Can We Be Poor and Content?

ComparisonSelflessnessIdolatry
Written By Donald Simmons, CFP®

When being poor isn’t as bad as feeling poor

Once you have covered your basic financial needs such as food and shelter, being poor isn’t as bad for you as feeling poor.

American researcher Robert Sapolsky notes in this video that a person’s subjective socioeconomic status is far more critical to their health and well being than their objective socioeconomic status. What he means is that feeling poor is worse than being poor.

Comparison is the thief of joy

When you compare yourself to other people, how do you feel like you are doing financially? Your answer to this question can be an indicator of your overall health and happiness. Our society has become fixated on comparison and we are made to feel poor even though we are not poor.

People we don’t even know, such as popular media stars or other public icons, can make us feel poor, or even poorly about ourselves. We suffer from comparison to fictional characters in movies or advertisements or to the composites of success and good fortune we build from our social media feed.

The truth about idolatry and contentment

The apostle Paul writing to Timothy notes, “So, if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction” (1 Tim 6:8-9 NLT).

Have you ever heard someone, following a trip to an impoverished third world country, remark at how surprised they were by how happy the people they met seemed despite their poverty?

On the other hand, I am sure you can name more than a few Hollywood or music idols who have self-destructed in depression or drug addiction in the midst of great wealth.

God never intended for us to be consumed by wealth or money. But He knew that the idolatry of riches could bring many to ruin and destruction. Jesus reminded his followers that “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matt 6:24 NIV).

If there is a way to avoid the “ruin and destruction” Paul mentions to Timothy, we should be all in.

I think the best way to break the hold of materialism, greed, and financial self indulgence is to remember that we are blessed with resources so that we can bring blessing to others. Ruin and destruction are derailed when we take our eyes off of ourselves, starve our personal appetites, and instead feed the needs of those less fortunate.

What measure of status really matters?

The idolatry caused by comparison is just as destructive. No matter our socioeconomic status, we should be content in our status as children of the King and heirs to His kingdom in eternity. Paul reminds his friends in Philippi, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

Lord, help me to learn to be content, no matter my circumstances and to fix my eyes on you. Help me not to compare myself to others.

Donald Simmons, CFP®

Don has over thirty years of experience building and managing a boutique investment firm in upstate New York that he founded in 1988. A CFP® Professional with a degree in counseling and post graduate training as a portfolio asset allocation specialist, Don fuses professional portfolio strategy with investor psychology and behavior to provide a well-informed perspective on our role as Christian steward-investors.  With nearly a quarter billion dollars of assets under management, his firm consistently ranks among the top 1% of financial advisor practices in the United States. 

Being a fiduciary of his clients’ assets has enlightened Don’s understanding of our role as God’s “oikonomos”—His designated asset managers.  Additionally, Don believes that business itself is an incarnational witness, much like the ministry of Young Life through which Don began his own personal relationship with Christ and with which Don has been involved as staff, volunteer, and committee chair for over four decades.  

While serving as chief operations officer for a London-based Christian economic development fund,  Don observed firsthand the great chasm between societies where capital is hoarded in abundance compared to locations where it is in short supply and desperately needed to fulfill God’s redemptive plan. Don was responsible for coordinating a global management team that deployed dozens of mentors and coaches and financial capital to transformational businesses across more than twenty countries and among the most impoverished communities in the world. Furthermore, as he has traveled extensively both personally and professionally to dozens of frontier market countries since 2003, he’s gained an awareness of the physical and spiritual poverty that are too often met with ignorance and apathy of American Christians regarding their plight. 

Don’s passion for meeting these needs through the expansion of business as mission, as well as being a long-time steward of his clients’ assets, has led him to not only help his clients prepare for retirement, manage their wealth, and consider charitable giving, but also to help investors match their investment decisions to God’s purposes.  

Don has been married to Amy since 1989. Their home is a hub of activity for their four children and a steady stream of guests. In addition to family, Don’s passions include flying an antique (1948) seaplane, cooking pizza in his wood-fired pizza oven, and serving as a board member for numerous charities.

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