Is it wrong to be money-minded?
Umm….. Let’s find out!!!
Money and Man always co-exist. Without money it’s quite difficult to navigate our daily lives. Money is one of the basic needs of survival. Some earn money toiling day and night, some have got it in heritage, some acquire it through illicit means and some snatch it over-night. It’s up to us how to make money and why to make money.
Money is a blessing to all who hold it! When a child gets his pocket-money, it’s a blessing for him to buy chocolates/gifts for his friends and family. When an employee gets his salary, it’s a blessing for him to serve his family and friends. When an old man gets his pension, it’s a blessing for him for which he toiled from his 20s to 60s.
Then how come we can consider “Money minded” in negative terms?
Though money is a blessing for us, still at times it blurs our eyes. It’s not the physical eyes that goes blur; it’s the perception of our soul, heart and mind. Then money becomes everything for us. We forget about love, relationships, loyalty, identity and all other things that can separate us from evil.
Once Mr. Gates went to a Restaurant and after having food, he gave $5 to the waiter as tip. The waiter had a strange look on his face after the tip. Gates realized and asked the waiter “what happened”. The waiter replied, “I’m just amazed because on the same table Mr. Rory gave a tip of $500, but you his father, the richest man in the world, only gave me $5.” Gates smiled and said, “He is the son of the world’s richest man, but I am the son of a wood cutter”.
Every time I came across this story, one thing always hitches my attention. “Mr. Gates is the richest man on earth but he has never forgotten what his identity is!” But what happens mostly – we forget our identity. When I started my job life, my uncle (who is my counselor, motivator and beloved) gave me two best advice and one of them is “Never forget your identity”. It means you might become a big brand but what matters is WHO YOU ARE not where you are.
Once a very rich man asked Jesus, “Teacher, I want to be your follower”. Then Jesus said, “Obey my commandments” and he said I am doing that since my childhood, what more I shall do? Jesus said, “Go and sell all your properties and distribute the money among the poor”. Immediately the rich man went away from Jesus with a fallen face.
We might have a lot of money, but that is never capable to AFFORD us God and righteousness. The love for money didn’t let the rich man follow Jesus, it became harder for him to distribute his money among the poor. When we fall into love with money, the root of evil springs up in our lives to devour us from the love of God and to distract us with all illicit pleasure which not only jeopardizes our sacred rights but also others.
Mr. Ratan Tata donates 66% of his profit right away for the Philanthropic efforts, which makes his personal worth somewhere mere $600 million. He has not touched the top 10 richest persons list globally, but yes he has touched many lives.
Having Skyscrapers, Bugatti Veyron, Choppers & billion digit savings can make someone richest person but can’t make greatest person. WHY YOU HAVE matters more than What You Have. Personal savings can bring smile on your face but cannot bring smile on other person’s face. It’s good to save money but it’s best to invest money on people more than your savings.
When it becomes difficult to evaluate – “Am I money-minded or not?” that time ask yourself 4 BIG questions;
√ Is MONEY my Strength/Weakness?
√ Is MONEY my Blessing/Curse?
√ Is MONEY my Friend/Foe?
√ Is MONEY my Television/Remote Controller?
- Money as my Strength/Weakness:
Our generation often quotes, “I work for money, if you want loyalty hire a dog!” Such mindset clearly portrays our picture. Here money is not our strength, it’s our weakness. Such a person lives to earn money not earn money to live life, which is too dangerous.
- Money as my Blessing/Curse:
Our generation often quotes, “No Money, No Honey. Money hai toh life mein mazza hai”! Such statements are completely wrong. Money is of course a blessing to our lives, but falling in love with it brings curse to our lives. Money becomes CURSE to our lives, when it masters our lives. That’s why P.T. Barnum has rightly said, “Money is an excellent servant but a terrible master”.
- Money as my Friend/Foe:
Our generation often quotes, “Jeb mein paisa ho toh, sub apko Bhai, Bhai bolenge” (When there is money in your pocket, people will call your Brother). Yah…. In today’s context, I agree with the statement upto some point. But meanwhile we should not forget two things;
- Those who make friendships with us because of our money, are not at all true friends. They are selfish and greedy people, for whom relationship/s is all about getting benefits.
- Money makes friendships and also breaks friendships.
“Friendship and Money are like Oil and Water”. It is high-time for us to check-out whether our money works as our friend or our foe. Is money working as my friend to get some more good and true friends or it is working as an enemy in my friendship!
- Money as my Television/Remote Controller:
Our generation often quotes, “My Money on my Mind… my Mind on my Money!” It’s quite applicable to the relation between a Television and it’s Remote Controller. Remote Controller helps us to control the technology of Television and tune ourselves to our desirable programs. Suppose the Television will not be compatible with the Remote Controller, what will happen next? Can we tune ourselves easily with our desirable programs? Will we have pleasant time with our television? Exactly like that Money is our Television and our mind is the Remote Controller. Till we are mindful about our money we can spent it wisely and life will be easy and pleasant but when our mind will be fooled by money (I mean our money will control our mind), that time life will be ruined.
Till our mind dictates our Money, it’s okay. But when Money starts dictating our mind, it becomes high-time for us to pause for a while, cross-check our life, work and transactions in all aspects and reboot ourselves again, cleaning the virus which has fooled our mind by money.
Being mindful about money is not wrong. Money-minded is wrong!
God bless you!
Candles Online 