經濟大蕭條時期，乾旱引起的沙塵暴使美國經濟雪上加霜。在這樣的時刻，堪薩斯州海華沙市的居民約翰．米爾本．戴維斯（John Millburn Davis）決定要使自己留名千古。作為一位白手起家且膝下無子的百萬富翁，戴維斯可以投資慈善事業或經濟發展，但他卻不惜耗費鉅資，請人為自己及已故的妻子雕塑十一座真人大小的石頭雕像，矗立在當地墓園。

戴維斯告訴記者厄尼．派爾（Ernie Pyle）：「堪薩斯人很討厭我。」當地居民要他出資興建醫院、游泳池或公園等公共設施，但他只說：「這是我的錢，我愛怎麼花就怎麼花。」

所羅門王是他那個時代最富有的人，他寫道：「貪愛銀子的，不因得銀子知足」，「貨物增添，吃的人也增添」（傳道書5章10-11節）。所羅門王已經敏銳地察覺財富會帶來敗壞。

使徒保羅也明白財富的誘惑，因而選擇以自己的一生來服事耶穌。當他在羅馬監獄等候處決時，欣然寫道：「我現在被澆奠，……當跑的路我已經跑盡了；所信的道我已經守住了。」（提摩太後書4章6-7節）

那能持久留存的不是我們雕刻在石頭上的，也不是為自己囤積的，而是我們出於對他人、對上帝的愛所做的付出。這位上帝早已向我們展示如何去愛。

As Dust Bowl sandstorms ravaged the United States during the Great Depression, John Millburn Davis, a resident of Hiawatha, Kansas, decided to make a name for himself. A self-made millionaire with no children, Davis might have invested in charity or economic development. Instead, at great expense, he commissioned eleven life-size statues of himself and his deceased wife to stand in the local cemetery.

“They hate me in Kansas,” Davis told journalist Ernie Pyle. Local residents wanted him to fund the construction of public facilities like a hospital, swimming pool, or park. Yet all he said was, “It’s my money and I spend it the way I please.”

King Solomon, the wealthiest man of his day, wrote, “Whoever loves money never has enough,” and “as goods increase, so do those who consume them” (Ecclesiastes 5:10–11). Solomon had grown keenly aware of the corrupting tendencies of wealth.

The apostle Paul also understood the temptation of wealth and chose to invest his life in obedience to Jesus. Awaiting execution in a Roman prison, he wrote triumphantly, “I am already being poured out like a drink offering . . . . I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:6–7).

What lasts isn’t what we chisel in stone or hoard for ourselves. It’s what we give out of love for each other and for Him—the One who shows us how to love.