When I was young I used to think “if only we would just win the lottery, all of our troubles would go away”. I now know that was a very naive way to think. One thing life has taught me is that money is never the issue. Money can solve a lot of problems at face value, yes, but the problem is that when things are solved only at the surface they have the potential of rearing their ugly head in due season, why? because you failed to deal with the problem from its roots. Money never really deals with the underlying issue, it just exposes it.
Have you ever wondered why lottery winners end up broke within a few years? I actually read once that it’s not uncommon for lottery winners to end up with less than they had before their windfall and sometimes even nothing at all. Callie Rogers, bless her heart at the age of 16 was the youngest person to ever win the lottery in the UK. She now at 26 has nowhere near the 1.9 million pounds she was awarded. Generations of people could have benefitted from that money but this money was nowhere to be seen within a few years. How does something like this happen?
The reason why this happens is because money is never the issue, people are. The reason why money could never ‘really’ solve a poor man’s problems is because the poor man remains the same person with the same mindset, the only thing that changes is his financial status. A man that has a poverty mindset could never retain money for long periods of time because the poverty mindset teaches us to spend as opposed to invest. So that lets me know that the reason why that man is poor is not necessarily because he doesn’t have money, but because he lacks financial intelligence.
Money is a magnifying glass, all it does is introduce you to who you really are. A former mentor of mine once said, “I can tell how much you trust God by assessing your mood when you have money in your account against when you have very little?”. The point he was trying to make here was if your mood is dependent on your financial status you may have to question your trust in God. Now in this case money isn’t the issue, your lack of faith is.
Some people think that money is the cause of a breakdown in a lot of marriages and I hope I don’t sound naive in saying this but I think money is sometimes far from the issue. Let’s take a very typical example, If you’re a wife that treats your husband differently when he has money compared to when he doesn’t, well money isn’t the issue? all money really did was introduce you to your true intentions.
The message for today is to be more mindful of your actions when under financial pressure. Because situations like these help us to identify our flaws and key areas we need to work on. Remember what I said “Money never really deals with the underlying issue, it just exposes it”. When you add money to a situation the only thing it changes is your financial status, if you fail to deal with the underlying issue I guarantee you the same problems you had when were poor you’d be dealing with when you’re rich.
Author: Hannah Okuyemi
Blogger and contributor for Celestialweekly.com
Publisher for asmilethatholdsathousandwords.wordpress.com
Celestial Church of Christ
Covenant of God Parish UK
Loved this! It’s so true. Money is never really the issue. The lack of money or an abundance of money shows us who we really are. God bless you sis