IS THERE TRUE WEALTH IN THE WORLD?
Getting
rich has become one of the most sought-after things in life. What makes it even
more crucial today is the harsh, cruel, biting, nature of poverty. In order to
escape from this Poverty Monster, many people crave for money and strive to build
wealth.
Increasing
number of persons earn more and more money through working from home, making money
online, launching new business ideas, pursuing lucrative careers in sports, music
and entertainment. Also, from agriculture, manufacturing, networking, to communications,
young people, men and women are daily invading the money space to make more money.
Entrepreneurship is gaining momentum by the day.
Interestingly,
today by the rating of many people in the society, wealth has become synonymous
with success. In truth, we know that wealth is only a part of success. But for
the purpose of this post, let’s take wealth and success to mean the same thing.
With
all the crave for money, with all the hard work and investment of enterprising spirit, is there true wealth (or true success) in
the world? Is there wealth with joy, peace of mind and fulfillment? The answer to this question will guide
so many to avoid the mistakes some people may have already made; it will even
assist those already caught up in the quagmire of entanglements and regrets, to
obtain freedom.
There
is nothing as good as making money that remains a blessing, and there is nothing
as frustrating as acquiring wealth that remains a curse. For the Holy Writ to
say in 1 Timothy 6:10 that “For the love of money is the root of all evil:
which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows,” it means that all wealth is not true.
True wealth or true success can’t bring hurts, pains, sorrows, sleeplessness and
destruction to its possessors.
Love
of money or wealth worship is the fundamental cause of all evils in the world.
Love of money always results in false
wealth or temporary, short-term success.
What
then is true wealth or true success? Let’s listen to the views
of some very successful and rich people. Napoleon Hill, the author of the
all-time best seller, Think and Grow Rich
said, “Remember that your real wealth
can be measured not by what you have, but by what you are.”
Richard
Feloni quoted Warren Buffett, the third richest man in the world, as having
said that “true success comes from working for a purpose greater than your own
well-being.” Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, also wrote on
LinkedIn that, “In my opinion, true success should be measured by how happy you
are.”
Do
you know that Lionel Messi, the best football player in the world who is also
one of the highest paid footballers on earth, sees true success from the point
of loving the work he does, and not loving
money? This is his view, “Money is not a motivating factor. Money doesn’t
thrill me or make me play better because there are benefits to being wealthy.
I’m just happy with a ball at my feet. My motivation comes from playing the
game I love. If I wasn’t paid to be
professional footballer I would willingly play for nothing.”
True wealth and true success is often measured by the
extent to which you can organize your personal world through character
building, in such a way that you live to please God, make a difference in other
lives, and daily experience peace, joy, and fulfillment.
Indeed,
the good or true success mentioned in Joshua 1:8 centres on character building,
through meditating on God’s Word, and doing good. To each of us, it means
enriching the lives of those around us, in whatever little or big way we can,
wherever we find ourselves. We do this through our work, our business, our career,
our calling.
Let me leave you with this wisdom from Jon Huntsman, a billionaire. When he
was addressing China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, some
years ago, he stated that, “I have attended many funerals in my life … I never
heard in a funeral that this or that person has made a lot of money or is
politically very strong.
“In a funeral, people discuss how this person was very
kind, or very gracious or had character and integrity. People want to deal with
honest people…So I learned from the funerals that we have to plan our funerals
when we are very young.”
So if you thoroughly think about what you would want
people to say at your funeral, you would be driven by a sense of passion to
make a difference in the lives of other people, you would build healthy
relationships, and you would make money with integrity. This is true wealth and
long lasting success.
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