The Rich Man

Once I saw an interesting picture depicting a meeting of two married couples. In one couple, the man had a Mercedes symbol instead of a head, and in his wife's thought bubble was a pink heart. In the second couple, everything was reversed - instead of the husband's head was a pink heart, and in his woman's thought bubble was a Mercedes symbol. The author of this picture very clearly showed the biggest problem and deficit of family values of our time.

One should not go to extremes and consider wealth and the ability to earn money a sin or some special blessing to the achievement of which it's necessary to devote one's entire life. Money will never lose meaning in your life. Our world is built so that we must have some means to pay for something and live on something.

Many women, preparing to create a family, somewhere in their souls dream that their future husband would be well-off and know how to earn money. Women want to be protected from this side. Modern cinema brightly advertises the life of rich people, showing a beautiful facade and leaving behind the scenes the realities of what happens in the mind of a successful person.

Let's examine this situation without fitting all men under the same parameters, because there are exceptions.

Would you like to marry a millionaire? We answer: "Yes."

But do you know how the rich live, what they breathe, what they experience? What do you expect from a union with such a person? If you think that with a millionaire you will have a carefree well-fed life, fascinating travels and continuous romance with universal abundance, and he will also become a priest in the family and help you around the house, then I hasten to assure you that life is not a movie.

If you delve into the daily life of this interesting millionaire, you will be surprised by the amount of cares placed on his shoulders. Such big money must be earned, and not as is customary, with a shovel in hand. One needs to have corresponding knowledge, skills, connections, vision, goals, courage. And if this man managed to earn his million, which lies in pure form in his personal bank account or in a tin can, then he is unlikely to stop and start spending everything for his and your pleasure. His mind is already set to constantly look for new projects in which accumulated resources can be invested to multiply them.

Meanwhile, you are waiting for your husband from work, wanting to communicate with him, go somewhere or travel, spend time together and do something common. And here he comes after another work day, during which he held nothing heavier than a phone and pen, and tired, lies down on the couch. He is home and can finally relax. And he has no time for anyone. He may love you, but business life has sucked all his resources, and he simply cannot give you what you expect or what you dreamed about, rejoicing that you would become a millionaire's wife.

By choosing a rich man as your life companion, you are also choosing for yourself his service to this wealth. For a man, his work, where he can earn and where he represents something, is sometimes more important than family. And if the wife demands time and help for herself, then it will be difficult for him to understand how to leave important things to deal with the family. The husband believes that he is fulfilling the most important obligation of providing for the home, and therefore should not be distracted by other questions.

And if this person, in proportion to his busyness, has psychopathic problems or is an abuser, then you will have little joy from life with such a life companion.

There is an interesting law described in Eccl. 5:10. "When goods increase, those who eat them increase; and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?" If you look at the flow of money that passes through the hands of very rich people, you will be surprised how many all kinds of pumps and leeches rob them legally. How much he needs to spend or invest first to earn something. And sometimes one has to risk everything to get something or preserve what has been received.

You will hardly be told about all the cares and problems that rich men face. What you consider valuable may be ordinary for him. And the richer this millionaire is, the more cares, stress and vanity he has.

We live and work in a sinful world, and intersect with unbelieving people who have completely different values than ours. And all this influences not for good. Blessed is that husband who has Christ in his mind and decides everything with Him and receives wisdom and blessings from Him, and such people exist, but not all are such. They usually achieve this while already having that wife who, like a sail, inspires him to feats and supports him during crisis. But someone else's successful man will never be yours and cannot make someone happy just because he is rich. All these things lie in God's power, and He decides what path to lead a person and what to allow in his life, and from what to protect.

A rich person who knows how to make money has the mind of a rich person and in any situation will find opportunity and a way to become rich. But this doesn't yet mean that he is a wonderful and caring family man. He is simply a wealthy man. Wealth and God are two competing life goals. It's impossible to serve both simultaneously. So Jesus taught in Matt. 6:24.

Will a rich man be generous in charitable deeds? How much will he be able to devote and give to God through needy neighbors? Will his ears be open to their requests for help, and will this become his life priority?

If the Lord gives wealth to someone, then He will ask much more from this person than from those who were entrusted with less.

Satan attracts us with his golden crown to this world, to himself, and gives this crown to whomever he wants. And the Lord offers people the crown of life and gives it to those who begin to believe in God, show obedience and live in harmony with Heavenly laws.

But rich men have heart and soul. They, just like many others, are unloved, unhugged. They often don't have real friends who would love them at all times, and they live in a different world and understanding of time. One needs to have a special approach to them and learn to understand them in order to give them something greater.

If you dream of having a rich husband, then think and answer yourself honestly, why. Do you need him to give you something, or are you set on him receiving something from you?

To understand the mind of a rich person, one needs to walk in his shoes.

Jesus says to the rich people of the last time that they don't even know how poor and miserable they are. We read this in Rev. 3:17. And He is not mistaken. Blessed is he who will hear this rebuke and follow the advice from verse 18, acquiring what the Lord offers to buy.

We are given the example of the rich young man who did not follow Jesus' advice from Luke 18:18, and the tax collector Zacchaeus from Luke 19:8, who decided to dedicate part of his property to God, although he was not asked about this. They were both rich, but each chose what he considered more important.

God will never condemn a rich person for giving much and sharing with others, participating in their needs.

Dreaming of wealth, think, will it be for your good?

1. Please read Luke 6:24-25; 18:18-27; 19:1-10; Prov. 11:4,16,28; 13:8; 18:23; 23:4-5; Gen. 13:2; Eccl. 5:11-18; 9:11; Song 8:7; James 2:1-7; 5:1-9; 2 Cor. 8:1-3; 9:7-12; 1 Tim. 6:17-19 in light of this lesson.

2. What other verses from the Bible came to your mind?

3. What did you understand from this topic?

4. Why, despite all Biblical warnings about the danger of wealth, do many people choose exactly this path?

5. Who is a rich man? How do you understand this?

6. Is it worth judging rich people by yourself, not having similar experience in earning money?

7. What feelings do rich people evoke in you?

8. What to do if you don't want to live in poverty and scarcity, but at the same time are afraid to be rich so as not to risk Eternal life?

9. Is being rich or striving for it a sin?

10. Why does God give so many warnings to rich people, but at the same time calls wealth and abundance of everything a blessing?

11. Why did Jesus choose for himself the life of a simple worker and poor wanderer?

12. Do you think the mind of a millionaire differs from the mind of a billionaire?

13. Why does the Faithful Witness from Rev. 3:17 call all rich people of the Laodicean period poor and miserable?

14. Why did Jesus say that it's impossible to serve God and wealth? How do you understand this? Does this mean that among Christians there will be no rich people?

15. Was this lesson useful for you?