22A good person leaves an inheritance for their childrens’children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.
Proverbs 13:22
The true inheritance we leave our children is not the money they get when we die. Rather, it is the values, skills and wisdom we instil in them today.
Inheritance in the Bible is a subject we should teach our children.
It’s a standing joke in our house. Every time one of my children makes a disparaging comment about:
my age
my hairstyle
my fashion sense
or The Beatles
… I say, ‘You’re out of the will!’
They find this amusing and seek out opportunities to goad me.
In our house, we can joke about this but it saddens me when I see the broken family relationships that disagreements over an inheritance can cause. Just when families should be drawing closer to comfort one another over the loss of a loved-one, resentments build and the arguments begin over money. Rifts are created and often never repaired.
Inheritance in the Bible
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ 14 Jesus replied, ‘Man, who appointed me judge or arbiter between you?’ 15 Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’
Luke 12:13-15
I pray that my children avoid this trap and it is my hope that I will be able to teach them
the right attitude towards money and
the wisdom to manage their own money
… from an early age so that when I go to be with Jesus, they will have no reason to squabble over the inheritance I leave behind.
I would rather teach them the values, financial skills, and the wisdom that empowers them to create their own wealth and manage it as responsible stewards of God’s blessing in their lives.
To that end, I believe in teaching my children about money at every opportunity. Not so that they become lovers of money, but rather, so that they don’t!
Did you know the Bible actually says God gives us the ability to produce wealth?
11 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe His commands, his laws and His decrees that I am giving to you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, the thirsty waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of the hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
Deuteronomy 8:11-18
Some translations say power to create instead of ability to produce wealth but the meaning is the same. We can produce wealth because God enables us to do so.
The key verse is Deuteronomy 8:18 which says ‘… for it is [God] who gives you the ability to produce wealth’
We need to read the whole passage in context, however. The good news, that God gives us the ability to produce wealth, is framed in a warning and this is the main thrust of the passage. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God.
The passage leads with these words in verse 11 and then echoes the warning in verse 18. But remember the Lord your God… because is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.
Most sermons you hear on this passage will concentrate on the warning, and rightly so. After all, this is primarily what the passage is about. They will focus your attention on the fact that God is concerned with your eternal soul and that things of this world are transient. God comes first and is the most important aspect of our lives. All of this is true and we would do well to remember that.
However, this glosses over an interesting fact in the Bible; God actually gives us the ability to produce wealth!
The Ability to Produce Wealth
Note, God’s word says he gives us the ability to produce wealth. This does not mean that every person automatically has instant access to wealth. I may have the ability to run a marathon in under four hours but that doesn’t mean I automatically can.
In order to achieve my ability, I would need to discipline myself, maintain a healthy diet and train hard. I would need to do this consistently over a period of months or even years. While most people are enjoying their morning lie-in, I would have to be out early in all types of weather, ensuring that I put in the miles I need to achieve my goal.
If I choose to adopt a couch-potato lifestyle instead of training as I should, it is unlikely I would ever realize my God-given ability.
I might even have a personal mental block that prevents me from achieving my ability. What if I believed that the Marathon is a race that has its roots in pagan religion? Since the Marathon distance originates in the Olympics which were a celebration of the ancient Greek gods, I might conclude that partaking in, or even attempting to run, a marathon is actually a form of idolatry. As such, I might justify my choice to sit on the couch with a packet of crisps, a few bars of chocolate and a constant supply of sugary drinks while I watch some sport on TV. All in my effort to avoid idolatry.
That thinking probably sounds a bit silly to most people. And yet, we do this with money all the time. The Bible tells us that God has given us the ability to produce wealth. However, instead of exercising that gift, we choose the metaphorical sofa instead. More than that, we are so terrified of making money an idol in our lives that we justify our choice.
How to Produce Wealth
The ability to produce wealth comes down to two things:
The ability to acquire wealth and
The ability to keep wealth
This requires discipline and consistency. Above all, I believe we need to root out the love of money in our lives to achieve this.
Ability to Acquire Wealth
In order to acquire wealth, we need to ensure that we spend less than we earn. The only way to do this is to:
Increase our income and / or
reduce our expenses
In the main, finding ways to reduce expenses is easier than generating additional income. That said, you don’t have to choose one or the other; you should pursue both goals at the same time.
Here is an easy way to reduce your expenses. Get your bank statements for the last three months and go through every item on the list. Focus particularly on the recurring items and follow three easy steps.
1. REMOVE Unnecessary Expenses
You have to be brutal when you do this. What about that gym membership that you haven’t used in over a year? If you are truly honest with yourself, you’re never going back. Cancel it!
That Amazon Prime membership that you signed up for to get free a month’s service? I know, you meant to cancel it at the end of 30 days but then forgot. Cancel it now.
And those subscriptions you have been meaning to cancel but simply never get around to … you know what to do.
What about recurring restaurant bills? If you think about it, eating in is both cheaper and healthier.
I never said this would be easy. It will require some tough choices.
Be brutal. Any expenses that are not absolutely necessary have to go.
Once you have done that, you can move on to step two.
2. REDUCE Remaining Expenses
This is a headache but probably easier than step one. By casting your eye around, you can often find a cheaper supplier for things like
Energy bills
Insurance
Telephone & Broadband
In fact, your suppliers will actually help you out on this. Simply call up your supplier and tell them you want to move… and listen to the person on the end of the line launch into their retention script.
First, they will offer you a cheaper configuration. Next, they will offer you a discounted price. They will engage in all sorts of ploys to keep your business, every one of which will result in a cheaper price than you are currently paying.
In the end, you can either switch to the cheaper supplier or stay with the existing one at the much better rate; a rate that they should have offered you before you told them you planned to leave.
Now that you have removed unnecessary expenses altogether and reduced the remaining expenses, you are ready for step three.
3. REPAY Outstanding Consumer Credit
One of the necessary expenses that remains will, very likely, be minimum payments on one or more credit cards. You can’t remove or even reduce this expense because you are paying for past purchases. What’s done is done. You can’t change the past. But you can change your behavior going forward.
Take all the extra money you are now saving each month and pay off the outstanding balance on your credit cards. This may take a few months but it will be worth it.
There are two trains of thought on this. One suggests that you pick the card with the highest interest rate and pay that off first, then the next highest and so on.
An alternative approach is to pick the one with the smallest balance outstanding and pay that off first, then the next smallest and so on.
The first approach is the more sensible financial one as it will save you the most money in the shortest time. However, studies have shown that the psychological satisfaction of paying off one of your cards is often a greater motivation. Of course there is every chance that your smaller balances come at a higher interest rate in any case.
No matter which option you choose, work to get those credit balances down to zero. Pay off one card, and then the next, until all your cards are down to a zero balance. This will once and for all reduce the impact of interest on consumer debt in your life and free you up to begin planting the seeds from which your wealth will grow.
Ability to Keep Wealth
It sounds absurd but it is true. The ability to keep the wealth you have generated is as much as skill as the ability to acquire wealth. It’s no accident that so many lottery winners end up in a worse financial state within a year or two of winning millions of dollars.
However, it is not just lottery winners who fall into this trap. Many successful business owners build up a company from nothing and sell it for millions. Then, they manage to lose it all in two years or less.
This is because wise investment requires a different skill-set than entrepreneurship. Both of these skills can be learned with the right information and proper mentorship or guidance.
One of the lessons I have learned with respect to keeping wealth is to simply slow down and limit expectations. Every time I have lost a significant amount of money, has been when I tried to grow too fast or too soon. Wealth creation is a slow burn and there are no short-cuts or get-rich-quick schemes. Slow and steady wins the day – every time.
Keeping Things in Perspective
We all know how easy it is to forget God when things are going well. As we discipline ourselves and begin to create wealth, we increase our financial knowledge and wisdom.
Each success builds on the previous one and the temptation is always there to think that we are doing this in our own strength. As our wealth begins to grow, let’s heed the warning in Deuteronomy 8:11-18 and remember the Lord in all we do.
Let us never forget that God is the source of all that is good in our lives and let us not become so arrogant as to think that what we have achieved in life is by our own strength.
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
Jesus said this… why can’t Christians be more Christ-like?
A brother in Christ recently posed this question to me. It’s a fair question because, truth be told, far too many believers who advocate Christian wealth and prosperity try to hide from this scripture.
Those who don’t ignore it altogether are quick to point to Old Testament passages where God actually made righteous men like Abraham or Jacob wealthy. Or they point to New Testament scriptures that allude to the fact that many of Jesus’ followers were actually wealthy. Little more than a futile attempt to negate the truth of this verse.
I have even heard a teaching that suggests Jesus didn’t really mean the eye of an actual needle but rather a broken part in Jerusalem’s city wall which, while difficult to negotiate, could actually allow a camel to get through albeit with great difficulty. The teaching contends that this gap in the wall was called The Eye of the Needle by the locals.
For the record, I don’t subscribe to that idea because I see no scriptural basis for the theory. If we profess to be Christians who allow the Bible to guide our thoughts, speech and actions, then we need to seek our understanding from scripture.
In short, we need to own this scripture as believers. As my brother so rightly points out… Jesus said this!
The Eye of a Needle
Let’s take a look at the Matthew 19:16-25 passage.
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’ 17 ‘Why do you ask me about what is good?’ Jesus replied. ‘There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.’ 18 ‘Which ones?’ he inquired. Jesus replied, ‘’You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’’ 20 ‘All these I have kept,’ the young man said. ‘What do I still lack?’ 21 Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ 22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ 26Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’
Matthew 19:16-26
For me, there are three key verses in this passage. The first is the one everybody knows. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
This is certainly the verse that most of us focus on. I guess we do this because it is a clever catch-phrase that also illustrates a deep spiritual truth.
If ever there was a passage about the love of money, it is this one. The rich young man clearly knew that something was missing in his life and that he needed to be saved. Jesus showed him the way but the young man’s love of money prevented him from embracing the truth.
This leads Jesus to make the observation we all know so well. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle…
The second key verse is the disciples’ reaction to that statement. They were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’
I have been a Christian for most of my life. Every message I have heard on this passage stops at verse 24. The challenge is obvious and our pastors and teachers slam the message home. Rich people cannot enter the kingdom of God.
When we hear messages like this, our take-away is simple. For most of my life, my thought process has been as follows. This verse applies to rich people. I am not rich, therefore this verse doesn’t apply to me – but it is interesting and memorable.
Because we get hung up on verse 24, most of us miss what the disciples so keenly observed in verse 25. Who then can be saved?
Who, indeed? While our first-world culture sees shades of grey, the disciples appear to have had a far more binary view of the world. They saw the poor – and everybody else. The poor were those with disabilities or widows and orphans who were physically or socially incapable of generating an income. As such, they were unable to buy basic necessities like food, shelter or clothing. In the disciples’ eyes, if you were not poor, you were, by definition, rich. Hence their astonishment and the question Who then can be saved?
Instead of assuming that this verse does not apply to them, the disciples accept that it does! This creates a far more frightening thought pattern for them. I am not poor. Therefore I am rich. How then can I be saved?
In their minds, Jesus statement ruled out just about everybody the disciples knew from ever entering the kingdom of heaven, including themselves. And it should do the same for us.
I realize that most of us don’t feel rich or, indeed, consider ourselves to be rich. But this is just a glass-half-empty mentality. It is another example of The Devil’s Greatest Trick.
I was born in South Africa where any family with a household income of more than $500/month was in the top 5% income group in the country. That means, in most homes, both mom and dad work eight hours a day to earn roughly $250/month each. By that measure any family earning the USA national median monthly salary of $4,700 would be considered rich beyond measure.
Who then can be saved?
Fortunately, Jesus provides the answer in the third key verse in this passage. Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’
Conclusion – the Whole Picture
When I see the full picture, I am confronted with a frightening truth. The “rich” folk that Jesus refers to actually includes many more people than I might automatically think. It actually includes me even though, as someone who works hard for a living, I don’t think of myself as rich.
As someone who is already rich by the Biblical measure that the disciples used, I don’t have to hide from this scripture. Nor do I have to invent fantastic stories about merchants squeezing their camels through large cracks in the city wall after the gates have closed for the night, like a group of blokes trying to get a smelly sofa up some narrow stairs to an apartment.
I also don’t have to reach for other scriptures to prove how many of Jesus’ followers were actually rich. The answer is provided by Jesus himself, right there in the passage. With God all things are possible.
I need to be careful here. This does not diminish the value or truth of verse 24. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle... There is a clear warning in this passage to guard against the love of money in our lives. There is also a very specific warning to those who have money and are rich. Anyone who is already “rich” (i.e. not poor) needs to take heed. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Fact! Jesus said this.
But even as he said this he also offered us the way to redemption.
As such, we need to guard our hearts and rely on God’s strength to carry us through. Never stop fighting the good fight. And when money becomes too important, we need to repent, turn back to God and make him the center of our lives once more.
Most of us will probably go through this cycle not once, but many times in our lives. Let us never forget this scripture. Let us never hide from it. Let us never assume that it does not apply to us. Rather, let us embrace it.
Only remember; never stop reading at verse 24. Rather meditate on this scripture in its entirety. Perhaps a better way to remember this verse in future is:
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.…Who then can be saved?….With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
As a parting note, this raises another interesting topic for me. Namely the difference between “rich” and “wealthy”? I have some thoughts on this…
As I observe fellow-Christians, I have noticed some general patterns of thinking when it comes to money. Certain things that Christians, as a group, believe with respect to money. When a brother or sister does not conform to these widely-held beliefs, this will often trigger our built-in Christian Love-of-Money alarms.
Sadly, many of these widely-held views have no scriptural basis and, in fact, defy common-sense.
Here are my top two.
Wealth-Accumulation is Love of Money
This is an unspoken belief in Christian circles. It is seldom explicitly stated but it is implied in the things we say or point out when this alarm sounds.
The moment a person begins to focus on actively accumulating wealth, our built-in Christian Love-of-Money alarm-bells start to sound. When we talk about building an investment portfolio or ways of expanding our property portfolio, Christian family and friends can quickly become concerned for our spiritual welfare.
The more interest we take in the subject and the more we apply our minds to increasing our financial literacy and the accumulation of wealth through saving and investment, the louder those alarm-bells begin to sound. Well-meaning friends and pastors might caution us against making money an idol in our lives. And not just them; if you have been involved in the church for any length of time, those same bells will begin ringing in your own head.
Pursuit of wealth is love of money, the voices will say. There are more important things in life than money. You know you can’t take it with you. Be careful that you don’t gain the whole world and forfeit your own soul.
Conversely, when it comes to putting a portion of your monthly income into a pension scheme or 401(k) each month the alarm-bells remain strangely silent. Everybody does this, the voices will say. It is sensible to put something aside for your old age.
The fact that anyone putting money into a pension, retirement annuity or 401(k) is actually paying a team of brokers to manage that pension scheme is strangely irrelevant. The fact that other people are investing and growing the portfolio (i.e. accumulating wealth) on our behalf appears not to register on our built-in Christian Love-of-Money radars.
It’s almost as if there is an unspoken belief among Christians that taking control of your own financial affairs is wrong but paying someone you’ve never met to do it for you is okay.
There is simply no scriptural basis for this mindset. Love of money is a state of heart and a state of mind. Every believer needs to deal with the love of money in their lives whether they manage their own investment portfolio or not.
You think the one who pays into a 401(k) doesn’t love money? Just consider the disappointment or even rage on the face of the last person you spoke to who bemoaned the fact that their 401(k) / retirement annuity was not going to pay out as much as they had hoped it would.
Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness
If you steer the conversation to saving and investment or throw out terms like ‘Passive Income’ and ‘Achieving Financial Freedom’ in Christian circles, expect a reaction. It’s only a matter of time before a fellow-Christian says, ‘That’s all well and good but, remember. Money can’t buy happiness!‘ That is their built-in Christian Love-of-Money alarm-bell sounding.
Don’t hold it against them. I mean this sincerely. This person has the best intentions in the world and their concern is purely for your spiritual welfare.
Conversely, though, you could talk to that same person about the new car or television you’re planning to buy without sounding a single alarm in the conversation.
In fact you could talk about a myriad of things:
Your last ski trip or overseas holiday
Tickets to next week’s football or baseball game
The latest tech gadgets you have bought
Your new dress, shoes, coat or scarf
Your latest home decoration overhaul
The kids’ new games console
Latest generation of mobile phones on the market
New films or pay-channel TV subscriptions
Latest music or sound-blaster to play it on
Great restaurant experiences or
Best spa-days away
All of these are purchases we and our fellow-Christians make month-on-month, year-on-year without a second thought.
But what are these things if not fleeting moments of happiness that we buy with money and which are gone within days of their purchase?
The problem isn’t that money doesn’t buy happiness. The problem is that it does – as our first-world materialistic spending patterns prove every day.
The real danger lies in the blinkered thinking that spends all its money buying those fleeting moments of happiness – moments that keep the purchaser in a constant state of financial struggle by the way – and then triggers a Love-of-Money alarm when somebody else elects to forego some of those fleeting purchases in order to invest in their financial future.
The unspoken message is that investing hard-earned cash in assets that grow in value and secure a future income for us and our family is Love of Money but spending it on frivolous fleeting moments of happiness is not.
There is no scriptural basis for this thinking and it defies common-sense to boot. We can’t tell someone who is trying to save money and build a second income from a few rental properties that money can’t buy happiness while we are spending our last dime on a massive tub of popcorn at the cinema!
