Our money and our valuables
We’re in the middle of an annual series on money and material possessions at church, and again it is convicting. We’re asking tough questions and dealing with matters that hit close to home for a lot of folks, primarily because we cherish our stuff (right?). A few weeks ago we talked about decisions, and how we always choose according to what we value most, with no exceptions. Now we’re talking about money, a God-given substance to measure value within a society. Money represents value for us, though in different proportions. A millionare and a homeless man will value a one-dollar bill differently, though it has no more or less intrinsic value for either. As believers, how should we value what we own, whether little or much? In Acts, one man sold a field to provide for a brother who had nothing. Crazy? Stupid? Investment? Should a believer try to get rich? John Wesley said “make as much money as you can, and give away as much as you can”. Agree?
Being a socialist at heart, I am naturally biased on this issue. I know that there is such a thing as a responsible use of large amounts of money. I also know that the have-nots can idolize money as much as the haves. I still can’t get rid of my instinctive negative reaction to the idea of being materialistically rich. There is something inherent in the gospel which favors the poor. I think what I’m supposed to say here is that it depends on the person. I’m supposed to say that the rich young ruler needed to give up his possesions not because he had them but because he idolized them. I still can’t shake the eye of the needle verse. I still think that the ideal would be to spend the meat of one’s days doing something other than acquiring wealth.
I read the other day that the rich give away a higher percentage of their income than the poor or the middle class. I think that rich and poor, middle class and the rich need to change in many of their thought processes. You can be too rich and you can be too poor. I want to provide for my family (1 Tim 5.8), but I also do not want to train they to always want more. Paul had the right attitude (Philippians 4.11-12). Contentment is the value, but our whole society is driven by wanting more. Rich Mullins said it correctly:
Everybody I know says they need just one thing
And what they really mean is that they need just one thing more
And everybody seems to think they’ve got it coming
Well I know that I don’t deserve You
Still I want to love and serve You more and more
You’re my one thing
Tim