wealth to improve life,

Or bind it like a tightly choking chord around your neck?

 

Would you stay at your present job,

Head back to school,

Build a new home,

Or tour the world?

 

What would you do if you suddenly inherited a fortune?

Where would you go?

How would you live?

 

Would you change your whole life?

Or live life as before

Only on a grander scale?

 

Would your life be pleasing to God?

Using some of your new treasure to bring joy to others,

Or would you live solely for the carnal pleasure of the hour?

 

Would your fortune be spent in glimmering jewels,

Free flowing wine,

Decadent parties,

And vaults full of expensive furs?

 

Would you continue to care for the plight of your fellow man,

Acknowledging that someday you must give an account for the wasted dollars?

Setting aside a portion for the building up of others

Less blessed than yourself?

 

Or would you be happy to live a life of a self-gratifying miser?

Hoarding the goods of thy brother,

Saving away more than you could ever possibly use for yourself in a million lifetimes.

This is the question that you must answer

The problem that you must solve today.

For today you have inherited a fortune,

Today you own the world’s greatest wealth.

 

Today you must choose how you will spend it,

For tomorrow will be to late,

To late to change the course that will determine eternity.

 

For each of us have been granted a luxurious wealth,

Some more than others,

But all must give an account as assuredly as the rich man on his golden throne.

 

We have been granted the wealth of a live,

A testing time short though it may be,

To build and prove for all eternity.

 

Today my dear friend you must choose which God will you serve,

The Father in Heaven who gave his all to rescue you from sin,

Or the gods of gold and silver,

Spent upon building a faulty foundation that leads to destruction.

 

Will you live your life in a way that pleases your Lord,

That builds up the weak,

Gives live to the sick,

And is part of foundation that can never be destroyed?

 

Or are you to busy in the land of self-pleasing,

To drunken with self-pity,

Clothed in the suffering of the broken and helpless,

To notice that the clock of mercy is slipping closer and closer to the midnight hour?

 

So what will be your choice,

Will you give your fortune today to the king to be used in building up his eternal army,

Or continue to building a self-serving empire that shall perish in the coming storm

Like the foolish man who built his house in the sinking sand?

© 2016