Integrity Counts

        Wealth is either good or not depending on how it is earned and used. A collective misuse pattern is found in these men.

        1923 was a very prosperous year in America. That year a group of the most successful financiers and industrial giants gathered at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago.  They were —

        the president of the world’s largest steel company,

        the president of the largest utility company,

        the president of the New York Stock Exchange,

        a member of the President’s Cabinet,

        the biggest trader on Wall Street,

        and the head of the world’s most powerful monopoly.

        At the zenith of their prestigious careers combined they had more money than the U.S. Treasury. Their wealth and fame faded.

        Charles Schwab, president of the steel company, lived his last years on borrowed money and died penniless.

        Arthur Cutten, the wheat speculator, also died insolvent.

        The president of the stock exchange served time in Sing-Sing Penitentiary.

        The member of the President’s Cabinet was pardoned from prison so he could die at home.

        Three of the others committed suicide.

        Money didn’t bring them happiness and contentment because their lives were not given to the Lord and therefore neither was their treasure.

        Various ones of the following texts explain their financial and personal demise, but they illustrate the expediency of virtue in all of life.

        “Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time” (Proverbs 13:11). Get-rich-quick schemes are to be avoided.

        “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight” (Proverbs 11:1 ESV). Goods and services should be honestly rendered.

        “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them” (Proverbs 11:3 ESV). One’s true nature is revealed action.

        “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out” (Proverbs 10:9 ESV). Be sure your nature will reveal itself.

        Pause and reveal yourself to the Lord as though He doesn’t know it. Enlist His help in developing character pleasing to Him. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3: 5, 6).