Yes, you read that right… I don’t want to be rich. And I pray that you don’t assume yourself to be rich either… or even make it your goal if you think you’re not yet rich.
Want some clarification? Follow this fictive story with me for a moment:
It’s holiday season – as a teacher, this means I’m on leave. As a result, I have more time to develop some personal business ideas that I’ve nursed for years now. I’ve got a team and we’ve successfully linked up with some guys in the UAE to establish international affiliation. Date was fixed for a meeting in Abu Dhabi, but suddenly I had an emergency and realized I won’t be able to make the meeting in the UAE. In order not to disappoint my prospective business partners in the East, I chose someone from my team, Tunde, a smart 22-year-old fresh graduate to attend the meeting on my behalf. He had two weeks to prepare.
Tunde had proven to be reliable and I figured this task could further inspire him to believe he is the star I see him to be. I gave him full access to my financial details and vital documents – all he would need for the trip… and more. I let him know that whatever decision he took was binding on me and the entire business. He could hardly believe his luck! Truth is, Tunde was from a humble background and confessed that he had never seen the interior of an airplane, let alone travel abroad. This job had opened a new chapter in his life. He promised not to let me down. I was happy to hear that and was also happy for him.
But I sensed trouble when Tunde shared a testimony the Sunday before his trip, that he’d been given an all-expense paid trip to the UAE. I feared that Tunde was losing sight of the essence of his traveling. He was required to deliver on a responsibility not indulge in pleasure rides and petty fancies. But I still chose to believe in him. I was sure he knew the right thing to do. He was probably only too excited. So I let him travel.
Less than an hour after his arrival at Khalifa City A, I started getting debit alerts from shopping malls, Rolex stores, and restaurants… I called him up and gave him stern warnings. He apologized… but nothing changed. He refused to lodge in the hotel I’d picked, he moved instead to the Yas Viceroy and lived it all up at my own expense.
By the time he finally arrived Lagos, Tunde had successfully closed the deal with our UAE business partners. He came home feeling proud of himself – ‘he had done what I’d sent him there to do’. But he had also made sure to take care of himself without my approval. He had become a ‘big boy’ and his contemporaries envied him – this was the kind of blessing they’d been praying for.
I was not at all pleased with him. He may’ve won us an international business affiliation, but he failed. I knew I could not entrust the entire business to him, if I wanted to. We had barely opened shop than he had begun to run such huge personal expenses. Certainly, his uncontrolled appetite would run us down. He was rich in the eyes of his colleagues and friends, but poor and worthless in mine. He came back feeling made, but to me, he was a broken pottery waiting to be pieced together. He was also a bad apple. Soon other members of the team began to look forward to and pray that their own ‘opportunity’ would come. I regretted giving Tunde that chance. I wanted to have nothing to do with him anymore. I wanted him out of my sight… gone for good! He was fired!
Aren’t many of us like Tunde? Don’t we pray to be rich so we can live it up on earth with the things money can buy, and hopefully find time to preach the Gospel or better still support the church with all the money we spare? Don’t we realise we’re all stewards of our resources – there’s no rich or poor? Nothing belongs to me. There are only two kinds of people – stewards of little and stewards of much. Let everyone who has anything, conduct his affairs with a huge sense of responsibility. I believe that it is in keeping our stewardship role faithfully that we qualify for more – as God chooses.
May we never consider ourselves rich or poor, in the world’s view. But may we begin to see ourselves through the eyes of Christ. So help us God.
Selah!
