from Rebecca Lefroy
We clearly live in an incredibly money-driven society. We see it in different ways: from the vast array of apps you can use to gain store discounts, to the glorification of high-earning celebrities and their lifestyles which we're to aspire to, to the giant highways that cut through precious and wonderful natural beauties and, in Boston, to the extraordinarily expensive housing market. If you’re rich, the narrative tells us you’re all set and if you’re poor, it’s often tough luck. Now it’s clearly not just America that’s like this. I enjoyed a hugely thought-provoking time at the creation care weekend at l’Abri in which I was struck, once again, by how humans across the world exploit the environment in horrendous ways for short-term financial gain. Think of neonicotinoids. We live in a money-obsessed world.
However, Psalm 49 calls us to remember in many ways the obvious: death, not riches, is the great leveler. “Both low and high, rich and poor” are called by the psalmist to remember that, in the end, all die (“but man, despite his riches, does not endure”). So we are not to be overawed by riches for ultimately we are all alike.
And so the psalmist leaves us with the question, where does our trust lie? If riches and short-term financial gain are our goal, we are totally blinded to reality. Eternity is real and the question is not who has riches, but who has understanding? Who knows and loves the resurrected Christ, the one who conquered the grave, and who lives their life in anticipation of their own resurrection?