Poverty of Wealth?

Why is more never enough?

Why is it the the more we have, the more we realize what we don't have.

I remember as a college student looking at people who made $40K a year and thinking, "Man! They are rich!"

But when I hit the $40K mark, I didn't feel rich at all. In fact, I felt pretty poor compared to all the people making way more than I did. I was living in an apartment with my wife and two kids while almost everyone I knew owned their own homes. We were driving around in beat up old cars while almost everyone we knew drove around in their fancy new cars. We were working on beat up, hand me down computers while everyone seemed to have the newest and fanciest laptops.

And I bet people making $100K, $500K, $1Mil all feel the same way.

It never stops.

The reason for this is what I call the poverty of wealth. Because our focus is always on what we don't have rather than what we do have, we have a never quenching need for more.

Only when we begin to focus on what we actually have, can we think about how to make the best use and enjoy what we do have.

Either the stuff will enslave us, or we will use our stuff as tools to make life better for us and for the people around us.


This is a whole lot easier said then lived. That's the reason why Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven."

Don't get sucked in by the poverty of wealth. Wealth is only a blessing when we see it as a tool to make life better for ourselves and others.