Perils Of Wealth – A Thorny Issue

Posted on October 26, 2020January 21, 2021 by richabbaholyabba

So I thought we could look at one aspect of the Parable of the Sower. I’m sure that many of us have heard this parable before. In this parable, Jesus talks about a farmer who scattered his seed. Some seed fell on the path, while other seeds fell in rocky places. Still others fell among thorns and, lastly, some seed fell on good soil, grew and produced a crop.

Only the seed on good soil made the grade. All the other seed failed and died.

In this parable, the farmer is Jesus himself and the seed is God’s word. We are the soil or ground on which the seed falls and the condition of our hearts, represented by the type of ground, determines the seed’s resulting growth.

Rather than study the parable as a whole, I want to focus on just one type of soil; namely the thorny ground. In this ground, the seed takes root – but then thorns grow up around the seed, choking it and making it unfruitful.

Still others, like seed thrown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Mark 4:18-19

The reason I chose this specific part of the parable is because it is the most relevant in the context of wealth and riches.

The Deceitfulness of Riches

Mark 4:18-19 actually lists three thorny issues that choke God’s word in our hearts and ultimately make us unfruitful. But even my own built-in Christian Love-of-Money blinkers intuitively lead me to focus on … you guessed it.

The deceitfulness of riches!

Yes, it is important to focus on this and I will. But this doesn’t make the other two issues any less important. As such, I will deal with each one in the order it was written in Mark 4:19.

The Worries of This Life

Some Bible translations call this the cares of this world rather than the worries of this life. Whichever turn of phrase you prefer, this refers to all those things that happen day-by-day to distract us from God and his word.

The worries of this life can include:

Making rent for the month
Paying our bills on time
Family emergencies
Demands at the office
Mowing the lawn
Washing the dishes
Getting the shopping done
Submitting our tax returns

… the list is endless. For many people, a normal day means leaving for work at seven in the morning and only returning home at around six to seven o’clock in the evening. By the time you have got the kids to bed and done the normal household chores, it is often after nine at night, leaving you exhausted with very little time to relax and unwind before bed-time.

All of these “worries of this life” can overwhelm us and, if we are not careful, they will choke the word of God in our lives and prevent it from ever taking root in our hearts.

We can overcome the cares of this world by putting God first. This means making time to spend reading his word, praying and worshiping him. We should also prioritize spending time with fellow-believers. This means attending church regularly worshiping and studying God’s word together. And sometimes, it can just mean getting together with fellow-believers for dinner or a barbecue.

The Deceitfulness of Riches

Here is where most Christians focus all their attention. This is one of the Devil’s greatest tricks. With this laser-focus on the deceitfulness of riches, we so often miss the other two issues listed in Mark 4:19.

Worse still, because most people don’t feel rich, they automatically dismiss this statement and assume it does not apply to their lives. This is the Devil’s lie. Just as poverty is no immunity from the love money, neither does it immunize us from the deceitfulness of riches.

So what is the deceitfulness of riches? It is probably best summed up as always needing just s little more than we have right now.

The first part of the deceit convinces that we are not rich. In other words, we think we have nothing to worry about. When we consider this verse, we automatically assume that the deceitfulness of riches only applies to people far wealthier than we are.

The truth is this. If we are able to put food on the table, buy clothes for ourselves and the kids, make rent or mortgage payments each month and keep the lights on, we could already consider ourselves rich. If we have spare cash for luxuries like restaurant dinners and takeout every week, we are probably far richer than we like to admit.

So why don’t we consider ourselves rich? Mainly because we don’t feel rich. This is the deceitfulness of riches. We always need just a little more – then we might begin to think of ourselves as rich.

This leads to the second part of the deception. We continually strive for more – just a little more – only to find that there is never quite enough.

The truth is there never will be enough. Not until we root out the love of money in our hearts. When we do that, we might well discover that we have actually had more than enough all the way along and that we don’t need any more money – not even just a little. Ironically, this is the beginning of true wealth and financial freedom.

Desires for Other Things

This covers off all those other aspects of life not already encompassed under the worries of this life or the deceitfulness of riches.

It can include:

Sports & leisure activities
Monday night football
Television
Hobbies

None of these things is necessarily bad in and of itself … until it consumes so much of our time and attention that it chokes the word of God in our hearts.

To overcome this, we simply need to take care to keep God and his word front and center. When we make God’s word a priority in our lives, we are able to ensure that the desire for other things does not overwhelm us and keep us from God’s best for our lives.

The trouble is that the devil never attacks on one front alone. Rather, the attack comes on all three at once. We call it life. Every day, we are confronted by the worries of this life; going to work, making rent, mowing the lawn etc. Many of these worries are as a result of the deceitfulness of riches. Our spending patterns ensure that we never have quite enough money to meet all our expenses and so the worries of this life begin to pile up.

Of course, this means we need some down-time. Otherwise the stress of our worries would overwhelm us. So we immerse ourselves in sport, television or a hobby of some sort just to take our mind off the challenges that life has thrown at us…

… and before we know it, the thorns have grown up and choked God’s word in our hearts.

So how do we avoid this fate? As always, the answer is found in God’s word. Seed flourishes in good soil. So we should ensure that our hearts are good soil in which God’s word can flourish.

In the context of Mark 4:18-19, this means removing the thorns.

Make time for God in your schedule
Spend time reading his word and praying
Don’t devote all your time and energy to the worries of this life
Root out the love of money to overcome the deceitfulness of riches
Ensure that even hobbies and leisure time never become an idol in your life

The Colossal Danger of Materialism and Retail Therapy

Posted on October 19, 2020October 28, 2020 by richabbaholyabba

Materialism is the love of money in the modern age.

They say that money can’t buy happiness. And yet, Retail Therapy attempts to do just that. The problem is not that money can’t buy happiness. It is that the happiness money buys is fleeting.

Then, when we face the resulting financial struggle, the depression sets in even deeper than before.

What we call Retail Therapy, the Bible calls Love of Money. Retail therapy leads to poverty. Ergo, Love of Money leads to poverty.

When it comes to emotional depression or stress, retail therapy is a cause, not a cure.
Rich Abba, Holy Abba

Materialism Love of Money

This materialism love of money is particularly stealthy because we naturally associate love of money with riches and our modern-day consumerism does not make us feel rich.

In fact, it does quite the opposite. The depression or stress we feel is usually rooted in envy and covetousness because others have something we don’t. This makes us feel poor so we scrape and save and reach for our credit cards to afford that which we desire. If we can’t afford what we truly desire, we indulge in Retail Therapy and spend everything we have on something we can afford.

This buys us a fleeting moment of happiness but makes us poorer than we were before. On top of that, we don’t feel any wealthier because we still don’t have what we truly wanted.

This feels counter-intuitive but it is Satan’s standard modus operandi. He promises us something – in this case, wealth. Then he offers us a short-cut to achieving that promise (E.g. “Retail Therapy”). This distracts us from God and makes us worldly-minded. When this happens, sin has already won.

We rush out and spend our last dime on a wild shopping spree. This gives us that brief moment of euphoria but this does not last long. Within minutes or days, that euphoria wanes and we find ourselves worse off – in this case poorer- than we were to start with. Then the cycle begins once more.

This is how love of money keeps us locked in a cycle of constant financial struggle.

Biblical Advice on Get Rich Quick Schemes

Posted on October 12, 2020October 16, 2020 by richabbaholyabba

One of the greatest traps for entrepreneurs or, indeed, anyone who has embarked on the journey of wealth-creation is the “shiny things” that distract us along the way.

We have all been there; it is part of the learning curve. You start out with a solid financial plan or business strategy and begin working towards your goal. Then you spot an opportunity that distracts you from that plan. Your mentors will advise against it. Your family, peers, and fellow-entrepreneurs will question the wisdom of pursuing this short-cut to riches.

However, you remain undeterred. The opportunity looks too appealing. It can get you to your goals faster, and it looks so much more fun than what you are doing now. So you think, ‘There is nothing so foolish as conventional wisdom. Let’s go for it!’

Invariably these deviations end in tears. As I write, I know that many budding entrepreneurs who read this will ultimately disregard the advice and choose to learn the hard way instead. I take no pleasure in the painful lessons you will learn but keep faith and know that you will come through it. Perhaps poorer but wiser for the experience; I know I did.

And so I write this with the benefit of hindsight. Having disregarded similar cautions from my own mentors and advisors in the past, I too had to learn the hard way. My lesson cost me tens of thousands of dollars and two years of sleepless nights and angst.

The lesson itself is simple. Put your assets to work, be consistent and let time do the rest. Yes, you will learn lessons (i.e. lose money) along the way but you can minimize this if you keep things simple and stop chasing the new shiny opportunities that distract you from your core strategy.

To help with this lesson, I thought I would turn to Proverbs in the Bible for wisdom.

Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.
Proverbs 12:11

In the context of wealth-building, the land in the above verse represents your assets.

For the purposes of this lesson, I am working on the assumption that you have already taken steps to break Mammon’s (i.e. Love-of-Money’s) hold over your life and that you have:

Dealt with materialistic greed
Suppressed your fear of loss and
Gained control of covetousness and envy

As such, you now find yourself with surplus cash and have begun to invest this in assets that will grow and ultimately produce additional passive income for you and your family.

Work Your Land

Putting Proverbs 12:11 in the modern context, for those of us who are not farmers, we could interpret this to say those who work their assets will have abundant food.

I have two take-aways from the first part of this verse:

The proverb assumes that the reader has an asset, or assets.
The proverb suggests that the reader put those assets to work.

Work your land! In other words, put your assets to work. In the Old Testament context, they did not have Equities, Options, Derivatives or the myriad of Financial Instruments we have available today. Land and livestock were the main assets of the day.

And then the promise. If you work your land, or put your assets to work, you will have abundant food.

There is a flip-side though. Those who chase fantasies have no sense. The verse doesn’t actually say those who chase fantasies will starve. It merely points out the folly of chasing fantasies. But the implication is certainly that you will not have abundant food as you would if you work your land.

These fantasies can take many forms. In the business context, this usually looks like a great opportunity that offers huge returns and is something you know little or nothing about.

The most common is Get-Rich-Quick schemes that promise outlandish returns for a small initial investment. These cons abound and we would be wise to avoid them.

In the business context, these fantasies are often less obvious. They often present as business opportunities that offer a high ROI (Return on Investment) but detract you from your core business. When these opportunities present, ask yourself these questions.

How well do I understand this business opportunity?
Does this fit with my current strategy?

If the answer to these questions is no, pass up the opportunity and focus on your main business or investment strategy. In other words, work your land!

My wife and I came across one such opportunity to invest in an animated film venture. The team put on a great presentation and used an anticipated crash in the property market to entice investors into this new asset class. The sell was hard but my wife and I stood our ground. The main reason we chose not to invest was that we knew nothing about the business-end of the film industry.

I’m glad we passed on this opportunity. Some people we knew put thousands into the venture and lost all their money. I have never heard of this company since and certainly not seen any animated motion picture they produced.

In the early stages of wealth building, the biggest asset we often have is disposable income from our salaries. At this point, the temptation is to start burning this money on every opportunity that presents. We need to understand that everyone will have a few false starts and some money will be lost.

However, once you have hit on a winning strategy, stick with it. Yes, you will feel frustrated at times as growth is slower than you might like. This is simply because you are starting from a small base. Stay the course and work your land!

Sometimes it helps to remember that we are not building wealth for ourselves but for God and his kingdom … and God has all the time in the world. As long as your strategy is working, stick with it.

Ironclad Principles of Authentic Negotiation for Christians in Business

Posted on October 5, 2020September 24, 2020 by richabbaholyabba

In any negotiation, you have to think one step ahead of your counterpart and always consider the secondary consequences, or knock-on, effects. A great negotiation result is one that explores all options to find a solution where everybody wins.

The trouble is, in life, your counterparts won’t always play fair. In preparing our children for the real world, this can be a difficult lesson to teach. In fact, children are generally exceptional negotiators. The problem is their counterparts are usually – us, their parents. So we dissuade them from negotiation because it makes our lives easier. This often results in a lost skill as children grow older.

So what is Christian negotiation? As Christians, we often encounter difficulties in negotiations as we may feel that what many consider to be valid negotiation tactics are actually in conflict with our Biblical values.

A friend of mine related a true story which can help teach life’s hard lessons on negotiation while keeping things light-hearted and fun.

Christian Negotiation

At a barbecue over at another friend’s house, he watched two siblings playing in the swimming pool. Things got a little out of hand, as kids do and brother and sister started arguing over space. Seems the swimming pool was not big enough for the both of them.

Finally, the older sister offered a sensible solution. They could each have half of the swimming pool and all would be well as long as each of them only remained in their own half.

Younger brother agreed that this seemed fair and his sister generously offered him the choice of whichever half of the swimming pool he preferred.

His response was quick and decisive. ‘The top half!’

I’m guessing negotiations resumed after that.

Like I said, your counterparts won’t always play fair. We don’t need to become selfish or abandon our values as Christians in our business negotiations. But we need to be firm and never allow our counterparts to bully us into something that looks fair on the face of it but which, on closer inspection, is not a win-win result.