Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone. Thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch. And in today's episode, we're talking about getting rich slow, and we're asking, is there a boring way to make millions? This is based on an article I read in The Wall Street Journal recently about the so called stealthy wealthy, which is people you don't think of as being wealthy who actually are.

You may not know this, but many top 1% earners in The United States, built their wealth by owning mid sized businesses. And not just mid sized businesses, but mid sized businesses in overlooked sectors. Like, for example, the CEO of National Flooring Equipment, which is a company that sells, get this, carpet removing machines to schools because after all, schools are full of carpet and kids are hard on carpet, so their machines actually remove carpeting from schools. That company will now sell about $50,000,000 annually. $50,000,000 annually for carpet removing machines to schools.

Another guy, David McNeil, turned his garage based floor mat company, a company that made custom floor mats for people's cars, into the giant WeatherTech, which is projected to make 800,000,000 this year. Larry Fleming made his living as a Wendy's fast food franchiser and has now turned that into a beverage distribution company that owns 64% of the market share in Oklahoma. Now why do I bring this up? Could this possibly be spiritual in any way? Absolutely.

When I was reading this article, it made me think of the book of Proverbs. Because the book of Proverbs is often telling us this way is good and this way is bad. This way works and this way doesn't. And one of the things it routinely points us to in places like Proverbs twelve twenty four is diligence. The hand of the diligence will rule, the writer of Proverbs says.

What does he mean? It will for a long time in our culture, we have focused on what looks wealthy or what looks successful instead of what actually is. We assume people who drive nice cars and own big homes are wealthy when in fact they might be in crippling debt. And we ignore the people who slowly and surely show up for work every day, build their company, hire people, grow, and actually become wealthy. We're infatuated with appearances instead of substance, but this story is about people who put in the work day in and day out.

And as a result, they are realizing that the book of Proverbs is right. Diligence really does pay off. And I say this because most of us well, I shouldn't say most of us. I love my job. But many of you listening might not be working in the job you dreamed about when you were a child.

But Colossians reminds us in chapter three verse 23 that all work matters when Paul tells us to work harder heartily as unto the Lord. It's the daily appreciation of the work in front of us and of doing it with excellence that not only glorifies God and benefits our neighbors, some of whom are customers, but actually leads to success. This is what Paul was telling Timothy in first Timothy six when he tells him to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and willing to share. It's the day to day grind. It's the customer by customer service.

It's the seriousness with which we we pursue the work in front of us instead of chasing the image of wealth on TikTok or Instagram or anywhere else. The Bible calls us to a kind of diligent humility. Zechariah four says, do not despise small beginnings. That's because that's where millionaires often start. We're so busy trying to jump from zero to a hundred that we forget the process of going from zero to 100 is what forms us all along.

By the way, this is not a just a business principle. This is a marriage principle, a parenting principle, a spiritual growth principle. You do not get from where you are to where you want to be by leaping forward. You do it minute by minute, day by day, conversation by conversation, act of service by act of service. Our country is an incredible land of opportunity.

And time and time again, it is the diligent, the faithful, the regular, the hardworking who not only get prosperous, but stay prosperous. What's the work in front of you today? Crush it for the glory of God and for your future. Hey. Thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up.

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Have an article you’d like Pastor Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!