Wealth and Religion

I found this little corner of the house to be delightfully dreary looking. I was glad to see a bit of contrast to the rest of the overly ornate home. The faint sounds of champagne bottles popping, glasses clinking, and waiters hurrying about, echoed down the hall…but this is where I felt comfortable.

I’m a product of, what I would consider, the upper middle class. I had a very easy life growing up. (Shoutout to mom & dad, for providing us with more than enough) As a 30 year old man, I have pretty good understanding of how lucky I was, and still am, compared to a majority of the people on this planet, and even in this country. I want to continue to build off what my parents created for our family, but the drive to accumulate financial wealth, and materialism, is something I struggle with. The real reason I’m typing this right now is because of what I experienced on a recent business trip, but I wanted to give a little context in case some poor stranger stumbles across this post. For the first time in my life, I was rubbing elbows and sharing meals, with extremely wealthy people. Everything we did was the best money can buy. We stayed in the nicest hotels, ate at the nicest restaurants, shopped at designer stores, private tours, private planes… you get the idea.

I won’t lie, part of the reason I decided to accept this job, and go on the trip, was to experience the glamorous lifestyle of the 1%. I was told it was a “once in a lifetime” opportunity, and I’m a sucker for that kind of thing… and they weren’t lying. I’m not going to spell out every ridiculous detail of the trip here, but you can ask me about it when you see me.

I promise i’m getting to the point… Another pertinent detail of this sticky equation, is that almost everyone on the trip proclaimed to be a Jesus follower. Several guests on the trip were pastors, preachers or whatever you want to call them. Leaders of a church. Now before I move forward, I don’t want to assume everyone in the group was in a great place spiritually, mentally or relationally. I know what it’s like to be surrounded by peers who are very religious, and silently struggling with my own personal beliefs. Mental, spiritual and relational issues can manifest in many ways, and I want to be sensitive to the fact that we all make mistakes, screw up, and fall short of the people we aspire to be. Moving on. As the trip unfolded, I started to overhear and participate in some troubling conversations. One person in particular really was harping on how “money is the root of all evil”. Now if you don’t know, that is a popular paraphrase of a Bible verse. (Technically the verse says “The love of money”) I immediately realized the irony in what he was saying. We had just eaten lunch at one of the most exclusive clubs in the entire world… After that moment, (and a few more conversations I’ll leave to your imagination) I started to really struggle with being associated with this kind of wealth, and I felt a bit of shame for even having the desire to go on the trip in the first place. Sure, they would’ve easily found another guy with a camera to go on the trip, so it’s not like I would’ve changed anything by not accepting the job, but regardless, that’s how I felt.

It really got me thinking. Where is the line? Is there a line? Obviously you need to make enough money to provide for your family, and I think financial stability is a positive thing to aspire to, but what does that really mean? At the beginning of the trip, I would’ve said that these hotels, clothes, experiences, and these people were #GOALS (as the kids say) But on my way home, I felt the exact opposite. Personally, I find it hard to justify that kind of wealth when you claim to be a follower of Jesus. Of course, I know there are exceptions, and plenty of very generous wealthy people out there. I’m sure most of these people were very generous, but it’s easy to give 500 stacks to the church when you’re worth $500 million.

To be honest, I’m kind of tired right now, and I don’t know how much more I feel like typing. I don’t know if this makes sense, is relevant, or if I was just tired and cranky from the trip. Can probably just chalk this up to a bit of insecurity and jealousy on my part. It’s easy to blame and critique the rich. I don’t know those people very well. I don’t know what they are really going through, and to be honest, I might be way off here. Generally, everyone was polite and courteous to me. I’m not trying to call them bad people, or heathens, or really anything. I’m generally just wondering where the line is for myself…. If there even is one? For the believers reading this, I’ll leave you with Matthew 19:23-24 (Look it up, you’re supposed to be reading the Bible more anyway…) The phrase “Money can’t buy happiness” gets thrown around a lot… and I think for the first time I truly saw it first hand… And if I ever get lucky and somehow end up super rich. I hope I stay a humble hardcore kid forever. Who really knows? I sure don’t.