We often think of the Americas as being settled by people who were seeking for freedom of religion and freedom from tyranny. While this was true of many, most of the earliest explorers and settlers came for less noble reasons-mainly, to get rich quickly. The explorers in Central and South America, especially, found enough gold and silver to tantalize them and to draw them on to further discoveries.
One such explorer was Jimenez de Quesada. He led an expedition into the mountains of what is today Colombia. He conquered the Chibcha Indians there and established the city of Bogotá.
In the land of the Chibchas, Quesada heard a fascinating tale of a king who covered himself daily with gold dust and then bathed in a lake to wash it off. In addition, offerings of gold were thrown into the lake. The Spanish began to call this legendary king El Dorado, the Golden One.
Quesada spent much money for arms and supplies. He led his men on new searches for the mysterious land of El Dorado. Quesada never found the place. The legend cost him much wealth and the lives of many men who accompanied him. Quesada, however, believed the legend and pursued it until his death. As he lay dying at nearly eighty, he urged others to take up the search for El Dorado.
The American poet, Edgar Allan Poe, described Quesada’s mad dream and had Death making mockery of him:
And, as his strength failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow.
“Shadow,” said he, Where can it be
This land of Eldorado?”
“Over the Mountains of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,” The shade replied,
“If you seek for Eldorado!”
What a senseless waste of time, wealth, and men’s lives, we must conclude. What folly to throw away one’s life in a senseless lust for gold. Certainly few people in their right minds would be so foolish. Or would they?
Many are spending their lives in search of their own El Dorados. Everyone wants financial security and prosperity. It seems a pity that we must slave away the best years of our lives, hardly taking time to “live” and to do the really important things in life.
How then shall we judge the depth of financial involvement we should tolerate? At what point do we become guilty of the vain pursuit of El Dorado?
Right attitudes and right priorities begin early in life. “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). Do you place money and things above your relationship with God and with your fellowman? When you talk to your friends, does your conversation always drift to cars, machinery, and other “things”? Do you feel awkward talking about God and Christian living? Do you find yourself spending a lot of time daydreaming about future prosperity?
If your answer was “yes” to any of these questions, beware. The stage may be set for a materialistic life. The Bible says, “Labour not to be rich…. Wilt thou set thine eyes on that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away as an eagle toward heaven” (Proverbs 23:4, 5).
How shall we avoid the temptation to center our lives on the quest for El Dorado? Certainly we need to alter the natural way of thinking and work at cultivating the spiritual, but how? The key is found in Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
That commitment takes a series of deliberate choices, beginning with accepting Christ as Lord and Saviour. It continues with a daily determination to do something for God. Are you engaged in this pursuit of the true riches?
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
-by Roger L. Berry