Multiple Options
On my way out of church yesterday, I saw a man turn onto Lime Kiln Road from Post Rd in a 2007 white Mercedez convertible. Immediately, I was thinking about the man’s status and how cool the car was. He was about 53 years old.
Why did I think that this man was ‘worth’ something? Then I thought, how would I consider this man if I saw him turning the corner in a beat up 1983 Toyota Corolla.
Same man in a different car? Or would that be a different man in a different car?
About five minutes later I saw a man driving a 2001 white Chrysler Sebring convertible. He was about 38 years old. This car is not close to the status of the first one.
How many options can you come up with as to why these men are in the status they are?
=pastor
Posted on October 12, 2007, in Random Mumbling. Bookmark the permalink. 14 Comments.
Robin Steele 
The 53 year old, has 15 years on the 35 year old ,more years of growing in wisdom and saving for what he wanted. Or maybe it was the job he held, provided more return.
I figure its all about what you want , and what you are willing to do to get it.
Maybe the 53 year old is up to his ears in debt, and the 35 year old saidsssss….
Its payed off now i can breath for a while. NO MONTHLY PAYMENTS!!!
I guess it depends on your outlook. I would look at the older guy and guess that he is in debt more than $50K. Sure the younger man doesn’t have as nice of a car but he probably owns his car. By the way, Dave Ramsey advises NEVER, EVER buy a brand new car. You drive it off the lot and it depreciates.
You could also look at it like this…. the older guy has probably already sent his kids to college and has them out of the house(they were having them when they were younger). The younger guy probably has 3 kids under the age of 10 and he is in a time of his life of sacraficing for his family.
Or maybe the younger guy lives his life by a different set of values than the older guy and “fancy” cars just aren’t that important.
This is a tough subject for me. I personally believe one’s status is only authentically manifest when the cognizance of opposed reality is embraced. The fall of Man enabled the acceptance of physical achievement as a standard for living. Thus we set margins or boundaries for ourselves that where not originally intended. With that said, I myself strive just as the next guy to effectuate what has been accepted as a reality. All the while enforcing these boundaries in society, as well as for those generations to come. My goal over the past two years has been to distinguish my status, in Christ. In doing so, I hope to make life more palatable for those to follow in my footsteps. So when they, as well as I set out in this vast arena of potential success I will be grounded in where my status really is. What has already been accomplished for me.
Of course the Mercedes Benz is cool! Anyone would look at that car and say wow! Even the driver … maybe he worked very hard toward a goal and this was his reward for that. He could have been planning and working a long time just to buy a Mercedes Benz and it just so happened that he couldn’t get it until 2007. The other guy well maybe that’s the same guy just 15 years earlier … working so that one day he can have his dream car. In my business, we are taught to dream and it’s okay to dream big. Dreaming drives us everyday to reach our goals. Set goals to reach your dream, break them down into workable steps and each day meet your goal. When your dream is a God-given dream, He blesses you and gives you the tools to reach your goals. The Mercedes Benz might not be his status symbol but a symbol of his hard work. So one man reached his dream and the other is still working on it. Could be … ?
Not to get off topic here, but I wanted to share something that I learned the hard way. I as well have done this very thing, saw what someone was driving or where they lived and wondered what they are worth,but it wasn’t until I discounted the little old man wearing old dirty jeans, and a shirt that you could see through that I learned that when we judge someone we are judged. This little old man was one of the richest men I have ever met, not only in and with money, but with his love for and service to God. I for one will not ever again judge a book by its cover. Sorry for taking us off topic.
Jesus said to lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy them.
The writer of Ecclesiastes said he had abundant treasures but none of it brought him fulfillment.
Ephesians says that God can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can think or ask…
If He can, we have to ask ourselves, why isn’t He doing exceedingly abundantly above all that I can think or ask??
Maybe be are NOT asking for the right things. I am not saying it is wrong to have a Mercedes, if God gives me one, I’ll enjoy it. But a Mercedes will not be my BIG dream (*Read the DreamGiver book by Bruce Wilkenson). Our God-given dreams can change the world. Too often, our goals and dreams do not reflect God’s ambition for us. And if we would just get with His program for our lives, all of this other “stuff” would just fall away. Like the old song says, “the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory…” It’s all just stuff.
In the BIG scheme of things our time on earth is a season of sowing. Whatever we live our life for here determines our harvest in heaven. Jesus also said to whom much is given, much is required.
This morning I heard this guy Art on Focus on the Family. He said he lost his families life savings in the stock market recently. He said he had been so proud of that savings and his identity was wrapped up in it. He felt like if he could not provide for his family then he was worthless. The problem with this mentality is when we find our identity in things other than God, then we tend to judge others by that standard as well. You cannot base your value on your portfolio, your savings account or the car you drive. (another good read…The Search for Significance)
So the guy in the ’83 Corolla…he could be a millionaire. It is a proven fact that most millionaires earned their money by working a regular job and saving the money over many years. These millionaires are extremely thrifty. Who knows?
Bill, you are not off topic at all. I know two individuals who are like your little old man, very wealthy but you would never know it. These folks have wisdom rarely found in our society which judges a person’s worth by their accumulation of things. One division of our company builds houses in the 20 million and up range for clients so wealthy a 2007 convertible Mercedes is no big deal, just transportation. I have also worked with the Mayan people in Southern Belize who consider a bicycle as transportation and somebody with a motor scooter as wealthy. Wealth and status are relative to a persons environment, but neither bring happiness or contentment
Let me get this straight…
most of you are saying that you don’t consider someone’s outward appearance or possessions to determine “who they are”?
I hope you’re writing that last comment tongue-in-cheek, Robin. But for the record, no, I don’t consider someone’s outward appearance or possessions as part of “who they are”. I have known people who are rich in the things of God who don’t have very attractive clothes or expensive cars. And I have known people who have attractive clothes and expensive cars who are spiritually bankrupt. And I’m not talking about “out in the world”.
😀
Did we “Say” too much?? No, I do not consider what a person has to determine who they are.
How about this question…
Do you think that opulence is a godly characteristic?
It doesn’t bother me so much if someone wants to buy a $5000 purse or even a $1000. I would carry one if someone gave it to me…but I would not spend the money on it. It would not be practical. There are so many other things that money could be to use for.
I think we got it Pastor, See you are teaching us well.
My goodness!!! I try not to judge someone by how they look or what they have, BUT I believe that most people are guilty of it to some degree—at some point in his/her life. Let us all be honest!!
It’s something I work on, because on a certain level, sure, I judge people by how they look. If a guy is standing on the corner with a cardboard sign and needs a bath, I assume he is a street person with no possions. If someone drives the expensive car, I assume they have a certain degree of ability and ambition. It’s not what resources we have that is important, it’s what we do with them for God’s Kingdom that is.
Solomon pondered the same thing when he wrote, “I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.” Ecc. 10:7
Before that, he wrote, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.” Ecc. 9:11