What is a rich wealthy person to do?

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If you are rich and wealthy like if you are a lawyer and your husband or wife is a doctor etc, and you are both devoted Catholics, and have ALOT OF MONEY and only 1 child, what are you to do with all your money? Would it be sinful to buy a new Range Rover or buy a boat etc? Isn’t it wasting money on things you don’t need? I mean there’s only so much you can give to charity, and what about buying a house? Are they supposed to live in a small apartment or buy a big house? Are all rich people sinners? Is it possible to be a good rich person under the eyes of God?
 
I mean don’t rich people feel bad when they hear " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"???
 
“Jesus said to him, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me.” Matthew 19:21.
 
It is very possible to be wealthy and be good in the eyes of God. The reason we’re told that it is harder for a rich man to enter Heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle is because money can easily become a false god. Oftentimes, the more someone has, the more they want; money becomes such a focus, that God becomes less of a focus, sadly. Those who have less or are poor tend to rely on God much, much more than those who have been blessed with abundance. To always be good stewards of what God gives us is very important. God wants us to be happy in our lives. He loves us, and loves seeing us smile; His desire is not for us to all be equally destitute, starving, naked, and homeless. If that were the case, who would help whom? God has given each of us talents and He gives us money, and we should use those blessings to glorify Him. In your example, performing medical work for the poor and needy for free, or for the lawyer to represent - for free - someone in need. We can clothe those who are naked, feed those who go hungry, shelter those whom we’re able, etc.

Put God first and know that any money or talents that you have are His and come to us as blessings from Him. Use them with this as your guide, and a wealthy person can most certainly be good in the eyes of God. Give generously of your abundance, and do it for His glory.
 
He also said ‘if you want to be perfect’. It seems to me the young rich man ultimately made a mistake in refusing Jesus’s offer, as he missed an opportunity to be Jesus’s disciple and follow the wisest of all teachers.
 
Having money per se is not a sin. The sin is.being attached to money and being attached to material possessions. Someone can be homeless but if that person has an spiritual attachment to money, that person is a.sinner. on the same token you can have someone who has lots of money that is not attached to material possessions. That person is not sinning. I don’t remember the name.but there is currently a Spanish Duke that is in the process of canonization who was a very rich man, and because he had money he did a lot of good, he shared his possessions with the poor and was very charitable.and helped thousands of people in Spain. Now he is heading to.the altars…precisely because he had money.

Personally both me.and my husband are lawyers and we do very good. We have two kids and we don’t live an extravagant life. My husband is very involved in charities.and we are teaching our kids that you have to share with others what God gives us. If God has blessed us with being able to do good, we have to thank God by sharing with the ones that don’t have. In fact my husband got a little upset the other day because at my daughter’s school they started a campaign to bring presents for the poor for Christmas but for each present the child that brings the present gets a reward. My husband didn’t like it because you should help others without expecting to receive a material reward. The joy of giving should be in giving itself abd that is what we want to teach our kids.

The problem is that unfortunately there are too many people attached to material things and have turned money and power into their God, and is very difficult for a.person with lots of money not to turn money into an idol, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t people in this world that have money and are in fact, poor in spirit.
 
tomarin said:
“Jesus said to him, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me.” Matthew 19:21.
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Actually the issue with the young rich man was that he was emotionally attached to money, that is why he got very sad. This passage is exactly about being emotionally attached to material things.
 
marymary1975 said:
Actually the issue with the young rich man was that he was emotionally attached to money, that is why he got very sad. This passage is exactly about being emotionally attached to material things.
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This is absolutely so. He had a chance to follow Jesus (imagine!) and he turned it down to hang onto his material riches. Because ultimately they were more important to him.

Also, let’s remember the Book of Job.
 
My wife and I have no kids. We live in a not-too-small, not-too-large house; just right for the both of us. We’re both gainfully employed, thanks be to God and we manage to save money. We are not in need, financially. We donate, and we also treat ourselves, such as by travelling.

We have what some people would call “plenty” of money locked away in investments, and we do not plan or intend to give this away as money we don’t need. Why? Because we know that, God willing, we will live to old age, and we will not be working forever. We will have to retire one day. So we let our money sit in our portfolios, get managed properly and earn in terms of value and divdends, in other words, to work for us so that when the time comes to retire, we will be self-sufficient in our retirement and burden no one and so that neither of us will have to work till we are 80.

So are we being stingy? Greedy? Misers? No. We are being prudent, by planning for our old age.
 
tomarin said:
This is absolutely so. He had a chance to follow Jesus (imagine!) and he turned it down to hang onto his material riches. Because ultimately they were more important to him.

Also, let’s remember the Book of Job.
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Exactly. And this unfortunately reflects the situation of people that have turned money into their God.
 
James 1:9 The brother in lowly circumstances* should take pride in his high standing,
10 and the rich one in his lowliness, for he will pass away “like the flower of the field".

Peace
 
Get what you need for the best interests of your family,
and prepare for retirement so that you are not reliant on social services that need to go for the poor.
Give wisely to a worthy charity that you judiciously choose.
 
hazcompat said:
James 1:9 The brother in lowly circumstances* should take pride in his high standing,
10 and the rich one in his lowliness, for he will pass away “like the flower of the field".

Peace
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Don’t be fooled by one of my large homes or the vehicle you see me driving…MY TREASURE IS IN HEAVEN.

I’d also advise you NOT to assume that someone who has more than plenty, was somehow magically born with a silver-spoon in their mouth. Many who have the luxury of monetary stability also know very well what it is to struggle to survive. And have been in dire straits worse than some whom you might consider poor. Many who have plenty still live a life of simplicity rather than extravagance. And many who are indeed very wealthy, you’d never know it by the way they live and conduct their life.

Sometimes people who appear to have wealth, in reality do not…they simply have good credit, but are no more wealthy than any average person who lives a less extravagant lifestyle. Appearances can sometimes be inaccurate.

There are very Godly righteous people who have been abundantly blessed and share their wealth with others, just like their are very Godly righteous people who are also blessed but have little who share what little they have with others. Both can be righteous and living a Godly life bound for heaven.

There are good and bad at both extremes of the monetary spectrum. No one should be judged or ridiculed by either the little they possess nor by the much they possess. We cannot know the hearts of either, nor can we know how God is working through each for some larger good.

By the way, don’t assume lawyers or doctors are all wealthy. I have both lawyers and doctors in my family and not all are successful on a large scale monetarily. Some are but not all.
 
Mardi_M said:
Get what you need for the best interests of your family,
and prepare for retirement so that you are not reliant on social services that need to go for the poor.
Give wisely to a worthy charity that you judiciously choose.
Click to expand...
Nicely put. I think it’s all about giving what you can, according to your resources. It’s best if people keep the idea of sharing with others in their live plan. After all, it’s not really ours, it all came from God, and you certainly can’t take it with you!
 
CHRISTINE77 said:
Nicely put. I think it’s all about giving what you can, according to your resources. It’s best if people keep the idea of sharing with others in their live plan. After all, it’s not really ours, it all came from God, and you certainly can’t take it with you!
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👍 This is oh so true. I’m reminded of Luke 12:48 …To those given much, Much is Expected… Yes, any abundance any of us have, came from God and should be used to aid, help, and hopefully lead others to Him who IS love and Truth, mercy, forgiveness and so much more.

I can recall a time long ago when due to someone’s beautiful love of God, I was given help or some kindness was extended to me when I needed it most. I have never forgotten my ‘angel’ and I work always to ‘pay it forward’ in hopes that the one who gave me aid, might be honored and blessed by God, for all the lives that have been affected positively as a direct result of their lovingly touching my life in a positive way. Thanks be to God!!
 
I couldn’t agree more. I’m a home builder and my family lives in a nice home.
Wife and two small girls. I’m truly blessed everyday not because of my financial gains but because I have time to spend with my girls. We feed the hungry, donate clothing, support children with no available Christmas coming their way. People often mistake me and my family because we live in a nice home as being rich. Please understand that everything that I have can go away in a split second. Politics and the market affect me greatly, I was raised by a dad that built houses in the seventies and eighties and there were times that we eat nothing but beans and potatoes for days, only source of heat was the wood we gathered from the forest behind the house. Life has ups and downs, help when you can and survive when you must. Always keep God first! Sorry about the rant but this type of conversation hits home with me.
 
TRUSTFUL SURRENDER TO DIVINE PROVIDENCE
by St. Claude de la Colombiere
  1. RECOURSE TO PRAYER
We are not forbidden to wish for money, material well-being and whatever is necessary to maintain us in our position in life, but we must wish for these things in their proper order. If we want our desires in this respect to be met without fail we must first of all ask for the larger things, so that while granting them He may also add the smaller ones.

…Let me show you a good way to ask for happiness even in this world. It is a way that will oblige God to listen to you. Say to him earnestly: Either give me so much money that my heart will be satisfied, or inspire me with such contempt for it that I no longer want it.

Peace
 
What is a rich person to do? Well give me all your money and I’ll show you! 😃
 
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