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In considering whether you’re standing on solid ground or quicksand, remember with me the parable Jesus taught about the foolish builder who built his house on sand. “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matthew 7:27).

Of course it fell with a great crash—anybody knows you can’t build a house on sand! A house has to have a firm foundation. Unfortunately, many of us try to build our lives on sand. For example, have you seen anyone trying to build on the quicksand of money? Sometimes it sure looks like money is the answer to all our problems, doesn’t it?

How many times have you tried to build your life on the quicksand of money? Money can be a problem for us whether we have lots or little. In 1 Timothy 6:9, we read this: “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.”

I confess to you that there are times when I think about how easy life would be if I unexpectedly inherited some large amount of money. Believe me, there’s no possibility of that happening. But we can think about all the good things we would do with a lot of money, how we could serve God better with a lot of money, and what a good steward we would be if we just had lots of money!

The truth is this: few people can be trusted with riches because money corrupts so quickly and easily. Solomon gave us this advice: “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle” (Proverbs 23:4-5).

Riches are quicksand. It is a big mistake to put our confidence in money. Remember, as Paul reminded us, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). James also reminds us that those who are poor in the eyes of the world are often rich in faith, and those riches are eternal.