Daily Devotional For October 30, 2025
The merchants of these things, who had become rich because of her, were standing at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and grieving, saying, “Woe, Woe, the Great City, dressed in fine linen and purple and red garments, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. For in one hour so much wealth has been laid waste. And every captain, and everyone who sets sail for any place, and sailors and whoever makes a living from the sea, they all stood at a distance. Rev 18:15-17.
As we have seen, Babylon was not only wealthy, she was fully self-absorbed in this wealth (Rev 18:7). She was willing to do almost anything to preserve her wealth and position. But the statement of Jesus, “Give, and it shall be given unto you” (Luke 6:38, NIV) suggests the ironic principle that, if you want to be truly wealthy, you have to give your riches away.
It seems that the one who creates a family fortune finds meaning and purpose in gathering that fortune. But that kind of motivation will not work for later generations. They will inherit more than they can ever use, and unless they have been taught to serve a higher purpose with that wealth, they lose a sense of meaning and purpose. They will focus instead on the pursuit of social status and will be willing to spend enormous sums on self-gratification. This leads to the dissipation of the family fortune.1
In contrast to the Vanderbilts (see devotional on Rev 18:7), the Rockefellers early sensed the need to give back to the society that made the family’s wealth possible. As his wealth began to skyrocket, founder and oil magnate John D. Rockefeller was besieged with requests for help. Spurred on by his Baptist faith, he had been generous before he became wealthy. Years before, while a dry-goods clerk in Cleveland, he had given funds to an African-American man to free his wife from slavery. He came to believe that God had given him his wealth because He knew that Rockefeller would “turn around and give it back.” The more he gave, the more money seemed to come in. With Standard Oil generating massive dividends, John D. gave away more than 330 million dollars in his lifetime, a sum larger than the Vanderbilt fortune (the world’s biggest at the time) just 30 years before.
John D. wisely included his children in helping him to evaluate and process requests for aid. With John D.’s example to follow, five generations of Rockefellers have continued to devote their lives to charity.2 And all this giving does not seem to have reduced the family’s wealth, the Rockefeller Foundation alone is worth 2.6 billion dollars today. And that is only the tip of the iceberg.
Lord, help me give all I can, not just because it is the smart thing to do, but because it makes me more like You.
1 Brett Anderson, “Give, and We Shall Receive,” Worth, February, 2004, 64-70.
2 Daniel Gross, “The Good We Do,” Worth, February, 2004.