How Rich Are You?

17 Apr

“The richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.”
~ Unknown

I think it is safe to say that all of us, at one time or another in our lives, have struggled with the desire to want more. Okay, not just more. The desire to want everything! If we saw something that one of our friends had and we did not, we made a fuss and told our parents that we just absolutely needed to have it. If we could not get it, we often pitched a fit.

That struggle then presented itself in different forms as we got older. When we became school age, we had to have the best grades. After we got out of school, we had to have the best job. In our job, we had to have the highest salary, the best benefits, the most accolades. We have always sought more.

Jesus was very clear with His followers about this subject. He did not instruct them to look for more. He instructed them to let go, to look for nothing but God and God’s providence. Probably one of Jesus’ greatest teachings in this regard was the Sermon on the Mount. It was not the “haves” who were blessed, Jesus said, but, the “have nots”. Blessed are the poor, the weak, the powerless, the landless, and the homeless. Blessed are they who struggle, who are oppressed, and who are denied. They were the ones, Jesus said, to whom the Kingdom belonged.

It is hard to tame our human nature, to tell ourselves that we should not want more but should be happy with what we have. When we need the least, we are prime territory for the Spirit to work in our midst.

Let go of your needs this day. Forget the hassle for more. Be content with what you have been given. Ask yourself if you really need what you have and do not be afraid to let go of any excess so that you, too, can be open to all that God has to give to you.

FAITH ACTION: Pray for those who are always striving for more and, in the process, missing the fact that God has blessed them with so much.