Personal Empowerment
Is God Pleased with Your Net Worth?
by Rosalyn H. Glenn
Net worth is described as the value
of an individual after she has added up all
she owns—home, cars, furniture, savings and
investment accounts, retirement accounts—
and subtracted all she owes—mortgage, car
payments, and loans. The resulting number is
her net worth. Not to be confused with selfworth, net worth has more to do with where a
person stands financially. Self-worth is defined
as how a person thinks about her usefulness
or importance to the world, value as a person,
or purpose in life. Self-worth and net worth
are often considered the same although they
are not. People often measure their self-worth
based on their net worth. They think, “The
more money I have, the more worth I have.” I
totally disagree with that sentiment; however,
I would argue that one cannot fully achieve
a positive self-worth without a positive networth.
A positive net worth is foundational
to maintaining a healthy self-esteem. In his
hierarchy of needs, Abraham Maslow indicated that esteem and self-actualization were
among patterns that human motivation runs
through after the physiological, safety, and
need to belong are met. When a person can
provide food and shelter for herself, feels safe
and secure both physically and financially,
feels a sense of love and belonging, feels
accepted and valued by others, and feels a
sense of accomplishment, she is said to have
a healthy self-esteem. The clincher here is
that it takes financial resources to achieve the
majority if not all of the aforementioned. It
takes money to buy food and shelter which to
a certain extent provides safety and helps a
person to feel secure. In order to engage with
others, belong and add value, and be valued it
takes some level of financial resources.
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