The curse of any kind of valuable possession is its capacity to steal our hearts and souls. The heavier the purse, the tighter the strings. Is it fair to call most of us rich? According to our Methodist founder John Wesley, it is. He said that the word "rich" in the Bible means to have the necessities of life (food, shelter, and clothing) and then something left over. But here is part of the problem of us rich folks. We have increased the number of things we regard as necessities. We want three cars, two DVRs, four computers, a house at the lake, country club membership, and private school education. There are hundreds of things that we call necessities that our parents referred to as luxuries. The Bible says that shelter, food, and clothing are necessities. To have these and something left over, as almost all of us do, is to be rich.