Disguised As wealth

So often we pursue what looks like wealth only to find that it doesn't produce a genuine sense of prosperity. As we acquire more "stuff" we experience greater emptiness and a craving for more until our whole raison d'etre is about acquisition.

This quest becomes an obsession - one that starts to shape our world view becoming a philosophy that ultimately perverts the original meaning of the word. From the moment Adam and Eve believed there was more to acquire than what God had lavishly provided them with, human beings have become insatiable.

Despite well-documented evidence from the Law of Diminishing Returns, we still crave more even though we invariably end up with less. Here the contrast between the Dickensian characters of poor Oliver Twist and the altruistic Ebenezer Scrooge becomes stark. We often don't need more but we want more. The Bible cautions about the love of money being the pathway to ruin and the dangers of self-harm that occasion such craving. When Jesus asked a rich man to sell all he had and give to the poor he walked away in sorrow. For this man, giving to the poor would make him poor, but what he couldn't see was that giving away his wealth would make him wealthy. How? Jesus cautioned against storing (hoarding if you prefer) wealth on earth but advised that we store it in Heaven.

By giving away earthly seasonal wealth, we acquire eternal wealth in Heaven. Oh! But that might be the crux of the matter. If we don't believe in Heaven then there can be no desire to store anything there - after all who stores anything in an illusion? Christians believe in Heaven and others don't. So there must be a difference between the World's definition of wealth and a Christian's. One definition focusses on accumulation on earth and the other on accumulation in heaven. So, why is it that some of us who profess to be Christians endorse the worldly perspective on wealth?

Jesus said the quality of a person's life is not measured by the abundance of their possessions (Luke 12:15). Jesus was speaking in reference to earthly possessions. With all the academic studies highlighting the truth that more in material terms equals less (more money leads to less happiness, satisfaction and peace), why do we like automatons pursue this pathway to sorrow? I believe it's because what we pursue is disguised as wealth.