Perception of wealth is a slippery thing. If you attend a party where the guests’ median income is much greater than yours, you may dress and speak in a way that leads others to think you have more than you do. If you volunteer at a food bank, perhaps you intentionally dress or speak in a way that projects an image of having less than you do. Judging the wealth of others is equally as shifty. It’s like driving on the freeway. If someone is moving quite a bit faster than you, he is impatient and unsafe. If he is slower than you, he must not have enough important things going on in his life and needs to get out of the way of people that do. Likewise, it’s easy to characterize affluent people as somehow undeserving of their status and those with very little as seemingly undisciplined.
The common thread in those scenarios is that you are the barometer. Put in the freeway analogy, the too fast and too slow assessments are based on your speed. Regarding wealth, when you make your individual situation the standard it may result in overly critical judgment mixed with self-pitying discontentment. Put in friendlier terms, when you say, “Boy, it must be nice,” perhaps your heart finds fault with the person that has “it” while simultaneously sulking that the person that has “it,” is not you.
While the perception of wealth may be a slippery issue, your attitude toward it is not. An ungodly attitude toward earthly possessions bears bad fruit whether you live in Malibu or Mumbai. It is not restricted to gender, age or race. What then is your cash creed? Your dollar doctrine? Your pecuniary principles? What do your thoughts, attitudes, speech and spending habits reveal about your theology of wealth? Are you bothered, envious or angry when others gain it? Do you pout when you don’t?
First, it is helpful to remember that wealth is a tool in the hands of the Lord. “The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts” (1 Sam. 2:7). To grumble about others’ abundance or your lack is to complain about God—that His plan is incorrect, His provision insufficient or His love inadequate.
Second, an increase in possessions will not bring legitimate satisfaction. “And [Jesus] said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions’” (Luke 12:15). In the verses that follow God calls the person that lays up treasure for himself and fails to be rich toward God a “fool.”
Third, God’s decision to withhold certain things from you is for your good. “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Tim. 6:9–10).
A much healthier currency credo is found in Matthew 6:33–34. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
These two verses contain a command of addition and of subtraction. Add to your daily goals the expansion of the kingdom of God over any other endeavor. Make it a priority to seek God’s wisdom in your life, accept His plan for you and strive to be more righteous today than you were yesterday. The natural effect of that addition will result in the subtraction of anxiety about tomorrow. You can be at peace with the tomorrows when the todays are filled with seeking first the kingdom of God. And God, the One Who made you and is familiar with your desires, will add things to you as He sees fit.
When you accurately view wealth as one of God’s tools, you too can say, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me” (Prov. 30:8). When you acknowledge that riches do not bring about satisfaction you too can say, “How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver” (Prov. 16:16). And when you recognize that God withholds wealth from you for your good, you too can say, “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim. 6:6). Boy, for the child of God that can do that, it must be nice!