photo credit: Saine
Lately at Sunday School, the pulpit, normal conversation … discussions about the rich have been more frequent than usual. Most of the conversations have been about the evils of wealth and the scriptures that talk about how hard it is for a rich man to get into heaven.
In all of these discussions, no one talking about the wealthy considers themselves to be wealthy. Wealth is relative. Someone who has more than us, is wealthy. Someone who has less is not. And it almost nearly follows that someone who has more than us is evil and someone who is “poor” is more righteous.
When you think about who the rich are, you might consider that over 50% of the world lives on less than $2.50 a day. Over 80% live on less than $10 a day. Things like indoor plumbing, electricity, elementary school, and clean water are reserved for the world’s top income earners.
At our house we also have the internet, a washer and dryer, central air, a piano, and a car. I’m thinking we might be part of the wealthy. The fact that our budget discussions include whether we can afford music lessons and school tuition—not if we know where our next meal will come from, seals it. You might as well stamp “filthy rich” on my forehead.
I didn’t know the rich young ruler personally, but I’m guessing if you put his possessions and mine side by side, I’d have more stuff. He went away sorrowing because he didn’t realize that all his stuff really wasn’t his. It was God’s. God gave him a large share to manage for Him and when He asked to be able to use it, the young man couldn’t let go. Christ’s point was that no one can keep all the commandments. No one can earn his own salvation, it’s not humanly possible alone. It takes God. It really wasn’t a discussion about the evils of wealth at all–that was an example of the many ways we can stumble.
Teaching against wealth building is a dangerous thing. The most reliable way to build wealth is to manage money properly: Avoid debt, live on less than you make, save monthly, invest conservatively. Building wealth requires hard work, patience, self-control, humility, self-denial, sacrifice. These are all things we should have in our lives.
It is never more righteous to be a HOT IRRESPONSIBLE MESS with our money.
When we have wealth we can DO great things with it. We can give, fund missionaries, build relief shelters, support adoptions…anything! Wealth gives choices.
Because we live in one of the wealthiest nations on the planet, we are likely to have some rich people discussions. Such as: Should I buy organic? How can I afford supplements? How do you budget for college? Does cleaning with vinegar really work? Understand that someone who doesn’t know where their next meal would come from would find these discussions ludicrous. It would be even more shocking how we can tear each other down over things like homeschooling, gluten, chevron, and high fructose corn syrup.
There may be times in our financial journey that our income barely covers our basic needs–shelter, food, clothing. In order to make progress we have to get a little crazy and do without some “necessities” like heat, toilet paper, organic food, and paleo ingredients. In the scheme of things, we’ll still be living better than 80% of the planet.
Agree. Good article.
Reads like Maslow’s heirarchy of needs… the Bible teaches that wealth is a tool, and that it can be put to use for great good or for great evil. Choose this day whom you will serve, because you can’t serve both God and money.
*Clap, clap, clap* Standing ovation. You got it, sistah.
Thanks, Stacy. I treasure that coming from you.
I just had this conversation with an atheist who ended the discussion with, “no one really means it when they say they want to follow Jesus. No one really wants to be in poverty. No one really wants to only own sandals and a robe. No one is that faithful.”
While I vehemently disagree that following Jesus must equal being poor, we (society) are so hung up on pitting rich against poor we forget that if God has blessed us with wealth, we are empowered to (and responsible to) use it for His purposes. This is where the atheist got it all wrong. Rich does not equal evil. Instead, if I have proven my capabilities to be faithful in little and thus granted a lot, I’d better take serious note of the responsibility to manage it that goes along with that blessing.
Barry, You make some good points. In my culture people are so set on being poor that they live stupidly with their money. Some tend toward being lazy and claim to be more righteous because they don’t have much. If they work, they don’t charge their full value, but if someone helps them–they don’t pay a fair wage either. When working within this circle you can expect someone to ask for a discount even when the price is more than fair. I totally agree that rich doesn’t mean evil. If we are obedient to God, not only will he want to bless us–we’ll want to earn money to be able to bless others with it.
Your article was very interesting. The church I attend is doing a series of sermons on “How To BE Rich”, as opposed to “How To GET Rich”. It is not about all the intangible ways of being rich, but is very much focused on the financial aspect. Wealth is not evil – it is the way you let it affect you and the way you use it that can be the problem. Here is a link to the series if you are interested. http://www.seacoast.org/media/how-to-be-rich
Mary, I agree with you. Money is an tangible object and can’t be good or bad. WE are the ones that determine that — our motivations and character qualities. Having wealth is a great thing if we do great things with it.