There are dangers and perils peculiar to a state of prosperity

(Jared Waterbury, "The Voyage of Life!" 1862)   LISTEN to Audio!  Download Audio

"The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in, choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful." Mark 4:19

"How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Luke 18:24-25

There are dangers and perils peculiar to a state of prosperity.

I understand how little apprehension is felt by the votaries of the world in regard to the moral dangers of earthly prosperity. "Be it so," says the eager devotee of wealth or fame; "I admit that there are some such dangers; yet who would not be willing to run the risk, if he might only be one of fortune's favorites? Give me my wishes in this respect, and I am ready to incur the hazard and to take the responsibility."

Foolish declaration! You know not what you say! Your selfish heart, thirsting for riches or reputation among men, and bent on their attainment, as containing, in your estimation, all that man can wish-sees not the evils which lurk in the path that leads to them, nor the perils to which, when obtained, their possessor is exposed! Blind, or rather dazzled to blindness, by that one object, the golden prize-you do not see the temptations which beset the man who is determined to seize upon it . . .
in the pursuit of wealth: dishonesty, sinful worldliness, neglect of the soul;
in the possession of wealth: avarice, pride, sensuality.

The "deceitfulness of riches" is a Scriptural expression which experience interprets and verifies. These are deceitful. Their power to make happy is mere pretension. Riches may add to one's happiness, who has other and higher elements of felicity; but, when they are sought as the principal means of happiness, they are sure to pierce their possessors through with many sorrows!

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows! But you, O man of God, flee these things-and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness!" 1 Timothy 6:10-11