Millionaires

We should all be millionaires, right?

I was at a conference today, where the speaker said everyone in the Western world has the potential to be millionaires, and really, if we aren't millionaires by the time we're 40 we must be somehow oppressed or just dumb.

You'd probably guess I considered this a load of ____.

He was a Christian speaker, but his message was pure rubbish, no offense dude. It was centred around two statements.

1. Our business on earth is affluence (ie. gain more money, more resources)
2. Our purpose on earth is influence (ie. influence more people for God)

His point was that our priority is to build our affluence (money and possessions) so we can influence more people for God. Sadly, many people at the conference were nodding at this point. He of course threw out a few Bible verses to back up his point, but both verses he used (Jn 10:10 and Eph 3:20) actually make an entirely different point when read in their proper context. And he also said that if we do everything right (ie. live life right, with the right priorities), then God will give us more affluence. And further still, he said that if God does not make us affluent, then we are obviously poor Christians.

Codswallop.

The Bible clearly does not say this at all. Our influence for God has nothing to do with our affluence. The amount of money/possessions we have has nothing to do with our quality of character. In fact, Jesus says that the more rich you are, the harder it is to be a good Christian. There are a lot of rich Christians with pretty poor character, and I've met some very poor people who are incredible Christians.

I wonder how Mother Theresa would have felt hearing this message? She is widely regarded as a very good person, and yet she has no money or possessions and lives in slums. And what about other missionaries? Jim Elliot and his four friends could have had very successful careers if they had stayed where they were, but they decided to fly to a hostile tribe in Ecuador to tell the tribespeople about the love and grace of God. They were killed shortly after setting foot on the ground. But they had their priorities absolutely correct. This is what it means to be a Christian. Not living selfishly to gain more and more for ourselves, but giving everything we have for others. As one of Jesus closest followers said in 1 John 3:16...

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

I don't want to be a millionaire, thank you very much. I'd rather live my life for other people, like Jesus did.