Earlier this year, Fox News reported about the unexpected
death of Canadian millionaire, Gerald Cotten, the 30-year-old founder of
QuadrigaCX. Cotten’s company handled the investments of people in the fledgling
frontier of cryptocurrency, which has been popularized by the emergence of
digital money like BitCoin. When Cotten passed the company fell into turmoil. According
to the article, “Customers were unable to access $190 million because the
company’s founder died with the passwords needed to access the money.”
In other words, Cotten
took the password to millions of investor dollars to the grave. The article
continued, “About $190 million in cryptocurrency and traditional money is said
to be in ‘cold storage,’ with the digital key held by Cotten. While QuadrigaCX has
Cotten’s laptop, they do not know its password and even a security expert has
been unable to get past the device’s encryption.”[1]
When I read that article, I
thought of the Bible’s numerous warnings about the uncertainty of riches.
Proverbs 23:4-5 reads, “Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to
desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying
like an eagle toward heaven.” Like an old preacher once said, “If your money
could talk it would say, ‘Bye, bye!’”
Solomon, the richest king
in Israel’s history said, “10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with
money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity . . . 13
There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by
their owner to his hurt, 14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture”
(Ecclesiastes 5:10, 13-14). Did you catch that last part? How many people have
tried for fortune in a get-rich-quick scheme or playing the stock market only
to discover that they were at the bottom of a pyramid scheme or the economy
tanked!
Jesus told a parable about
a rich fool, who tore down his barns to build bigger ones not knowing that death
would be knocking on his door. Jesus ended that story saying, “20 But God said
to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have
prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for
himself and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:20-21). John Phillips said of this
rich fool that “He mistook his bankbook for his Bible, he mistook time for
eternity and his soul for his body.”[2]
No wonder Jesus called him a “fool” he put all his eggs in one basket and didn’t
give a thought to what happens after death.
We’ve all done stupid
things with money. But, the ultimate folly is finding out we’ve invested in the
wrong kingdom. Yet, that’s what we do when we place our hope, security and
peace of mind in wealth—it’s like buying stock in White Star Lines, the
manufacturer of the Titanic.
The wise person invests in
that which will outlast him. We must lay up treasure in heaven (Matt. 6:19-24),
While we can’t take it with us, we can send it on ahead. We do this by giving towards
the Gospel—because the only two things that will stand the test of time are the
Word of God and the souls of men and women. -DM
[1]
James Rogers, “$190 million gone forever? Crypto boss dies with passwords
needed to unlock customer accounts,” FOX
NEWS, 4 February 2019 <https://www.foxnews.com/tech/cryptocurrency-exchange-chief-dies-with-passwords-needed-to-unlock-customers-190m-reports-say>
[2]
John Phillips, Exploring the Gospel of
Luke (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2005), 180-181.
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