ARE YOU RICH?
Are you RICH?
I remember when I was 17 working at a job I really did not like very much. The manager was about 28 years old, a big know it all kind of guy. Each night when we would close the store he would light up a cigarette and give us commands as to what to do.
As we worked he liked to talk about how we were probably all going nowhere in life. He considered himself a RICH and successful man, and loved to tell us that he made 20,000 dollars a year. He would say you will be lucky if you make half that much when you are my age.
Just as a point of reference, 20,000 dollars in 1977, was a lot of money. As I listened to him bloviate one particular evening it got under my skin. I threw down the mop and confronted him. I told Him I would send him a postcard when I exceeded his annual income.
It took me 8 years to eclipse that number but by then I had lost his address. Lol Interesting thing is, I remember thinking he was RICH when I worked for him. He had a nice car, his own apartment, wore the latest fashion, had a lovely watch, nice gold chain around his neck. He appeared to me to be RICH.
Eight years later making about 28,000 with a wife and a baby girl, that amount of money did not make me RICH. In fact it was challenging to meet normal expenses. I drove a used car, lived in a small mobile home, did not own a working watch and did not have a nice gold chain.
Over the years my income grew but I never saw myself as RICH until we purchased a one-acre property in Phoenix. The property was not all that expensive it was about 125,000. Previous owners had purchased it at about 90,000 and put a lot of money and work into it. The home was built in 1980 but the remodel work they had done was incredible. It had a pool and beautiful back yard. Additionally there was open acreage where they had a couple of chickens and an old school house that had been moved onto the property.
The reason I began to feel RICH was that people around me were telling me I was RICH. They loved the home and property and they assumed we paid much more for it than we did. Of course the pool also impressed our friends and neighbors. Only RICH people have a pool right?
Do you realize that if you have an annual income of 37,000 dollars in today’s money, you are in the top 4% of all wage earners in the World. Welcome to the 4% club.
What we call poverty in America today was middle class just a few of decades ago. A big part of growing up spiritually in Christ is learning the true meaning of wealth. True wealth is not measured in what you have but by whose you are.
The Bible says…
Mark 8:36 ESV
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
Many people will waste their lives chasing wealth only to forfeit everything they gain to the grave.
9 Those who want to become rich bring temptation to themselves and are caught in a trap. They want many foolish and harmful things that ruin and destroy people. (I Tim. 6:9.10)
In Matthew 6:33 Jesus tells us to “Seek first the Kingdom of God”.
A truly wealthy person has an eternal perspective. They recognize that things perish but our soul lives forever.