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The Necessity of Wealth - Why You Should Be Rich

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Are you afraid to say that you desire to be rich? Does it seem like everyone is going around behaving like they shun wealth and yet they are trying very hard to get wealthy? The lack mentality is something that is often regarded as humility, but it is actually the cause of much misery.

While we all admire people that are wealthy and almost everyone wishes to drive a car like that person or live in a house like so and so, it is a wonder that speaking of this desire explicitly is something that we mostly shy away from. The majority of people, if asked whether they desire to be rich, will say something to the effect that they do not want to be rich, but simply want to be “comfortable.” Only a minority would comfortably say they want to be rich.

The necessity of wealth – the misled Christian view

There are several reasons for this. The strongest is that from a cultural and misled “Christian” perspective, wanting to be rich is seen as being equal to greed and gluttony. There has been a long tradition of teaching that the rich cannot please God and cannot enter into heaven for one reason or another. Poverty has been erroneously substituted for humility and spirituality. The often misquoted phrase “money is the root of all evil” comes to mind, when in fact the correct quote should be that “the love of money is the root of all evil.”

But, as Wallace D. Wattle observed in his book The Science of Getting Rich, “You must get rid of the last vestige of the old idea that there is a Deity whose will it is that you should be poor, or whose purposes may be served by keeping you in poverty…It is the desire of God that you should get rich. He wants you to get rich because he can express himself better through you if you have plenty of things to use in giving him expression. He can live more in you if you have unlimited command of the means of life.”

The necessity of wealth – love's full expression

Wattle, in this very enlightening classic, explains that to live fully a man must love and “love is denied expression by poverty.” The reason for this is that love finds it's most natural expression in giving and in order to give to those we love we must have all the necessities and luxuries of life at our disposal. Besides, how can you hope to help the poor and needy if you yourself are in their shoes? Get rich; that is the best way you can help the poor.

The necessity of wealth – fear is a hindrance

Another reason people keep their desire to get rich secret is that they are afraid and in fear. They are afraid that they might fail to attain the wealth they desire and they doubt their ability to acquire that wealth. It seems far safer not to express the desire, lest someone should know about it and their shortcomings become evident if they fail. Because of this they choose to hide or suppress the desire and behave like they are content to just get by and be comfortable. Yet secretly they are buying lottery tickets and scheming about how to get that lucky break. The thinking seems to be that it is wrong to want to be rich, but if you happen to stumble upon wealth or God blesses you with it, then that's okay: you're just one lucky guy.

The necessity of wealth – desire to get rich

This view of wealth and being rich is a huge hindrance to its attainment. It is a view that any dreamer should not hold. You should desire to be rich and have the faith and courage to know that you can be rich.

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