Acres of Diamonds

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/26/easy-money

I just heard yesterday one of the best messages ever preached in my local church. It was preached by an outside speaker, a seasoned one. The message was based on a book called Acres of Diamonds, and its author, Russell Conwell, had himself preached the message 6,000 times. You may download the book here: (http://pinkmonkey.com/dl/library1/digi096.pdf or any other links as Google may provide, or even buy a hardcopy off Amazon).

It’s a true story of a rich and contented man named Ali Hafed, who had a large plot of land but became discontented when a priest told him that there was land elsewhere that had acres of diamonds. Because of his greed and discontentment, he sold everything he had and went on a journey to search for that land with acres of diamonds. He never found that land and later committed suicide after exhausting all his money. It was a sad and tragic end for Ali Hafed, but the irony of it all was that the land he originally had was later discovered by the new owners to contain diamonds, in fact, acres of it!

The moral of the story is that if we are contented with what we already have, we will not end up with nothing. But when we intertwine this story with the parable of the Prodigal Son, we will see that there is a way of return despite squandering our wealth (or inheritance) pursuing our greed (or going after the riches of the world). Jesus already taught what good it is to a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? Our goal in life is to be the best that God wants us to be, not what others may want us to be or what our greed – the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh or the pride of life may tempt us or what our discontent may lead us away from God. Eve and later, Adam were tempted on these, and they succumbed and failed. But glory to God, that Jesus succesfully resisted and became the Lamb of God who died for the sins of humanity!

Contentment in life is essential to keep us focused and to persevere at whatever station in life God has given and blessed us with, including the place of service – all of which are our land, our God-given inheritance here on earth. That’s the place we need to work on and work out God’s will for our lives as we strive to live in the centre of His will. The grass may look greener on the other side, but if we diligently water our own grass, it will eventually be as green. The point is not to covet what others have but to work on what God has given us and grow that. Our church may have weaknesses, but we stay on and improve it and make it better, not just hop on to another church. If we do too much church hopping, we may not have a base after 20 years – just being visitors to numerous churches without really serving in a proper way. We need to be rooted at one place to serve and to fulfil our calling in God – as the saying goes, a rolling stone gathers no moss. A bird in hand is also worth more than two in the bush. The same goes for work and our job, we need to stay in one place for some time to make a meaningful contribution and impact and, in return, be rewarded with wealth, skills, experience, and a network.

The message today is not to let greed and discontent rob us of the enjoyment and joy of what we already have and possess, like what happened to Ali Hafed. Instead, be thankful and grateful for all that our Lord has given us – use all of it to the fullest for His glory. As we persevere, we will find that what we could achieve with all that we have been blessed with will actually be much more than what we thought we could have had if we had always moved around for greener pastures.