Daily Devotional for August 25th

Master of Our Freewill

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced in mid June 2006 that he would transition out of his Microsoft CEO role beginning in July 2008 to further his career in philanthropy with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Bill and Melinda Gates have already contributed not less than 16 billion US dollars to the foundation comprising three major program areas—Global Development, Global Health, and U.S. Programs.

Bill Gates has been number one on the Forbes list of The World's Richest People from 1995-2006 with 50 billion US dollars of assets. I am sure he is both a well-known entrepreneur and a much talked about celebrity of humanitarian efforts. What you might not have known is that there are also reports that he is also a man with the usual struggles as you and I have. Would you believe that people such as Bill Gates still has struggles over values and meaning of life? It is genuine even though it sounds surprising.

Do you still remember the parable of the foolish rich man in Luke 12:15-21. Before telling the parable, Jesus warned his listeners to beware of all covetousness for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. He then gave a self-explanatory story of a rich man bothering over where to store his bountiful crops. The rich man decided he would build larger barns so as to store up all his grain and goods for his own future use and enjoyment. Nevertheless, he was not aware that God would reclaim his soul that very night. Jesus then posted a question to the rich man, “The things you have prepared, whose will they be?'

This simple story of value disorientation is so true that Bill Gates is not the only rich man struggling for an eternal answer in our Age. You might have heard of Thomas Kwok's (郭炳江) testimony of how he was led to the Lord Jesus by an immense feeling of emptiness, sadness and uncertainty around late 1994. It is so true that (Luke 12:34) where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. In terms of freewill, the actual deployment of one's riches is the true sign of his freewill and values. There is a similar oriental philosophy that true richness is measured by how much one spends not how much one has. In this sense, Mother Teresa is truly rich even by earthly standards.

Beloved, we all know that Christians are not exempt from the need and temptation of money. An honest test of our values and volition is the way and manner with which we spend our money or riches. Let's be reminded by the foregoing parable that we should opt to lay up our treasures in heaven while we are still free and masters of our freewill.