Servanthood = Poverty?

So, this is something I've wrestled with personally and have only recently come to terms with...say in the past year or so.

Why do people insist on people/companies/organizations in service being broke or breaking even?

I know the answer to this question, but it perplexes and slightly annoys me. I mean, my thinking is this - as a person who is doing exceptional work in the world, serving people, changing lives, etc, , I deserve to be very handsomely compensated for my work. After all, I am creating value and adding to the lives of others.

I've seen this "Why do they make so much?" mentality a LOT with clergy, nonprofits, etc. Nonprofit shouldn't mean poor and struggling!!! But in this country, it does. People seem to associate corporations with greed while associating nonprofits with just scraping by. Why can't those who are doing meaningful work be paid well?

The thing about it is that there are a lot of people who ARE doing great work and are being paid well, but that's often because they keep their earnings under wrap.

I run a company that teaches teen girls how to successfully transition to womanhood...people assume we're a nonprofit, but we're not. The work we do SERVES young women and transforms lives - that's important! And it's economically viable.

I believe that God's children should live abundantly...after all, isn't that why Jesus came? Why, then, do we insist on pastors and other people barely squeezing by and even become resentful and indignant if they make 6 figures or better? They deserve to be WEALTHY! They deserve to have overflow!

I think part of the issue is this fear of not having enough...people almost subconsciously feeling that when the pastor/socially conscious entrepreneur/nonprofit founder has more, everyone else has to have less. But the reality is that the same way those people create value and are in turn compensated, others can be too.

I also think there's some strange idea that once the accumulation of money pass a certain point, it becomes evil. Money is amoral...it's neither good nor bad. Money is an energetic form of expression...if you are a generous and kind person, having more money gives you more opportunities to express that. If you're a selfish, arrogant jerk, then money only places the magnifying glass over that.

Financial abundance is not a bad thing...and there's nothing wrong with people who are servant leaders living well. If people feel guilty about another person's value creation, it may be time to evaluate whether they are truly living their passions and doing so at the highest level so as to create their own abundance. While those who are in the middle can be too self-righteous to give to the poor yet too noble to have as much money as the wealthy, I've never seen the wealthy criticizing another wealthy's wealth!

In short, you can't help the poor if you're one of them! Money provides more opportunities to express yourself and insisting that people in servant leadership positions avoid abundance is a reflection of one's own attitude towards money and abundance.

Just my opinion...for today. :-)