Puttin’ On The Ritz

In Life Group tonight we talked about finances. We spent a little time going over what the Bible has to say about stewardship, responsibility, and money. If you believe in the God of the Bible you should believe that everything we have is Gods. No exceptions, everything we have, everything we worked for, everything we made, everything we’ve been given. ITS ALL HIS!

I will not be spending any more time on that concept, but I could talk for years on it. I am writing to talk about a story that one of the women in the group talked about.

She was talking about going on a vacation when she knew someone who worked at the Ritz Carlton. So they got a great deal and stayed there one night for the experience. She described her feeling as she watched people spend money as if it was free. People paying $80 for a cup of tea and desert like it meant nothing. She talked about her attitude as she questioned why these people could live so extravagantly when so many people are jobless, homeless, and hurting. Its like their concept of money is just ridiculous.

As I listened I was just thinking about how many times I have felt this way. How many times have we looked at what someone else spends their crazy money on and been frustrated at their choices, and their lifestyle. Have you ever done this? Can you relate?

Lets step back and change our perspective. If you are reading this you probably live in America. You have a roof over your head, clean water, and enough food to survive. You probably own a car, or a computer, or a cell phone that costs $50 a month. YOU ARE RICH! Most of the world would walk down your street and be in the Ritz. Why would we spend more money on a phone then 99% of the world gets paid? Seriously! 99% of the world makes less than the average American pays for their cell phone bill! The $2 we would spend for a glass of tea at a restaurant would feed an Ethiopian for two days. Think about that next time you order a $10 mixed drink. The car you drive…if you own your car it makes you wealthier than %90 of the world. If you are lucky enough to make a salary of $35,000 a year then you are in the top %1 of wealth in the world. YES, %1, that is not a typo. YOU ARE RICH!

You live in the Ritz.

Thank God! No matter how hard we work, we don’t deserve it. We are blessed as a people. We have won the lottery by being born in this amazing country. We are in a recession compared to our past, but still in the Ritz compared to our neighbors.