Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man’s dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.
Proverbs 21:20
Month: February 2021
My elven-year-old son and I were out walking his dog over the weekend. Out of the blue he asks one of his random questions – my son, not the dog.
“Dad. Would you rather earn a million dollars a year or a million dollars a month?”
I puzzled over this question for a moment. How to make use of this teaching opportunity?
I did so by turning the question on its head. “That’s not the real question we should be asking.”
I continued, “Let me ask you this. Would you rather work sixteen hours a day for six days a week to earn one million dollars a year or four hours a week to earn just fifty thousand dollars a year?”
That got him thinking. My goal was to illustrate the difference between riches and my personal definition of true wealth.
Riches are the measure of a bank balance. Wealth is the measure of freedom and choice.
Rich Abba, Holy Abba
True Wealth vs One Million Dollars a Year
What is the point of having a million dollars a year if you have to spend every waking minute working in pursuit of that money? Sure, you would earn a million dollars in a year but you would have no life.
To put it in perspective for my son, I explained, “There are fifty-two weeks in a year. Most people get two weeks of holiday and have to work forty hours a week, Monday to Friday, for the other fifty.
“If you only have to work four hours a week, that means you are effectively working just over five weeks a year. For the other forty-seven, you get to do whatever you want.”
What would you do with that time?
I suspect my son might spend it playing Fortnite on his PS4 or watching Youtube videos. My daughter, on the other hand, is a few years older and has a deeper understanding of Biblical Stewardship. She would probably use some of those extra weeks to volunteer on Mercy Ships. There, she would be able to help the poor and share God’s love with people who might have never heard the gospel before.
In the above illustration, I used $50,000 as an arbitrary figure. Some readers might consider this amount excessively greedy while others might feel that it would not be enough to live on. Every believer will have their own perspective on how much is enough.
There is no judgment here. Whatever your number is, I urge you to consider what it would take to earn that amount as a passive income that can, in turn, generate opportunities for personal freedom and choice.
Once you embark on that journey, may God guide you to use your time wisely as you work to further His kingdom, give generously and share the gospel with others.
Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
Ecclesiastes 11:4
The other day , while having dinner with the extended family, one close family member mentioned that they had read a newspaper report suggesting the UK government plans to announce an increase in property tax to pay for all the economic losses incurred during Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020. The article’s message was property investors beware! Don’t invest as the government will tax all your investments and bleed you dry.
My family member’s warning was well-meant but, sadly, unhelpful. Newspapers publish a slew of these stories every week. Sometimes they turn out to be true and sometimes they don’t. I call this Crystal-Ball Reporting; when a newspaper quotes some alleged, or self-proclaimed, “expert” who predicts a terrifying event at some unspecified date in the future. The expert will never be held to account for their claim if it turns out to be incorrect and they have a 50/50 chance of being right in any case.
Frankly, the journalists who write these articles don’t care whether or not the prediction turns out to be true. They know that their articles will breed fear – and fear sells newspapers!
The truth of the matter is this. We don’t know whether or not the government will increase UK property tax in the future – and if they do, we don’t know what taxes they will increase, or by how much. We also don’t know what the secondary consequences might be. For instance, if the government raises tax, the number of buyers might decrease and the number of sellers might increase. This could create an increase in supply and a reduction in demand, with a resulting drop in property prices. In other words, it might just be the best news in the world for an investor looking to buy their next property.
We just don’t know.
Ecclesiastes 11:4 is a cautionary proverb for those who like to overthink things. On any given day, there are a million reasons to put off a decision or delay taking action until tomorrow. Whoever watches the wind will not plant.
What we fail to realize is that indecision is, itself, a decision. The trouble is that indecision is based in fear which, invariably, results in the worst possible decision we can make. Whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
When it comes to investing, or planting seeds for future harvest, we have to overcome the fear of loss that leads to indecision. We need to overcome the fear that prevents us from taking action.
Why not follow Solomon’s advice? Nobody knows the future. None of us has a crystal ball that will tell us what tomorrow holds. If you have learned to be content and now have surplus income that God has blessed you with, it is time to begin planting seeds that will produce a future harvest.
If Money is Not Important – Sow the Seed!
Seek out viable opportunities and invest; plant those seeds so that they may grow. One of two things will happen. Either your investment will pay off and you will reap a future harvest or it will fail and you will learn a valuable life-lesson. You will use that learning opportunity to make better investments in future.
Yes, I know it is scary but this is part of the learning process. Education can be costly but it is worth every penny if you learn from the experience.
As far as fear of losing money goes, why be afraid? As Christians, our focus is on eternity. Money is not important, remember? If money is not important, there should be no reason to fear risking it on investment opportunities.
Each of us has a simple choice. We can watch the wind and look at the clouds (i.e. listen to every doomsayer and journalistic fearmonger) or we can follow Biblical advice to plant and reap. Which would you rather do?
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
1 Timothy 6:10
I have said it before. Poverty and financial struggle do not immunize anyone against the love of money. Rich or poor, we all have to deal with the love of money in our lives. This means that 1 Timothy 6:10 applies to everyone, not only the rich.
What Does 1 Timothy 6:10 Mean to Us?
The frightening truth is this; the love of money is far more likely to result in crippling debt and financial struggle than it is in wealth or riches.
Here is one simple way to identify and combat the love of money.
- Check Your Trajectory
- Examine your own heart
Check Your Trajectory
This is a quick and simple evaluation of your current financial state or direction. The only rule is you have to be honest with yourself.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Am I currently worrying about mounting debt and financial struggle?
- Have my debt and expenses been growing consistently over a period of months or years?
- Do I spend all my time trying to earn money just to make rent and pay my bills?
- Do I constantly feel that I don’t have enough money and that I need just a little more to make ends meet?
If the answer to one or more of these questions is yes, this is a clear indication that your trajectory has brought you to or is moving towards a place of financial struggle.
This could well mean that the Love of Money, as described in 1 Timothy 6:10, has already taken hold in your heart and is directing your financial trajectory. While this may a tough pill to swallow, remember; the love of money is far more likely to result in crippling debt and financial struggle than it is in wealth or riches.
Don’t panic. You are not alone. God is in control and His grace is able to carry us through every challenge and fear.
Examine Your own Heart
This is the harder part. Examining our own hearts requires brutal honesty. As we all know, the easiest people to lie to are ourselves.
In step one, you might have identified a trajectory that is carrying you deeper into debt and financial struggle. You now need to find those spending patterns and emotional triggers that drive the behavior that brought you to this place.
Examine your spending choices. Both in your monthly bank account as well as your credit-card purchases over the past year.
Yes, this is an exercise to examine your own heart. I realize bank accounts and credit-card bills may seem like an odd place to start but consider Matthew 6:19-21.
19 ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21
Our financial history keeps a perfect record of all those little treasures that we have stored up for ourselves on earth over time. They may not have any value now but they certainly did back when we made each purchase.
This is a great barometer to indicate where our treasure is. The fact that many of the treasures we bought all those months ago might now have little value is irrelevant. They are still treasures that we valued at the time and that we have stored up for ourselves here on earth.
Why do I ask you to look at credit card history? If you look at your bank account and see a large interest payment made to your credit card each month, you might justify this as a legitimate expense. After all, it is money owed and we should always pay our debts, right?
Only when we examine the credit card transactions themselves, are we able to determine whether the purchases that landed us with the hefty monthly payment were legitimate or not.
Now that you can see your transactions, you can allocate them to Earthly Treasure or Heavenly Treasure.
Heavenly treasures are those expenses that give according to God’s word. These could include charity contributions, missionary support and tithes and offerings made to your local church.
Earthly treasures are all those other items we gather around us. Expensive houses, cars clothing and jewelry, hobby/sporting equipment, gadgets, club memberships, travel, restaurants and entertainment like televisions, games consoles etc.
Your list may look different. However, it should give you a fair indication of where your treasure is and whether materialism (the love of money in a different guise) has taken hold in your heart.
A particularly good place to focus is on those items that you bought on your credit even though you couldn’t really afford at the time. It is worth asking yourself if:
- You could have delayed that purchase and saved up the money instead of buying it immediately on credit.
- You could have opted for a cheaper brand or model that does the same thing
- You could have done without it completely.
If the above self-examination reveals a Love of Money issue (1 Timothy 6:10). However small, now is the time to deal with it.
Again, don’t panic! You are not alone. Almost everyone I know is in this boat to a greater or lesser extent. C.S. Lewis said it best.
You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.
C.S. Lewis
There are loads of great resources out there that help people manage their budgets, as well as reduce their debt and monthly expenses. Those resources will explain what you have to do to achieve freedom from debt and financial struggle.
What I would like to focus on is who we need to be in order to make the hard choices and to do what needs to be done. This means aligning ourselves with God’s word and conforming ourselves to the image of Christ. We already do this in every other aspect of our Christian walk on a daily basis, so why should the financial realm of our lives be any different?
We need to become people who walk in obedience to God’s word and, where we recognize that our behavior deviates from that standard, we need to repent and ask God to help us change that behavior. The Bible refers to this as “working out our salvation” (Philippieans 2:12).
We can only achieve this through prayer and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Ask God to instill the Bible-based value system that you will need in order to begin making the wise financial decisions to reduce your debt going forward.
I would also urge you to seek an accountability group. Find some like-minded friends and mentors who can help and encourage you in your decision to become more Christ-like, align your values with God’s word and begin making wiser financial decisions.
As you do this, you will change your trajectory and begin living a life that is both Godly and free of constant worry and financial struggle.
The book of Ecclesiastes is often overlooked. Most Christians would probably sum up the book as the one that says, ‘All is meaningless.’ As such, it is usually dismissed as depressing and negative in its outlook.
This is a pity as the book contains immense wisdom and offers much application for life in the modern world.
Among other things, it offers plenty financial wisdom in chapter eleven. For instance, consider the verse below. In the midst of the ‘All is meaningless’ rhetoric, lies this gem of wisdom about investment in the Bible.
Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
Ecclesiastes 11:2
So, if it is about investment, what does it mean? A modern variation of this proverb might be ‘Don’t put all your eggs in one basket’. Sound advice as, if that one basket meets with disaster, so does your entire investment.
Investment in the Bible
In stock market terms, this would be called spreading risk. In other words, investors might spread their portfolio across different asset classes to reduce their losses if things go bad on one sector.
In property, you might achieve this by investing in multiple smaller properties rather than a single large one to spread your risk. That way if one property is vacant for a month or two, at least the others will continue to generate income.
However, most hard-working people in the modern economy only invest in a single venture; their job. They have no additional source of income and rely solely on their 401(k) or pension scheme to support them in their old age.
This is not a sin and Ecclesiastes 11:2 certainly does not suggest that. It merely offers some wisdom and suggests that we consider creating additional sources of income. Invest in seven ventures; yes, in eight. That way, if disaster comes, you have alternatives.
Some wise counsel about investment in the Bible.
I’m mindful of the recent Coronavirus crisis. In the early stages, the UK went into complete lockdown. This had a major impact on one couple I know. Both husband and wife ran their own businesses which they were forced to close for several months during which they earned zero revenue.
Fortunately, back when they got married, they each owned a house. Instead of pooling resources and moving into the biggest property they could afford, they moved into one house and rented the other out to tenants. Over the years, they saved and bought an additional rental property. As such, this couple has invested in four ventures; their two businesses and two rental properties.
When the Covid-19 disaster struck, two of those ventures – their businesses – began to struggle. At least they had two additional sources of income to carry them through those tough times.
For the record, this is not a couple who I would consider as hardened capitalists. Nor are they people who spend all their time and effort in pursuit of riches. They are normal, hard-working people who have chosen to manage their money wisely and hope to supplement their retirement income with the rental properties they have bought.
The Covid-19 pandemic was an unexpected challenge for many families all over the globe. It was encouraging to see how one family came through some tough times relatively unscathed, just by applying some little-known Biblical wisdom.
Afterword
It is worth noting that many of the commentaries interpret Ecclesiastes 11:2 as a verse about giving to others generously. However, most of the actual Bible translations listed here use the word ‘venture’ or ‘investment’. Of those that employ the word ‘give’ most use it in the generic sense, which could just as easily mean ‘apportion’, rather than specifically in the context of giving to others.
As such, I read this verse more in the context of investment than giving. This should in no way diminish the value of giving generously. The Bible contains many verses that encourage giving both to God’s kingdom and to the poor. This just isn’t one of them, in my opinion.