How to die rich

During my quiet time yesterday, I read the Parable of the Rich Young Ruler which got me thinking on a number of issues...

A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'"

"All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?"

Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

-- Luke 18:18-27

If you ask any professional about financial planning, the first thing they are likely to ask you is to do is determine the type of lifestyle you desire and figure out how much that is going to cost you per year. From there, you look at how much you're currently earning, and what kind of investment returns are necessary to help you achieve those financial goals.

Most of us would probably not mind if we retire with money coming out of ears and not have to think twice about buying a new car/house/boat or going on an exotic holiday every other week. Yet the law of diminishing utility tells us that the more we have, the more it will take to make us happy. Just look at all the celebrities with money up to their eyeballs, but have to visit therapists to get over their latest bout of depression. When we earn $2000 a month, we need a $20 tie to make us happy. When we earn $10,000 a month, we need a $100 tie to make us happy. Our standard of living has improved, and so has our cost of living, but our "happiness level" (i.e. utility) doesn't really go up all that much in relation to our new-found lifestyle.

So the thing is, we spent much of our lives trying to earn more money so that we can buy more stuff, so that we can be more happy. Yet when we finally earn more money and buy more stuff, we find that we're not actually more happy. The bar has been raised and now we're no longer happy with the Toyota coz all your friends have the latest BMW.

Bringing all this back to context of the Rich Young Ruler, as we chase the next big pay check and shoot for the 10 month bonus, are we not digging ourselves into a deeper hole such that when God says, "Ok, drop this and follow me!" it's going to be so much more difficult for us to climb out?

Think about it... chasing money is a losing proposition: you work harder, to earn more, to save more, to invest more, so that you can continue spending more, but you're not proportionately more happy, and at the same time, your making it all the more difficult for yourself to follow Christ, which in turn could cost you eternal life! Sounds like a pretty crummy deal to me.

That doesn't mean that all rich people are stupid, but rather if you are chasing money as an ends in itself, then you're likely to be in for a huge disappointment. As John Wesley said, "Earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can." I can only hope to live up to that mantra.