What are you living for?

I wrote a brief Facebook post last night in response to an article Dave Ramsey posted on his blog. You can read the original post here: http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/20-things-the-rich-do-every-day

Someone had posted it to Facebook and it piqued my interest. I came away from reading the article completely torn and honestly feeling a bit off-put. Maybe it's because I grew up poor or maybe it's something more.

His (Tom Corley not Dave Ramsey) 20 habits are all good habits and things that everyone should try to do, sure. The problem lies in his assumptions. He bases this article and hid book Rich Habits off the assumption that it is these habits that made people rich. That there is causality, not merely correlation. Causality and correlation are worlds apart. Sure these habits may very well correlate with being wealthy but that does not mean they cause wealth.

I think the hardest part for me in reading this was how it led me to view the poor. This list puts people into categories, rich vs poor. Let me tell you from experience, poor people do not often choose to be poor. They are goal setters but typically that goal is either to survive or to find a way to make enough money to simply put food on the table. They are often hard workers who have lacked the opportunities afforded to more affluent families like education, books, and gym memberships. There is a cycle of poverty, one that takes immense effort to break free from. People do it everyday, I did it, but even though I already practice many of his 20 habits I am no where near wealthy. Which brings me to my final point.

What are you living for? Are you living to acquire wealth and riches. Is that the end game? Sure we all would like to be financial well off or at least stable, but is that your goal, to live a comfortable life? To keep up with the Joneses? Or are you living for Jesus? Are you willing to do what Jesus asks of you? Are you willing to sell all of your possessions and give to the poor if that's what he calls you to?

Mark 10:21-25 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him,“You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is[a] to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 

Psalm 37:16 Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of the wicked. 

Psalm 49:16-17 Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. For when he does he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down with him. 

You see, God will bless some and they will be wealthy and others he will call to poverty. In the end we can't take anything with us. We can't make ourselves rich, God is our provider. He is our source of everything good. He provides what we need, not always what we want. The Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years. 40 YEARS. Are you ok if God calls you to wander the desert for 40 years. To be forced to trust Him and his provision and not in your abilities to make yourself wealthy, healthy, and wise? 

The rich young man went away sorrowful because he had put his trust in the provision. Not the Provider.