Best Way to Build Wealth

It's not wrong to have money if you are willing to give something in return - your time and labor, for example. It is wrong to want something for nothing, to take it from others. There is a world that describes a desire to get money - coveting. The Bible clearly tells us coveting is wrong. It is harmful, both to the person who covets and to the entire society.

Many think lotteries are harmless, that they don't hurt anybody. Lotteries have social acceptance. But that doesn't make lotteries helpful or good. They are based primarily on motivating greed and coveting, which are inherently wrong. Social acceptance doesn't make coveting OK - but such acceptance does say that there is something wrong with society's attitudes.

Your best chance for winning in life is not through the lottery. If you have a little extra money that you won't miss, put it to work in savings or investments. While lottery players on average are losing half their lottery money, you can be increasing yours. Inflation will eat away the value of some of it, but you'll still have more on average than if you had bought lottery tickets.

Another investment is learning how to develop a good attitude about work and money. Job training is such a wise investment. Any society, to have a future, needs people willing to make such investments. These methods aren't flashy. They won't create instant riches. But they are reliable. They will help you have more in the long run.

The Bible encourages honest work as a key to success: "He who gathers by labor will increase".(Prov. 13:11). "He who tills his land will have plenty of bread"(Prov. 28:19). "There is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his heritage" (Eccl. 3:22, New King James Version). Honest work produces a satisfaction that lucky winnings cannot.

And as Philips paraphrases the problem: "Now we hear that you have some among you living quite undisciplined lives,never doing a stroke of work, and busy only in other people's affairs. Our order to such men, indeed our appeal by the Lord Jesus Christ, is to settle down to work and eat the food they have earned themselves" (II Thess. 3:11-12).

God would like all to prosper (III John 2). He gives principles to help toward that, even if not toward being rich. They can help you build a solid base for both you and your family. They also carry extra psychological and spiritual benefits that money cannot buy, such as peace of mind. Success comes from wise choices, not wild chances.