Related commentaries – Poverty

It’s Important to Listen to Instruction – Proverbs 14:18 – 14:23

A Multimillionaire Living in Poverty

During the depression Mr. Yates owned a ranch in West Texas. With little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others) had to live on government subsidy. Then an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land. He signed a lease contract and the first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Many subsequent wells were drilled and 30 years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day. And Mr. Yates owned it all. The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he’d been living on relief. A multimillionaire living in poverty. The problem? He didn’t know the oil was there even though he owned it. Many Christians live in spiritual poverty. They are entitled to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and his energizing power, but they are not aware of their birthright. (Bill Bright, “How to Be Filled with the Spirit,” Campus Crusade publication)