Whether you have $1 or $1 billion, you will never have enough.
The answer to the question, “How much money do you need?” always seems to be, “Just a little bit more.”
What’s really going on here?
Money is the mask through which everything gets funneled through. Money is the marker, the visible sign of success and yet, it’s only a tool. It pays the bills, puts food on the table and clothes us, but it can’t give us the intangible things we want: freedom, happiness, love, respect and so on.
Sure, it’d be nice for many of us to wake up and never have to worry about money and goodness knows there are enough people in the world struggling to make ends meet. Having to make the choice of whether a family eats or pays their rent is never a situation one would want to put themselves in.
Yet, money amplifies all the other conditions of our brokenness because of what it represents. It drives jealousy, can put us in the grave, causes us to compare with others, breaks apart families, hurts you because of past mistakes with it, puts rifts in friendships, causes tension in relationships and can casts you in an economic social strata of society from which you are stuck.
“If only I had a little more….”
You would still want a little more and it wouldn’t solve your problems. Having your personal self worked out is always the first step in learning how to deal with money. Money only amplifies what’s going on inside of you. If you’re bitter and resentful towards society, money amplifies it. If you’re gracious and thankful for life, money will amplify that as well.
Take care of yourself first, even if that just means eating a proper meal. If you’re in a better position in life, learn how to take care of others, even if that just means providing a proper meal to one in need.
Learn how to use money as a tool and not as a means or an end.
The rest will take care of itself.