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"How can it be more blessed to give than receive? You can’t have one without the other."
A friend and fellow spiritual entrepreneur loaned me a book (which I read, gave away, replaced, gave away the replacement, and finally purchased a third copy to give back to him) called Secrets of the Millionaire Mind . I’ve read a number of very good books that deal with money management and financial planning, but this one is pretty different because it focuses on the spiritual, emotional, and psychological aspects to attaining and maintaining wealth. It’s more about changing one’s mindset and attitudes regarding money in order to be able to change the reality of one’s financial situation. Reading this book made me realize that I harbor some negative attitudes toward wealth and those who have it, and I suspect the same is true for many spiritual people. Even a novice Bible-reader like myself has heard that: It is more blessed to give than to receive.
The love of money is the root of all evil.
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.
It is hard to read these words and not start thinking that it’s inherently bad to be wealthy. Reading Secrets of the Millionaire Mind got me thinking. . . here are my thoughts, and I’d love to hear yours. 1. There are things that are more important than money - happiness, love, good relationships with people and with God. But money is pretty darn important too in that it helps us meet our physical needs. There is a finite amount of money in the world, and all of it is in someone’s possession at any given time. Wouldn’t it be better if the money wound up passing through the hands of those who are going to bless others and do God’s work? 2. I consider myself to be a reasonably good, honest, upright, generous, trustworthy, loving, caring person and a follower of God. All things being equal, wouldn’t it be better to be all that AND be rich? Do I have to trade one for the other? 3. I tithe 10% of my income no matter what. So wouldn’t it be even better to be in a position to give 10% of a much larger number (or to give way MORE than 10%) to further God’s work? 4. This is one of my favorite points from the book: How can it be more blessed to give than receive? You can’t have one without the other. They are equal blessings. It is a wonderful feeling to receive a generously given gift, and it’s a wonderful feeling to give generously. I think the spirit of that particular Bible verse is to keep blessings flowing. Accept gifts that are offered, and give what you can to others. Read more from this blogger at Spiritual Entrepreneurs .
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