My Thoughts on Money: I AM RICH

Most of you reading this know that I am NOT RICH.

But you're wrong.

I AM RICH. You just didn't know it.

I have so much money that I have two cars - a 2004 Toyota Sienna and a 2002 Chevy Prizm (that burns about 1 quart of oil a month).

I have so much money that I have health and life insurance. That's right, I can afford to pay somebody money for things that haven't even happened yet - and probably never will.

I have so much money that I own a 42-inch Sony Bravia LCD TV ... and an entertainment center to put it on. Oh, and I also have a DVD player.

I have so much money that my wife and I both have cell phones ... with unlimited texting (no data plans) and we have two laptop computers and high-speed internet in our home.

I am SO RICH that I have to decide which pair of shoes I'm going to wear each day.

I have SO MUCH MONEY that my whole family gets to eat three meals every day ... and snacks in between. Sometimes we even go to restaurants where we pay people to cook and serve us meals. In fact, there are days when I have to convince myself that I shouldn't buy a can of pop because it sounds so good but I know it's not healthy for me.

You really want to know how rich I am? I am in the top 2% of wage earners in the world today.

Yep. I AM RICH.

Are you rich?

We just completed a four-part series from Lifechurch.tv called How to Be Rich. It wasn't about how to GET rich, because most everybody in the United States already is incredibly rich compared to the average person in the world. This series was about handling the rich blessings we've been given in a way that honors God.

The first session of the series focused a lot on convincing us that WE ARE RICH.

I know I don't often feel rich. But part of that is because RICH is a moving target. Where I'm at financially, RICH seems pretty far away. But from where most people in the world stand, I'm well beyond what they picture as RICH.

When my family and I went to Mexico, we saw many people who would be classified as very poor in the culture we live in. To them, we were probably very RICH. But you know what? In a lot of ways, I saw them as the ones who were rich. They were so full of love and joy and it made me wonder what I was missing.

So, I am convinced that I AM RICH. Are you convinced that you are RICH? If not, just think about all the luxuries you've enjoyed today that most people in the world will never get to experience. If you drove your car to work this morning, you did something many people will never do. If you chose one pair of pants over another pair, you have more than most people will ever have. YOU ARE RICH!

Now, if I have convinced you that YOU ARE RICH, how does it change your life?

I'll tell you how it's changing mine in the next post.