I’ve been reflecting on this question lately:

Should being financially rich be defined by “having everything you want” or “needing the least?”

In the western world we are bombarded with messages that we need more. These messages and corresponding belief system lead to an ironic twist that the more you have, the more you feel you need. This ironic twist (more like an ironic vortex) is something I often fall into and have to remind myself to regularly re-evaluate my wants and needs. I think the financially richest people in the world are not the ones with the biggest bank balances, instead they are people who have the clearest sense of what true wants and needs are.

Jesus was our greatest example of this and understood the difference between wants and needs clearly. He lived in perfect peace in the simplest of lifestyles. This is one of the reasons why the “prosperity gospel” is so outrageous. The “prosperity gospel” confirms and upholds the ironic twist/vortex. Instead of helping people be at peace with what they have or don’t have, (living Kingdom values regardless of their bottom line), it falsely teaches that more is better (even more spiritual). Consequently, people who follow this teaching never find peace with that they have and live is constant want.

Regardless of what I have or don’t have, I desire to have a clear idea of my wants and needs and to live Kingdom values regardless of my “bottom line.” I just wish it was as simply as that sounded.