The Rich and the Poor

A response to some website:

When people talk about rich and poor it is usually about money, in its various forms, from cash, assets, etc, and also access to these.

But money is not the end in itself. It is not the measure of what rich is.

For money is but a means to an end, which in the final analysis is security and a sense of control particularly of the future. If you have money you know you can get food and shelter, and all other material comforts in life, necessary or otherwise, and you rest in that assurance. And with money you can plan, and thus attain a sense of control or security, into some future, like your next holiday, or your children’s education, etc etc.

If I do not know when and how my next meal is coming from, does it make sense to appreciate the beauty in a flower or to dwell on why there is evil in the world?

So the rich is the one who is not anxious about his food and drink tomorrow, or the day after, and is not constantly and totally preoccupied with mere survival, and is able to be and become what is human and spiritual, to pursue beauty, love and truth, for example.

And such peace, assurance, and ascent from mere survival is what rich is. (And no, it is not to be happy. It is easy to be happy, just be foolish.)

And the source of such confidence and assurance need not be money. It can be God too. But some put their trust in money.

Admittedly it is easier to trust what you have in your pocket or bank account then to walk into the desert daily to collect just a day’s worth of manna. But such is the walk of faith.

And even if you are collecting manna daily you may yet faced the temptation to collect more than a day’s worth, or to test God, by yearnng and even demanding meat instead of mere manna. And these are those who have forgotten or do not know that man shall not live on bread alone.

And finally I do not see many taking Jesus’ word literally concerning the rich selling all he has to give to the poor and then following after Jesus, do we? If there are more such truly heeding Jesus, then “fighting poverty” is as natural as taking your next breathe.

And as Jesus said, we shall always have the poor. For God have made both the rich and the poor.

He made them for each other: the poor to receive from the rich, giving thanks to God, and the rich to give to the poor, learning to trust God, the source of all things, and not on money; and also that all will know that we need each other, as much as we need God.

Assuredly God loves us, each and every individual, but only we can love each other.

And God is fair, for life is NOT about being rich or poor. It is about knowing God.

And both rich and poor CAN know God, the poor perhaps being in a better position than the rich, even as it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to go to heaven.