I often tell folks that money won’t buy happiness, but invariably there are those who say, “Yeah right, well I’d like to try!” In fact the lyrics of a popular song recorded by the famous rock and roll group, the Beatles, solidifies this sentiment nicely. It goes something like this: “They say the best things in life are free, but you can give them to the birds and bees – I want money – I want money – I want money – That’s all I want”.
Hmmm… The dictionary states that success is the attainment of wealth, power, fame, or the accomplishment of some significant achievement. That’s just so much poppycock; I know plenty of wealthy, powerful, famous people who have accomplished many significant things that are miserable.
Is being miserable anyone’s idea of being successful?
Whitney Houston is one that comes to mind. She was beautiful, talented, rich, and at one time or other owned airplanes, fancy clothes, a yacht, mansions, was idolized by fans all over the world, sold millions of hit records and received the highest movie performance awards one can win, and yet she ended up alone, miserable, and graveyard dead from an overdose of cocaine and other drugs in a bathtub.
Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobaine, NFL, NBA, and baseball stars, businessmen and women, lottery winners, and others have ended up with similar fates when they tried all the world has to offer including every material possession known to mankind, fame, power, glory, sex, drugs, and alcohol. They all discovered that the world’s definition of success is not real; it’s an illusion.
While those having money usually travel with an entourage, for the most part those people are merely hangers-on and don’t give a whit about the person they accompany. If and when the money runs out they scatter like cockroaches in a dark room when the lights are turned on.
One time an article came out in a major new outlet about me selling one of my companies for a huge sum of money. Over the next several weeks I received several marriage offers from all over the country from women that I’d never met. Judging from the revealing photos they sent some of them were pretty darn good looking too, but I knew they didn’t really want me; they merely wanted access to the money. Money attracts disingenuous, dishonest people like a bright light attracts bugs on a dark night.
This is not lost on those who have money and it adds to their loneliness. In fact loneliness has the distinction of being named the “rich man’s disease”. Ironically Mother Teresa once said, “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty”.
The lonely rich are the poorest of the poor…
Too many “rich” people reach that lonely poorest of the poor point and sadly conclude that if this is all there is to life, they want no further part of it. Disillusioned, miserable, and depressed they grab one final headline describing their shocking suicide and thus begin their rapid fade away into anonymity.
My idea of success is to know peace, joy, and love in your life. It cannot be bought with hard cash; it can only come from having a close personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We can have it for free whether we live on the street, in a mobile home, or in a castle atop the highest mountain. It is universally available to us all.
It’s downright odd to me to think that God owns everything in the Universe including all the gold, diamonds, money, jewels, precious stones, land, stars, moon, cattle, and most importantly heaven. He stands willing to allow us to become His sons and daughters and in so doing adopts us into His everlasting kingdom as rightful heirs to all He owns. And yet we do not see the mad rush to Him.
Huh?
Many of my friends have jokingly told me that they wish I would adopt them. It ain’t gonna happen, but God is serious about His offer and unlike anything I own/manage for God, His portfolio lasts forever. Go to Him he stands ready to inherit you…
This bears repeating, those of us who take advantage of His kind offer become His sons and daughters and thus are rightful heirs to all He owns forever. That my good friends is where the “smart money” is…
Roman 8:14
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.