Last time we talked about how Naval mentioned the priority of Wealth over money and status… But we also determined that it is Wisdom that takes highest priority, even over wealth.
We arrive at Wisdom by way of understanding the Truth of who God is, and the Truth of who we are:
God is who He says He is, while we are creation infinitely inferior to our Creator.
He is infinite in power, eternal in wisdom, timeless and boundless, but as He is everlasting, so He loves us with an everlasting love.
He has guaranteed this, and we are bold to say this because of no less than His only Son, Jesus Christ.
We arrive at Wisdom by way of loving as Christ loves us, overflowing in life for the entire world, just as Christ overflows us with life.
With this in mind, we soldier on.
Previously, Naval mentioned that if we secretly despise wealth, it will elude us. Now, I wanted to clarify that this, in my mind, means that we’re to respect wealth for what it is – just like anything else in this world, it’s a tool, or something that would make life more efficient. Life is more efficient with money, more efficient with a car, more efficient with relationships with the right people, and knowledge and skill developed over time. Tools, all.
Here, I’m seeing that Naval warns us that those who do play ‘status games’ – or, those who may be prioritizing ‘status’ as their ideal tool – are not necessarily to be avoided, but to be ignored; And they’re to be ignored for the reason that there is the tendency that they advance in their status by going against folks who have wealth creation as one of their priorities.
It’s a twist against this mindset that we have, especially here in the country I live in, where who you know matters more than what you know. It’s as if to say that wealth creation is not without a degree of integrity, and we’re better off developing ourselves over kowtowing to others for a good reputation. I think that’s what it is – Integrity is to be prioritized over reputation… because wealth follows, and eventually, reputation follows.
Man, this hits hard – especially after I just signed on to work a part-time job. But the way I see it, I’m going to need to rent out some of my week so I would have finances for projects for the rest of the week.
That’s the reason why I’m jumping into this whole ‘tweetstorm’ for my thoughts on each of Naval’s tweets because out of all this I believe we’re going to get a good framework of what equity, or what pieces of business need to be established.
Besides, right now, I think that the time I’m ‘renting out’ is well spent, considering it is a specified ‘overflow’ out of the wisdom we’ve been given from and in Christ – being overwhelmed by His goodness, we serve the good people by way of assisting them with non-emergency medical transport. When I see it this way, I’m not ‘renting out’ my time more than I’m choosing to give it to help people out… and the money just follows.
And up until now I’m praying for the wisdom to allocate what I do make on a monthly basis, just so that I’m able to attain said ‘financial freedom’.
….and you know what, let’s go ahead and clarify something here. That’s been such a buzzword for me, and I’ve lost a lot just trying to get said ‘financial freedom‘; and I’m not about to encourage anyone else to want this same thing.
I’ve had the opportunity to have plenty, and I’ve also had the opportunity to be a good steward with what I received, only to drown in a desperate cycle of trying to establish ‘guaranteed’ ‘streams of income’, and reckless, short-sighted spending when these ‘investments’ fail.
And now that I mention all this, well, that’s also why I’ve been willing to rent out my time – because sure, I used to have plenty, now I barely have anything.
After it all, folks, I’ve come back to this: 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.Philippians 4:11-12
What I’m proposing here (to myself, mostly) is that it’s not financial freedom that’s the goal.. but it’s contentment, or freedom from the love of finances – that’s what we ought to aim for…
…and guess what, in Christ, it’s already been given to us. The mere fact that we’ve been given wisdom to understand that God is above all things, and everything else has its functions that ultimately point to Him – well, that’s already set us free from putting money, wealth, finances, sex, power, influence, people, ourselves, and/or anything else on a pedestal where God is.
So what’s the point of me going any further here? Well, it’s just that we’re still in this world, and in order for us to do well in our dealings here, we ought to consider the same mindset that Solomon had – that is, in the face of all that we have before us, we recognize our weakness and God’s strength, and we place our trust and dependence upon Him.
That’s wisdom. That’s contentment – it’s depending on the Lord, and understanding the place of… well, everything and everyone else.
So we’re free, but we’re also moving towards freedom (insofar as freedom in this world is concerned, ‘financial’ and/or from any other aspect).
I hope I’m making sense here. This is, after all, me taking a look at this tweetstorm more in-depth, from a viewpoint of Christ and His finished work.
In a way, I hope I’m seeing how all this points to Christ, and I hope I’m not only analyzing it theoretically; Eventually, may all this translate to action.
May all this translate to projects.
Stopping here for now. Until the next post, I pray that the Lord just continues to bless us with revelations and favor. Amen. Amen.
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