May 25, 2025 - INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE HEART

Abby Cheng 

According to money.com, the five richest people in the history of the world were Mansa Musa (king of Timbuktu in the late 13th century, which was the largest producer of gold at the time), Augustus Caesar (Roman emperor), Emperor Shenzong (Chinese emperor during the economically powerful Song dynasty), Akbar I (Indian emperor), and Joseph Stalin (leader and dictator of the USSR). These men were leaders of empires that accounted for 10-30% of the world's GDP at the times they ruled (that's trillions and trillions of dollars if you compare it to today's currency). Another thing they have in common though is that, guess what; they are all dead. 

I'm sure these men lived at the top of the world when they were alive, enjoying the fruits of their subjects' labor. When you're as ridiculously wealthy as they are, it's easy to fall into the trap of believing that you're infallible, immortal even. And yet now, every single one of them has returned to the dust from which they came, and their legacies are relegated to history textbooks and social studies exams in junior high. 

Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.” As long as the world turns, there will be the disgustingly rich and devastatingly poor, but both kinds of people will face the same fate of physical death, leaving behind every earthly treasure that they worked so hard to accumulate. Solomon wasn't exaggerating when he said that all the striving for these temporary pleasures was just meaningless. But praise be to our eternal God, who has promised heavenly treasures that will never fade for those who love and obey Him. I also thank God for giving meaning to the lives we lead on earth despite the short amount of time each of us is given. Let us fix our eyes on the One who is so much better than anything the world has to offer!