For much of my life I had 20/20 vision.  That changed in my 40’s and now I have trifocals for reading seeing close and seeing distance.  I like them…but I have to get them adjusted every couple of years as I grow older. 

Some people have glasses for most of their lives.  Come to think of it all of us have glasses all of our lives because we “see” things through lenses whether we know it or not. One of the earliest lessons I learned by teaching in a Christian school was the importance of teaching students to see the world through the lens of Scripture and not the surrounding culture.  For some of us we also see through the lenses of relationships or doctrine or emotions or any number of ways we make sense of our world. Those things become our filters and our way of focusing on the world.  Those lenses interpret reality for us.  For some they see the world through the lens of money.  It’s not just an interest for them.  It is a way of seeing the world. 

Is it a bad thing? No not at all.  We need people who have a unique view of things.  Does that lens get distorted and begin to skew their vision? Absolutely.  If the lenses through which we view things are not fit and adjusted periodically we damage our eyes and are eventually blind to everything else.

People of wealth and especially those who have made it and not inherited it tend to wear lenses that make the world make sense through the accumulation and use of money.  That’s no better or worse than relationships doctrine or emotions.  It’s only harmful when we go for too long without periodic adjustments to make sure we are “seeing” the world clearly.