Money Fantasies
An Illustration
There was the story of a beautiful and sophisticated woman in her mid-twenties who wrote to an investment counseling company looking for a list of eligible bachelors with earnings of at least $600,000 a year. That woman had money fantasies in her mind.
According to experts, using marriage as an investment is a money fantasy, and no more than a "bad" investment bargain—just like investing into a shrinking currency. Just imagine the beauty of that woman would shrink over the years, while the $600,000 might grow over the long haul.
So, marrying into money, buying the lottery, and winning at the casino are all money fantasies that are not approved by God because they come from greed and gluttony.
Money Miseries
Money miseries happen to many who always
feel dissatisfied, frustrated, insecure, and insolvent. This mental condition
suffered by many is often a result of their constant exposure to media news of
the rich and the famous, as well as their own perceptions of “possessions equal
satisfaction.” Spending more than earning and living from paycheck to paycheck
(70 percent of consumers, according to The Wall Street Journal) often
lead to struggling with money miseries that ultimately end up in going broke.
Even
wealthy celebrities went broke, such as Mike
Tyson, a famous boxing
champion earning over $300 million dollars, ended up in bankruptcy in 2003; and Michael Jackson, a recording artist,
dancer, singer, and songwriter, earning over $500 million dollars, was heavily
in debt when he died in 2009.
According to the Harvard Business Review, money and happiness are not
positively correlated, because wealth may make people less generous and
more domineering. In addition, money may not bring out the best of an
individual: the more money that individual has, the more focused on self that
individual may become, and so the less sensitive to the needs of people around, as
well as the more probable to doing all the wrong things due to the feeling of
right and entitlement.
An Illustration of Going
from Riches to Nothing
Barbara Woolworth Hutton, also known as
“the poor little rich girl”, was one of the wealthiest women in the world
during the Great Depression. She’d experienced an unhappy childhood with
the early loss of her mother at age five and the neglect of her father, setting
her the stage for a life of difficulty in forming relationships.
Married and divorced seven times, she
acquired grand foreign titles, but was maliciously treated and exploited by
several of her husbands. Publicly, she was much envied for her lavish lifestyle
and her exuberant wealth; privately, she was very insecure and unhappy, leading
to addiction and fornication.
Barbara Hutton died of a heart attack at
age 66. At her death, the formerly wealthy Hutton was on the verge of
bankruptcy due to the exploitation of her husbands, as well as her own lavish
and luxurious lifestyle.
Barbara Hutton was the unhappy poor little
rich girl! She was widely reported in the media, and her story was even made
into a Hollywood movie: “The Poor Little Rich Girl.”
The bottom line: Many Americans earn
plenty of money to live a great lifestyle but end up in money misery with their
money blown away.
Living by faith: Believe in a powerful God. Beware of money—or rather the love of
money, which is idolatry obsessed with “money-lust.”
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people,
eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many
griefs." (I Timothy 6:10) According to the Bible, money is the second most powerful god. So,
beware of money—or rather the love of
money, which is idolatry obsessed with “money-lust.”
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people,
eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many
griefs." (I Timothy 6:10)
Stephen Lau
No comments:
Post a Comment