Living the Mission - Building in Faith : capital campaign
HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?
"A funny thing about money and possessions, no matter how much we have, it is never quite enough."
"And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, 'you lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you wit1 have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.' At that saying, his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions." Mark10:17, 21-22
I met a college classmate on bright sunny summer afternoon. We were sitting on the first tee waiting for our tee time to arrive. I said, "How is business? Are you able to make ends meet?"
This very successful sale person turned to me with a smile and said, "I have never met a person yet who didn't think that another $100 a week would help."
A funny thing about money and possessions, no matter how much we have, it is never quite enough. Why? I have often pondered that question. We always seem to be able to live up to our income. I think the issue is that we are always comparing ourselves with those around us who have more. We judge our success by how we compare to those around us who we think have more than we do.
Have you ever heard someone compare themselves downward? "My friend has so little, I would like to be like him!" "I wonder how I can adjust my life so that I can have less?!" It might help if we were willing to compare ourselves to the rest of the world and not just to our neighbors in the United States.
What makes it even more difficult is that we deny our wealth. If we are a middle class
American, we are in the upper 10% of the wealthiest people in the world. If we are in the upper middle class income level, we are perhaps in the upper 5% of the world's population. Who among us sees himself or herself as wealthy?
If we deny our wealth, we will always strive for more. If we deny our wealth, we will never understand that is us to whom Jesus speaks when he calls us to "Go sell what you have and come follow me" and share with others. If we really don't think we have enough, we will always be holding on tight to what we think is ours.
How much is enough? Enough to provide for ourselves and family? Enough to be
comfortable? Our expectations differ so we have trouble defining what "provide" and
"comfortable" mean. Would it be helpful for us to look at our needs through the eyes of all of God's creation? It might help us come to a new understanding as to how much is enough.
(C)2000, GARY LANGNESS. Used by permission