On wealth and those who toil for riches

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew 19:24) 

The rich are poor in understanding. For in Paradise God provides all things for Adam, and Adam in Paradise did not labor in order to eat or to clothe himself. To those who suffer God gives comfort, and to those who are poor in worldly riches, God gives heavenly riches. Those who toil for riches have no rest. But those who rely on God, though they be poor in the eyes of the world, will have their daily bread provided for them, and they shall be granted rest from their labors, and they shall see God.

Your great wealth does not profit you. For you worry only about your life in this world; you have no hope for the next, and no thought to the hereafter. Wealth only profits a man when he gains, but when he loses, it brings him sorrow. Even when he gains, what has he gained? It is hard to fly with the weight of gold in one’s pockets. For he spends his days counting his riches and taking care of the great many things he has accumulated, such that he has no time for the joy of contemplating God. The clutter he stores up for himself becomes clutter in his mind; it gives him no peace. 

But love profits a man even when he must part with what he owns. His mind is at peace; it is not disturbed by a loss, for from the love in his heart, he counts even a loss as a gain. For when I give to my brother or sister in need, I also receive. What have I parted with? I lose only an earthly good, but I gain a heavenly reward. For when my brother or sister profits, whom I love, so do I profit as well. I lose only what will return to dust and ashes, but I gain joy. And in Christ, what is my brother's is also mine, so that I have lost nothing at all.

Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease! (Proverbs 23:4)

There is one alone, without companion: he has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his labors, nor is his eye satisfied with riches. But he never asks, “For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?” This also is vanity and a grave misfortune. (Ecclesiastes 4:8)