The best investing guide I’ve ever read has easily been the Bible. The reason is simple: the advice is both spiritually and practically sound, and provides not just methods for increasing one’s worldly wealth, but also one’s emotional and spiritual health. It’s a book everyone should read.
If citizens and politicians just read and applied the principles found in the Bible, we’d be debt free, richer, less greedy, more frugal, more charitable, less wasteful, and would understand that wealth doesn’t come close to good character.
But what does the Bible say about gold specifically? Here are some relevant verses, starting with Ezekiel 28:4:
“By your wisdom and your understanding you have made wealth for yourself, and have gathered gold and silver into your treasuries.”
Worldly wisdom inevitably leads one to understand how the universe functions in a manner that they can become wealthy — in Biblical days, gold and silver were synonymous with money in general.
But that doesn’t mean that money, gold, and silver are the meaning of life, or that wealth is even the most important thing about us. Wealth is a consequence of wisdom, not the purpose of it. The reason is simple, and is found in James 5:3:
“Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.”
In Ecclesiastes, there’s even more information about how the purpose of life transcends wealth. Solomon was the riches man in the history of the world at that time, and had more gold than anyone else today could dream of personally owning. Yet Solomon was wise — and this wisdom allowed him to see beyond the meaninglessness of wealth alone in Ecclesiastes 2:8:
“I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.”
Wealth, while fun to have, isn’t the complete purpose of life — or even anywhere close to the most important. Wealth is just a tool. It’s a tool you can use to provide for your family, take a break from working, and helping those in need. It’s a tool, and nothing more.
Tags: bible, gold, investing in gold, philosophy