The October 13 issue of Forbes magazine introduces us to the four hundred richest people in America (assuming you calculate worth by “treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal” Mt. 6:19).
Included was an article on “The Cost of Living Extremely Well” (assuming you define living well as “whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor…Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun” Eccl. 2:10-11). And that from a man who easily would have qualified monetarily for the top 400.
So what does it cost to live extremely well these days, according to Forbes? A million doesn’t buy what it used to! Here’s a sampling:
* A kilo of Beluga caviar in L.A. $1,584
* One dozen cotton hand-sewn shirts from Turnbull & Asser, London $1,928
* A pair of men’s black calf wing-tip, custom made shoes, John Lobb, London $2,295
* A set of linen lace Pratesi queen-size bed sheets (not even fit for a king!) $5,080
* A Patek Phillipe classic men’s gold watch (with leather strap, no less) $10,800
* A year’s tuition, room, board, and insurance at Harvard University $30,080
* A Steinway ebonized concert grand piano, model G (no sheet music included) $74,800
* A Rolls Royce Silver Spur $186,100
* A natural Russian Sable coat, Maximilian at Bloomingdale’s (sans spray paint) $195,000
* A thoroughbred yearling, average price at Keeneland summer select sale $357,514
Add a yacht, a place in Palm Beach, two first-class tickets to Australia for the Olympics ($12,000 each from New York), and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.
With all respects to Forbes, they don’t seem to have the foggiest idea how to live extremely well. Who would settle for Beluga caviar (white sturgeon eggs from the Black Sea) when you could feast on royal dainties at the King’s table? Why wear $160 shirts (or $195,000 dead animal skins for that matter) when you could be robed in the righteousness of God?
A year at Harvard is not to be despised (unless it undermines your faith), but it’s nothing compared with time spent freely in “St. Mary’s College”–at the feet of Jesus. And a Steinway Grand makes beautiful music, but nothing like the sound of souls redeemed from the pit who make melody in their hearts to the Lord.
Those wing-tips must be comfy footwear, but personally I’d rather have beautiful feet (Rom. 10:15) than beautiful shoes. And who would care for a Rolls if its occupants were being carried straight to hell? As an old acquaintance (who knew what he was talking about) put it: “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold” (Prov. 22:1). The psalmist said: “I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Ps. 84:10).
Living extremely well–at the expense of another–is the life of an ambassador. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:20-21). The Lord identified with us in death; He invites us to identify with Him in life. What an honor to speak for God, inviting others to join us in heaven as His sons (Jn. 1:12).
The truck and trade of Babylon is listed for us in Revelation 18. It begins with “gold, and silver, and precious stones…” But the list concludes: “…and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men” (vv. 12-13).
What is the going price for a soul? The Saviour knew, for He had come to pay: “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mt. 16:26). The redemption value of a soul is astronomical, beyond calculation–nothing less than “the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:19).