Have you ever played the “Would You Rather…” game? It pits two opposing choices against each other and people go around and decide which one they’d rather have and why.
It’s a good ice-breaker and a fun game to hear people’s insights.
That’s exactly what I’d like to do this weekend – play the “Would You Rather” game and hear your points of view.
At first glance this looks like an easy question – I mean who really wants to be extremely poor!?
In order to play the game effectively you have to think about the implications of both:
If you’d rather be filthy rich, do you think that would lead to pride, arrogance, self-sufficiency and perhaps even an indifference toward God?
Or would it lead to doing more good and giving to the poor.
If you chose extreme poverty do you think that would lead you down the road of anxiousness, hating God for your situation or even stealing to meet your needs?
What Scripture Says
Here’s a couple of interesting verses to consider as we wrestle with this question:
…give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.
And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
So, it seems like Scripture would have us go with a balanced view here. Neither poverty nor riches, just enough to get by each day.
What I Would Choose
I’d try to go with the balanced view of Scripture found in Proverbs, but if I had to pick one – the pious side of me could justify both.
On the one hand, if I was rich think of all the good I could do and poverty I could help eliminate.
On the flip side, think of how big my faith would be because I’d have to trust in God for every meal and after all - God has a heart for the poor and marginalized.
But would I really do that much good or would I really have a deep faith in God’s provision and sovereignty?
What About You – Which Would You Choose?
Now it’s your turn! I purposely didn’t give a full answer of what I’d choose because I’d like to hear your insights into this question.
So, which is it – Would You Rather Be Filthy Rich or Extremely Poor – and why?
I’ll take the filthy rich. As it is, I have no complaints about life, we have decent incomes. If my wife doubled hers, We’d not increase lifestyle, I’d just retire early.
“Filthy rich” would let me do some crazy good charity things. I hear a public radio guy start to talk about funding the podcast, $150K, I’d send a check and tell him he can promote other causes during that time.
I hear a house of worship got burned down somewhere, an anonymous check arrives to fund reconstruction. I’d be the opposite of Trump, my name would not get out at all, and acts of charity likely never even connected, as they’d be pretty random.
I’ve never been a car person, all the money in the world and a Ferrari wouldn’t even occur to me.
We’ve peaked on housing. A downsize would be great. And that would only reduce our budget.
Yes, show me the money.
Joe
This question was posted on FiLife http://www.filife.com/answers/would-you-be-rich-or-poor/18222
I’ll have to give you the same answer I gave there. I’ve heard the concept before I read Mark Cuban’s blog but he wrote a post called “The Most Patriotic Thing You Can Do” http://blogmaverick.com/2009/08/13/the-most-patriotic-thing-you-can-do/
I have to agree with Mark. What do you think?
I’ll take filthy rich. I would love to not have to worry about the needs o f my family. I would be equipped to bless others as well.
Jason,
I’d have to go with filthy rich.
I’ve spent too much time with the extremly poor. The poor have no voice, no rights, and often times little hope.
One question – can us use my riches to help the poor? Is that a legal move in this game? Because I’d like to have my cake and eat it to – get an absurd amount of money and then give it away. If I gave it away I don’t know if I could be filthy rich any more.
Thanks for weighing in everyone! I see a lot of the same responses – I didn’t think anyone would really want to be extremely poor. Craig, as a missionary to the poor you’ve got some great perspective on this.
Giving your money to the poor is definitely a legal move in this game and I’m glad everyone is thinking along those lines. It would be great to give and help.
A couple of further thoughts on this – Most of us are filthy rich compared to the rest of the world (don’t believe me? check out globalrichlist.com and type in your salary). That said, are we currently at a point where we are giving away our money to help the needy? Can we be doing more?
If we’re not a generous people to begin with, I’m not so sure that if winning the lottery and becoming filthy rich will change our hearts.
I know how wicked my own heart is and I’m afraid that if I was filthy rich I’d be totally self-sufficient, would have no need to rely on God and would probably struggle with pride as well. I’d like to say how generous I’d be and sure I’d give money away, but how much would I be willing to part with? I’m not sure.
That being said, I wouldn’t want to be extremely poor either!
I like the balanced view of neither riches nor poverty referenced in the Scriptures above.
If I have to make a choice one way or another, I’d take rich! There’s more that can be done when you’re rich, and that includes reaching out to the world with the word.
Truth be told, I only want as much as will sustain my family while keeping us walking in faith. It may be a sweeping statement, but too much money can turn us away from faith to pursue our own goals. It isn’t that money is bad in and of itself, only that the throne the world puts it on is hypnotic and distracting.
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