Greed Makes the Rich Feel Poor

We’ve all read about people who grew up poor who then acquire a burning desire to make money and never be poor again.

There is actually nothing wrong with ambition. The problem occurs when we become captive to the lure of more.

If you have an insatiable appetite for money, it won’t matter how much you accumulate. It will never be enough. You can be the richest person in the world but still feel poor because you have an empty space that you are trying in vain to fill. But you’ll never be able to fill it.

Perhaps you have heard that money is the root of all evil?

This is a paraphrase of 1 Timothy 6:10: 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.

Note that the Bible does NOT say that money is the root of all evil but that the love of money is.

There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that we all need money to live. Some may say that it’s possible for farmers to be self-sufficient, but what happens if he or she needs surgery, or has a bad harvest? Even centuries ago, owners of huge farms still traded for goods they could not produce themselves.

For the rest of us — we need to provide for our basic needs. Food, water, shelter, heat, transportation… if we have enough for these, then we do not experience any lack except for what we want.

This is where our culture screws us up. Commercials, social media, movies and TV shows all fuel our “need” for more material goods. Christmas has been transformed from a sacred and profound holiday into a celebration of excess. Valentine’s Day is no longer a sweet, romantic time where you might exchange cards or small gifts but an opportunity to show your love through the size of your present. Houses that would have been fine for a family of 6 in prior eras have been replaced by McMansions that house 3.

Even when people make enough money to pay for luxuries, some still go into debt because they want still more.

It’s easy to blame the modern culture for this. After all, I remember reading about Laura Ingalls being thrilled to have an orange. But were people really less materialistic?

If they were, would sumptuary codes have been needed in medieval Europe and would the Bible call out women who buy expensive clothes in 1 Timothy 2:9 and 1 Peter 3:3–4?

Yet the Bible also praises the Proverbs 31 woman who is clothed in fine linen and purple and who dresses her household in scarlet. (Proverbs 31: 21–22)

However, the proverb also explains that the woman is not greedy. She gives generously to the poor and treats her workers well, making sure they get a fair portion. She uses her wealth wisely. It is a tool, not an idol.

I’ve seen this example several times in my own life — people who had been blessed with material wealth who used it not just for their own pleasure, but to bring joy to others as well, and to wisely save and invest.

Money is not her idol.

This is not the case with people who hoard their wealth, spending their lives accumulating it. The other side of the same coin are those who amass great wealth and use it to buy gold plated toilets and a fleet of luxury cars or private jets — using wealth to accumulate luxury.

I would contend that in neither case are their empty spaces being filled.

They will never be filled, because money and possessions cannot fill them.

Only when someone learns how to manage and use money and not to be ruled by it will money no longer imprison them. When someone can decouple their sense of worth from how much money they have, that is when they can start to heal the empty spaces inside themselves.

I am fighting stage IV cancer. If you would like to help with medical bills, I would really appreciate it. Or if you enjoy my writing and would like to buy me a cup of coffee, that’s great too. Maybe someday I can return the favor.

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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