One day, many years ago, a very rich old man died and left his sizable estate to his two sons. In his will he laid out two halves to his estate. One half was filled with fancy cars, mansions, boats, stocks, bonds, lots of money and more. The other was a tiny slab of land, a few hundred acres at most, with nothing more than a dilapidated old cabin and a tiny lake on it. The two boys were given the choice of which half they wanted. The eldest boy, a self important, conceited man, saw the great riches of the first half and boldly chose that. The younger son, being humble and contrite, was satisfied with the cabin and the land surrounding it. The elder brother looked at his younger sibling with consternation and laughed him to scorn.

"What do you intend to do with that little slab of land, brother?" he said mockingly. But the younger man held his peace. Once the estate was settled and both men officially held full control of their portion of their father's generous belongings, they each took charge of their respective inheritances. The elder brother quickly settled into living the fast life of riches, parties and more. However, despite being greedy, he was not a wise steward of his money. He soon was forced to begin selling off all of the possessions he'd inherited in order to maintain his new extravagant lifestyle. After just two years he found himself broke, his inheritance squandered, and himself worse off than when he began.

His younger brother on the other hand was doing very well. When he was approached by his now humiliated elder brother, he was asked snidely, "How's that filthy old cabin of yours doing?" to which the younger brother replied with a smile, "Quite well, actually. Since receiving the land, I have become extremely rich and wealthy from it." The elder brother looked at him in disbelief. "How!? There's nothing but a bug infested woods, a dead lake and a busted down cabin on that land!" The younger boy smiled, and said, "Ah, but that's the thing, brother. You only saw what was on the surface. It's what's underneath that was valuable. You see, the land which you scoffed at is full to overflowing with riches. It's what first made our father rich, and has now made me rich as well."

The elder brother scoffed at him. "How could you possibly know that!?" he said snidely. "Because, if you'd looked inside the cabin, you'd have seen more than just a run down shack. You would have seen the pictures, and found the books, the maps, and all of the other wisdom that he'd hidden in there. Through those things it was revealed to me the great and boundless treasures that were below my feet. The things you took for yourself were not the source of our Father's riches. They were merely the consequences of them. In order to discover from where such riches first came, you first had to enter the cabin and read the books within it. For without the knowledge they contain, you will have nothing. But with it you will have great riches."

And what is the moral of this story? The riches you seek are NOT in or of this world. They are hidden in God's word. What we call riches, which are fleeting and fickle, are not true riches. It is God's word and the treasures hidden within that are our true riches. For you see, while the world only sees a dusty old book with stories from antiquity, for the wise and discerning, it is a treasure vault of unimaginable wealth. However, you have to open and read it regularly if you wish to partake of the riches within. Otherwise you too will sink into spiritual poverty. So read your bible every day. The wealth that you will obtain by doing so will bless your soul in ways you can't even begin to imagine.