Most people tend to think that money and fame are the things that we need the most. However, the most important thing in life are our relationships.
As I look back on my time in Operation Mobilization the one thing that has been highlighted to me has been relationships that I have formed over the years with many in different parts of the world. That is worth more than all the money in the world.
Often, we think that we would be happier if we had more things in our life to enjoy, but this never brings true joy or deep satisfaction in our life. It is like Rabbi Daniel Lapin brings out that “genuine relationships with other people produce wealth. Wealth never produces genuine relationships.” A good example of this is the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis.
We see that Jacob honored his younger son greatly and the brothers were very envious of him because of that. So when they had the chance they sold Joseph as a slave and then we read in Genesis 37:26, “So Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?’” What this brings out to me is that the brothers saw wealth more important than relationships. When the brothers came to Egypt (during the famine in their own land) to buy food from Joseph – Joseph returned their money. Twice this happened and it could very well be that Joseph was trying to teach his brothers that relationships are more important than wealth.
One of the things that we need to be working on is building ‘genuine’ relationships. When building relationships, it is not what we can get out of it, but how we can be a blessing to others. Like it was mentioned before, that in God’s language (as Rabbi Daniel Lappin calls it) some of the Hebrew words can be read forward as well as backwards, having different meanings.
The Hebrew for ‘wealth’ read backwards means ‘wicked.’ Isn’t that interesting. Wicked and wealth are connected. We see this coming out when Paul tells Timothy, “The love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”.(1 Timothy 6:10) To me this brings out how wealth can be used for wickedness, or that wealth can be acquired by one’s own wicked ways; which in turn causes many sorrows in both cases. For many their faith in the Lord has been shipwrecked, they no longer walk with the Lord. People who had great wealth are known to also have had broken relationships in their marriage, family and friendships; all torn apart because of “the love of money.”
Our healthy relationships are the most important wealth there is to acquire in life. First, with our God. Second, within our nuclear and extended family, and within the family of God, as well as with our co-workers, customers, employers, etc.