How Badly Do You Want To Be A Millionaire?

Do you think that you could be happy with one million dollars? Suppose you were given $1 million, with one stipulation. What would you buy? A new house? A pleasure boat? Undergo cosmetic surgery? Buy that beautiful luxury car that you have dreamed about? Yes, without question, becoming a millionaire could be tremendous fun, opening up many new opportunities for you.

But remember, I said "with one stipulation." What stipulation is that? Simply this: You would become a true, bank certified millionaire- but for only one day. After the end of that day, you have to give everything back. Return the house, the boat, the car, or whatever else you chose to purchase. You would also have to reverse the expensive cosmetic surgery.

Suddenly, becoming a millionaire does not seem as appealing, does it? Maybe it just does not seem worth the effort and the momentary enjoyment that wealth can provide if it is to be lost so quickly. We live in a world like this, however. We want what we want and we want it now. Interestingly, it has been observed that a mark of maturity is one's willingness to defer immediate gratification for long-run gain.

There are two distinctly different scoreboards in life, regardless of whether your vocation is in the business and professional world or an athletic field. The first scoreboard is found on "Planet Earth." It has at least four general categories: Beauty, Intelligence, Strength and Money. It is the standard the world uses to evaluate your worth.

Beauty equals external appearance: This relates to your physical appearance, the clothes you wear, whether your spouse or "significant other" is attractive to others. "Beauty" also concerns whether your house, car, personal attire, children, work or hobby possessions inspire admiration and envy.

Intelligence relates to mental capacity and skill, real and imagined. For the past 200 years, doors of opportunity were often opened based on the college attended and the degrees earned. Now a "killer-concept" (such as innovations that started enterprises like Federal Express, Apple Computer, Microsoft and Google) can open those same doors. Today, as never before, one creative or innovative idea can change your life.

Strength pertains to physical strength, physical appearance and physical health. You cannot fully enjoy the other aspects of life if you are not healthy.

Money often equals power. It's amazing how we envy and cater to people with money. Dollars open doors - providing the best seats in restaurants, special attention at social events, and deference in important meetings.

But the harsh reality is that this life on earth, no matter how enjoyable, is a vapor. Psalm 102 says: "My days are like a shadow that lengthens and I wither away like grass."

Our life spans, compared to eternity, are as fleeting as steam escaping from a tea kettle. We spend our lives playing according to the Planet Earth scoreboard, but one day, sooner than we can imagine, everything is going to vanish. It will all be replaced with the second scoreboard. The score there is tallied by different standards, based on our "relationship with God, through Jesus Christ", and how we responded to His call to "Come and follow Him." Eternity for us individually begins here in our own awareness of it. Where will you be spending eternity? In union with God or separation from Him.

St. Paul explains it this way: "And just as it is appointed for people to die once and after this, judgment" (Hebrews 9:7). "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10).

Suddenly, beauty, intelligence, strength and money will become useless.
St. Augustine sums it up very well; "The love of possessions is a sort of a trap, which entangles the soul and prevents it flying to God."

Sooner or later we will discover that the Planet Earth scoreboard alone, is just not worth the effort.

Comments

[green321]

What is this ‘judgement’-al commentary doing on HP? I’m open to viewpoints from pastors, priests, monks, rabbis, etc. that take into account there are other views on spirituality than their own and expected such views and articles posted here but was sadly disappointed by the narrow-mindedness of the writer…we get enough of that from the Christian-centric mainstream media.

[ShawnMichel]

Well said, Father Bakas, especially considering the rampant materialism that the Huffington Post espouses on almost every single 'Living' article.

It's good to see an alternative for once, one that speaks the truth.

[KillgoreTrout43]

It all boils down to whether one believes this hocus-pocus about sitting in judgement before Christ. Sounds like a real far out scenario.
And Heaven is right here on Earth, and so is hell. Our actions have consequences in the here and now. Why does religion decide that non-believers can just do as they please, without consequences other than the divine ones? We all have to pay the piper, right here and now. A ghostly court held in the sky, to determine my tab, that I ran up, here on earth? Far out!

[OtayPanky]

KillgoreTrout43: Our actions have consequences in the here and now.

===

That's self evident Kilgore...but that's not what's under discussion.

Clearly (for example) George Bush's actions don't seem to have consequences for HIM...unless he's got some terminal disease, and I just didn't get the memo. He seems like a pretty chipper fella, all around, wouldn't you say?

Brother Bakas is talking about inevitable consequences based on our actions in some future time and place - some not here, not now spacetime point.

Those would be describable as KARMIC consequences. As you sow, so shall you reap...and so on. The question is, is there such a mechanism in the universe...or not?

(Take your time. No need to answer quickly).

The question(s) about whether there is or is not some life experience for each of us after death truly a separate question. Let's ask that one too...but not conflate it with the other one.

[joebiz]

The wealthiest and most powerful religion in the world is the Catholic Church. And, while it exercises its Beauty, Strength, Power, and Money a child dies from hunger every 5 seconds.

How is the Church repsonsible? It places a higher value on the 4 concepts above than on the curing the effects of them. Church Doctrine keeps the Third World enslaved.

It says that AIDS is bad, but condoms are worse. Go ahead bring more children to suffer to in this world.

See the video at your risk:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yiGGFcUJRQo

[Jonahson]

HuffPo becoming another evangelist blog?

[larry278]

Money may not buy happiness but it does put you in a position to negotiate a short term lease.

[lewes17266]

I hope I am compassionate and humane above all else.

Carrying the name "Christian" does not entitle that person to special privileges or authority to dictate the lives of others. Carrying the name "Christian" does the opposite, no matter what famous millionaire preachers tell us.

I hope these years of war and loss and pain have brought us toward a desire for peace and reconciliation. I am so tired of the Religious Right's stronghold on democracy with misuse of scripture for political maneuvering.

I like the St. Augustine quote very much. I wish our celebrity Christians would consider it.

[Pacific231]

I hope people don't waste time typing snarky posts declariing a loophole in Bakas' little one-day millionaire challenge. Posts that all-too accurately cite examples of jaw-dropping Christian hypocrisy on the matters of money and material wealth (Joel Olsteen says God WANTS us to be rich, right?!), that too is not the key problem with this misguided posting.

No, the key problem is Bakas' suggestion that the "score" after one's death will be "tallied by different standards, based on our 'relationship with God, through Jesus Christ', and how we responded to His call to 'Come and follow Him.'"

Fr. Bakas, you seem like a nice, well-meaning guy. I am not being sarcastic there. But America has suffered enough at the hands of rigid Christian monotheism. Whether you intended to or not, you just made it clear that there is no place in the heaven you believe in for Jews, Buddhists, Agnostics, Hindus, Muslims, etc. etc.

If you keep doing what you've been doing, you're going to keep getting what you've been getting. Instead of this kind of Christian exclusivism (which the Catholics take to an even greater extreme), how about Christians try something new, namely....­tolerance?