How To Be RICH? – Start GIVING!

Headlines surround me with the enticing message of how to get rich. Those same headlines say, to be happy I need the newest and best “stuff”. I am tempted to focus my admiration on people who are richer than me. Most people think of someone as rich if they make double what they do. It’s called the Doubling Up Wealth Theory. If we make $30,000 we think someone who makes $60,000 is rich.

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But who is really rich?

We spend so many years trying to get rich but we rarely realize how rich we already are. On a worldwide scale, we ARE rich.

The statistics are staggering. More than half the world’s population lives on less than $2 per day.Go to Global Rich List and insert your family income. If you earn more than $30,000, you’re in the top 2% of all individuals in the world. If you earn more than $40,000, you’re in the top 1%. To poor people in the rest of the world, anyone from the west is “rich.” Bill Gates or you.

Once we realize we’re rich, where do we learn how to be rich?

Who Else Wants To Be A Millionaire?

As a luxury homebuilder, I observed something very odd. People buying million dollar homes often didn’t have much wealth – they just had large incomes.

They pulled into the sales office in a luxury automobile and coveted the appearance of wealth. But wealth is much different than income. Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend. (Remember my Italian mentor from my first job….. )

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Have you dreamed of owning a nicer home? We all love things of beauty. I made my living in the housing industry by identifying a profitable niche. I loved building big, great quality, beautiful homes and neighborhoods. They were my art. However, there is a balance in being able to afford things in the short term and being able to accumulate wealth in the long term.

Who Else Wants To Go To Heaven?

Do you believe ‘all roads lead to heaven’? How about ‘good people go to heaven’?

A recent poll suggests that on a worldwide basis, 80% of people believe in a god. They say it doesn’t matter which god you worship, as long as you believe in a god. Most people are afraid of death and believe that everybody spends forever somewhere. Many of them believe that where you spend eternity is based on our good deeds on earth. This of course raises the question of – how good is good enough?iStock_000003104895Small

Have you found yourself wondering the same thing? Good people go to heaven, right?  At first, this seems logical. However, many people, even Christians haven’t thought it through. They aren’t sure! Some Christians I know, when asked if they are assured of their salvation (going to heaven) say things like “I sure hope so”, or “I don’t really know.” Many people wonder “what is salvation”? Or they wonder about assurance of their salvation.

How To Find Work You Love

Have you figured out how to find work you love?  Recently, Forbes magazine reported  up to 70% of Americans hate their jobs.

Like most people, I have experienced jobs that were less than engaging for me. I’ve been an infantryman, commercial fisherman, laborer, bricklayer and carpenter.  Then I was blessed to find work I love. First as an entrepreneur home builder with our company Land Ark Homes. Now as a blogger.

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We often imagine finding work we love but do you know what to look for?

Picture yourself getting paid to do something that thrills you. That you are good at. That society values. When you find work you love, it shows.

“Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.”

Proverbs 22:29

What Does Success Mean To You?

We measure it, strive for it, endlessly compare ourselves to others’ and often it requires great sacrifice – but what is success anyway? Look up the definition and success is: “setting a goal and achieving it.” Sound reasonable? Well that’s true until one starts to think about what goals we should strive to achieve? Our world usually defines success in terms of money, fame, popularity, followers, etc. but let’s take a more alternative view of it.

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Charles Stanley offers a great definition of success that I love in his book “Success God’s Way.” He defines success as “The continuing achievement of becoming the person God wants you to be and accomplishing the goals God has helped (or directed) you to set.” This is very different, almost counter intuitive, from society’s view.