Thought for the week: Be rich in good deeds and be generous and willing to share
It may well have escaped your notice – but Tesla – the American electric car maker – recently granted its chief executive Elon Musk 29 billion dollars worth of its shares, in an attempt to keep him at the firm.
Yes, you read that correctly… 29 billion dollars of a pay deal, which works out at over £21 billion. For the record, the average wage in Northern Ireland is around £35,000 per annum.
Just reading about this pay deal inevitably raised the question in my own mind. What is enough – and when do we know that we have enough?
Our general experience is that when we acquire more of something, we still want that little bit extra. And if that comes, we are often still not satisfied, and are very reluctant to say that we have enough. There seems to be an insatiable desire for more money; extra status; and, of course, ever more things, especially the latest models. For example, do we really need the 118 items of clothing in the wardrobe of the average adult in the UK?
Jesus lived in a community which was much less affluent than our own, and so His words speak powerfully to our materialistic age.
He said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’
And we are told by the Bible Gospel writers that while foxes had dens and birds their own nests as "home", Jesus himself had "no place to lay his head". He never complained.
A lifestyle of ‘more’ is always very attractive. Having more paints a picture of success, promises happiness; helps our self-esteem and our status. And the marketing of ‘more’ is well captured in the oft used phrase ‘retail therapy’, where shopping and well-being are clearly linked. And with Christmas just over 70 days away, the pressure to buy will be steadily increasing, to apparently celebrate the birth of baby born in the shed of a farm.
As a Christian, I am called to bring a generous spirit to using everything I have, for as Psalm 24 puts it – "the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it". The Bible beautifully captures the privilege of generosity rather than greed when it tells me to "be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share."
As each day gets under way, I realise that I need to consciously look out for people and situations where I can live out those principles of generosity. And to do so in a way that honours the Lord, rather than bringing praise to me.
For as Luke makes clear in his gospel, to whom much is given, much is expected. That is a serious responsibility, but living it out would show that I really do have enough, and to share!