How Rich Do You Want to Be?

Let’s face it, everyone wants to be rich. It’s natural. Who wants to work at a job they don’t like? Who wants to not be able to afford the things they’d like to buy themselves and others? Who actually likes having to save for a rainy day and worrying about paying the mortgage, the car payment, property taxes, and other bills?

Not me.

I wouldn’t mind being filthy rich. I don’t intend to ever be rich, but like most others, I think I could do pretty well if money wasn’t a concern.

But I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I don’t want to be rich. It’s not for me. The reason why is quite simple: I don’t want to pursue it.

Did you ever wonder why rich people tend to be snotty, arrogant, and generally nasty people to those they consider inferior? Or why God would allow them to be rich, but not the little old lady down the street who never hurt a fly and only wants to play Bingo on Wednesday’s? The truth of the matter is, for most rich people, that’s all they will get.

Generally, rich people aren’t interested in God. I’m sure some are, but for the majority, God isn’t an interest, unless they want to make one or want to joke about Him. So, in the end, it’s safe to say they won’t be getting into heaven. That only leaves them what they have on earth.

Personally, I think I’d prefer to be just a middle-class guy on earth and live in heaven forever than to be filthy rich on earth and live in hell forever. Human existence is a scant 100 years, roughly, so how does that compare to eternity? The first day in hell will eradicate every single pleasure you ever received from riches, and considering eternity never ends, that’s a hard price to pay for 100 years of sipping wine, driving fancy cars, and looking down on people.

The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and it’s true. Do you think everyone, or even the majority, of those who are rich did so honestly and without deceit or walking into gray areas? The pursuit of riches can and does lead people down paths that slowly destroy any resolve they had to be “good,” and replaces it with a drive to do whatever it takes to get rich. In one case, you may have to lie and cheat someone, in another, you just have to do a few shady actions, or screw someone else over for your own gain. And of course, you have to justify each action to yourself so you don’t have any of that pesky guilt hanging over your head.

Jesus said that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Why would you think that is? Perhaps it’s not just because the rich person doesn’t want to take a chance that God will ask him or her to part with those riches, but because his or her heart has become hardened against God due to all the little sins they had to engage in to get rich.

It all comes down to the person’s heart, and their relationship to God. Is being rich more important? Is money the person’s god? If given a choice between riches or God, which would they choose?

It’s been said that in America, we as a country are too rich. If you think about it, what do you really need in life? You need shelter, food, water, and let’s even throw in plumbing and electricity just to be more modern. What else do you really need? Is TV a necessity? Not to live. The internet? Cell phones? Computers? No, none of these or most of the things we surround ourselves with are necessary for life. If you have these things, though, you are richer than millions of other people, though. Being “rich” is a relative term, and depends on who you are comparing yourself against. You aren’t as rich as Bill Gates, but you are far richer than some poor kid who lives in a mud hut and eats only once a day.

We would be happier if we didn’t care about comparing ourselves to others. If you didn’t know how much money Bill Gates or some other rich person had, would you consider yourself poor? (This is assuming you aren’t truly poverty-level.) If you’re eating many times a day, not sick all the time, and have a nice house, you’re doing pretty well. If you want to feel rich, compare yourself to people who don’t have anything, who starve and live in substandard housing. Stop comparing yourself to those with millions. Concentrate on what you do have and not what you don’t, and you’ll soon learn contentment. Trust me, you’ll be much happier being content and thankful for what you do have than when you keep yearning for things you can’t afford and keep comparing yourself to those who are rich. Heaven will be much better than anything on this earth, anyway, so concentrate on “storing up for yourselves treasure in heaven” and don’t sweat the riches of earth, which, at best, are nothing more than a shallow, temporary distraction that won’t be worth anything the day you leave this planet.