The Millionaire Mirage

Inasmuch as television mirrors our society, the recent quiz shows offering millions of dollars to contestants are accurate reflections of a nation obsessed with money. Whether it's by answering a few trivia questions or clicking you way to a fortune as one of the ever growing number of e-traders, everybody has become a "player" in the great American game of striking-it-rich.

Not that getting rich overnight is a new passion, but never in our history have so many wanted so much so quickly. Of course what's fueling the drive is a condition as old as mankind itself – greed (as a matter of fact, one TV program goes by this name), and greed, is a natural outgrowth of the incredible materialism the western world has indulged in for the last century. It's only natural, therefore, that the end result of such an uncontrolled appetite for earthly things be the unquenchable thirst for more.

The one good thing about this moral and emotional dead end we find ourselves in these days is that it forces us to look elsewhere for the great promises that wealth makes but rarely delivers.

Maybe the new Millennium will bring a time when a bloated nation will stop looking for its happiness in possessing more things and, as Paul says in Colossians 3:1, will, "...set their hearts on things above". In the meantime, let's not allow ourselves to be overwhelmed with the illusion of riches here on this earth but continue to search for the treasure that will not corrupt.