I post this topic in this forum because I want to hear opinions from both Christians and non-Christians.
I have been relatively poor almost all my life. I am now 32 years old. However, for 2 years in my life (20-22) I managed to earn more money than the average people in my home country (Bulgaria) by playing poker on the internet. I was obsessed with making money, 24/7 I was thinking about how to make money. I did not think of anything else. I became a very greedy and bad person. I was thinking about making money by fraud and theft. Thank God I did not do that because God cured me of this greed.
Now I work as a gardener full-time and as a graphic designer part-time and I like my jobs. I manage to live well in my own eyes. I consider myself a relatively poor person - I live with my mother in a nice and big flat, I don't have a car, but I have a nice bike, computer, tablet for my work, nice sports equipment because I play a lot of sports in my free time. I live in a nice location, I have big grocery stores near me, a forest for walks, places I can play sports, pools, spa centers, everything I want.
Most of all - I want to be healthy - there is no fortune bigger than that. And I think I am in a good health - I just have some very minor issues. I get well with my colleagues and my supervisors in my workplaces. I get well with my relatives and friends. The only thing I lack is more money.
There are a lot of scriptures in the bible that warns us against wanting to become rich (you can search them). It is considered vanity. God warns us that He will never forget nor forsake us (The Christians).
That's why I intentionally want to keep myself relatively poor for the following reasons:
- being rich makes me arrogant and proud. I don't like that.
- having a lot of money means there will be a lot of people wanting to steal them. This thought makes me nervous. I won't be able to sleep well. I don't like to have expensive possessions - I will get very angry if someone steals them.
- having a lot of money does not guarantee you happiness. I could get ill or something bad may happen in my life and no money is gonna change that.
- making a lot of money means I have to work more and have great success. However, there are so many people that will get jealous of it. I find it very hard to resist the envy and jealousy of others.
- I may die tomorrow or after 70 more years, and the thought I would leave a lot of money behind me drives me angry. I don't want anyone else to get the money I have worked so hard for free.
- Also, I just go through this life in the hope of the eternal one. I want once I die to say to myself 'Finally I get rid of the hard life, here comes the eternal life of happiness.' I see no need for any possessions more than I need for my very basic needs.
- by being poor very few people respect me. But now I know - whoever respects me now is because of my personality, not because they can get something out of me because I am rich.
I live in a society where almost everyone wants to be rich. Does someone else share the same thoughts as me? Please share your opinion.