Are you desiring to be wealthy? Are you comfortable but desiring to have more? Are you having the fear of poverty? If you respond positively to any of these questions, then this message is for you.
Living a comfortable life is the biggest driver why people pursue wealth. Experience have shown that while the poor have a natural craving to be wealthy, the rich have an even greater desire than the poor to be wealthier, thus leading to a ‘have more’, ‘want more’ phenomenon which more often than not, is the cause of exploitation.
Poverty is not the result of fate but a choice- a choice to be selfish! At every point in time, we need to evaluate our ‘choices’ to know how we contribute in creating or eliminating poverty. If you wish to know continue reading slowly…
cf. Luke 16:10-13
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There was a rich man and he had a steward denounced to him for being wasteful with his property. He called for the man and said, “What is this I hear about you? Draw me up an account of your stewardship because you are not to be my steward any longer.” Then the steward said to himself, “Now that my master is taking the stewardship from me, what am I to do? Dig? I am not strong enough. Go begging? I should be too ashamed. Ah, I know what I will do to make sure that when I am dismissed from office there will be some to welcome me into their homes.”
Then he called his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, “How much do you owe my master?” “One hundred measures of oil” was the reply. The steward said, “Here, take your bond; sit down straight away and write fifty.” To another he said, “And you, sir, how much do you owe?” “One hundred measures of wheat” was the reply. The steward said, “Here, take your bond and write eighty.”
‘The master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.
POINTS FOR REFLECTION
1. Poverty is caused by selfish choices
Child of God, to pursue wealth both the poor and rich could become selfish. Like the steward in the gospel who chose to be wasteful with his master’s property, even though he is poor. Hence poverty is a choice and not fate or destiny. Being born in a poor family is not a choice but living and dying poor is a choice- mostly selfish choices by the poor themselves or by the rich who exploits them.
2. Stop blaming circumstances, blame yourself!
Most poor persons blame circumstances for what they are, meanwhile those who ‘make it’ in this world are those who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find it, make it! The bible says in Proverbs 23:7: ‘As a man thinks in his heart, so is he’. If you think big, you’ll make it big and if you think bigger, so shall your result be!
Also, some poor persons also have had opportunities of rising but lost it because of bad choices of selfishness, dishonesty, pride, wastefulness, and living beyond one’s reach, etc, and in the end they lose.
3. The Rich also gain from the wealth of the Poor
There are many forms of poverty among the ‘rich’ that might be relieved by the wealth of the ‘poor’.
Christ says, “the poor you will always have with you.” This statement is laden with meaning. The mere presence of the poor in the society evangelises the rich and well to do without using Bibles or megaphones! This is the wealth of the poor! Their presence alone relieves the poverty of the rich by reminding them of gratitude to God for His blessings, by providing opportunity for charity and means to avoid wastage.
So if you’re rich and don’t recognise you need the “wealth of the poor” in order to eliminate poverty but make choices that exploits the poor to your advantage, you are also creating poverty.
TASK
Go out there, no matter your social status, and create wealth. Stop the creation of poverty through dishonesty, wastefulness, unaccountability, exploitation, greed and corruption rather eliminate it by making good and informed choices.
