A Biblical Perspective on the Holiday Home Syndrome

Posted on March 28, 2022March 23, 2022 by richabbaholyabba

Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.
Proverbs 24:27

While recently chatting to a fellow-believer and close friend, he shared his secret dream of owning a holiday home down on the coast. And why wouldn’t he nurture such a dream? A part of me yearns for that as well. The thought of owning a lovely little beach hideaway that I could escape to for the odd weekend getaway sounds quite appealing.

My friend and I are not alone. Many a middle-class family dreams of their holiday getaway home. Some dream of a beach house. Others dream of a mountain chalet.

However, as I began to dream of that holiday home, my thoughts turned to scripture. Now, let me be clear; the Bible does not forbid anyone’s hankering for a holiday home. It merely offers some sound advice. Take a look at Proverbs 24:27, shown above.

Get Your Fields Ready

With that in mind, it occurs to me that a striving for a holiday home is little more than a house-building exercise. The proverb does not say there is anything wrong with this; it merely advises me to put my outdoor work in order and get my fields ready first — then build my house.

In other words, having scrimped and saved from my hard-earned wages, the proverb urges me to first invest in next year’s harvest. It tells me to get my outdoor work in order and get my fields ready. How do I do this? By purchasing seed and preparing my assets in order to reap a harvest when the time comes.

Once I have done that, I can begin building my house. Unfortunately, for most middle-class folk, like me, preparing those fields will soak up most of those savings, leaving very little to invest in that dream holiday home.

Truly wealthy individuals apply the wisdom in this proverb regardless of whether they are believers or not. It’s a sad fact that the middle-class syndrome generally does the opposite. It builds the house first— and pays the price in the long run.

As such, I have decided to take the lesson in this proverb to heart. While I love the idea of owning a holiday home by the sea, I choose wisdom and have invested my savings in next year’s harvest. In years to come, I may find myself in a position to “build my house” so to speak. Or maybe God will lead me to give the proceeds to his kingdom instead. After all, it’s his money; I am merely a steward.

So, for now, I will go about the business of putting my outdoor work in order and getting my fields ready. Just like the proverb says.

The Truth About Teaching Financial Advice In The Bible

Posted on March 21, 2022December 28, 2023 by richabbaholyabba

I recently came across some interesting statistics about pastors.

29% of pastors have zero in personal savings
84% of pastors have no emergency fund
70% of pastors feel grossly underpaid
90% of pastors experience financial stress in their family

In truth, most pastors are just like the rest of us; living from paycheck to paycheck and struggling to make ends meet. Most have little or no savings.

Small wonder, then, that the Biblical perspective on managing our finances is so seldom taught from the pulpit. The average pastor understands this no more than the next guy.

Please understand. Your pastor is neither trying to hide something from you nor avoiding the subject of money because it is temporal and unspiritual. Most pastors avoid the subject simply because they don’t understand it.

In short, pastors can’t teach what they don’t know!

This is a pity because the Bible actually has heaps to say about wise financial management and conduct.

Here are a few to get you started.

My guess is most believers — like me — have seldom heard these verses taught from the pulpit, if ever.

Secret to Seeking First the Kingdom — Not a Pay-Check

Posted on March 14, 2022March 15, 2022 by richabbaholyabba

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things [what you shall eat, drink and wear], will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:33

We all know this verse. I am sure most believers have heard it countless times both in church and Sunday-school. But have we contemplated its true meaning? I believe Matthew 6:33 is one of the most challenging verses in the Bible for the average first-world believer. That includes me.

For the full impact of this verse, let us consider the verses preceding it.

³¹So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:31-33

Distilled to its core, Jesus is saying, ‘Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness — not a pay-check!‘ Let’s consider how we acquire those basic necessities in life; what we eat, what we drink and what we wear. We purchase those things with money. And how do we come by that money? We go out, get a job, and earn it for the work that we do.

Now here’s the thing. Most people have an average of 16 waking hours each day — and most people spend ten, or more, of those hours on work-related activities. That includes time spent at work, commuting to or from work, or getting ready for work.

As a measure of our time, that amounts to roughly 62% of our waking hours. As a measure of our energy, it is actually much higher. How energized do you feel when you arrive home after a hard day’s work?

Seek First His Kingdom and His Righteousness

According to Matthew 6:33, we should seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. The promise is that, when we do this, then all these things will be added to us as well — what we eat, what we drink, and what we wear. However, all too often, we turn this on its head.

We wake up at five or six in the morning and get ready to leave for work — seeking a pay-check. We rush out to catch the bus or train, or do battle with grueling traffic in our effort get to the office on time. Then follow eight to ten hours of work. And, finally, the reverse commute back home, all in pursuit of a pay-check.

We tell ourselves that we don’t worry about money, but that is not strictly true. The reason we don’t worry is because we have a pay-check. We trust our employer to pay us what they legally owe — because we gave up the sixty most productive hours of our week in pursuit of our pay-check. And we trust God, our employer, and maybe luck that we will not be made redundant before we reach retirement age, as long as we hold up our end of the bargain and keep putting in the time. We call this job security.

Here is the hard truth. When we wake up at five or six in the morning and spend the first eleven hours of or waking day seeking a pay-check we are, by definition, seeking that pay-check first. We don’t cling to job security as a way to overcome our financial anxiety. Rather, we do it because of our financial anxiety.

In other words, having a job does not cure our worry about what we will eat or what we will wear. Instead, because we worry about those things, we cling to our job at all costs. In short, we seek first our pay-check.

Some of us compensate for this by spending some time in prayer first thing in the morning or, maybe, reading our Bible on the train journey in to work. Hats off to those who manage this; you’re doing better than most. But can this really qualify as seeking first the kingdom of God? Twenty minutes! Weighed against eleven hours spent in pursuit of a pay-check… really?

I know this sounds harsh but Jesus never said following him would be easy. God set the bar high. Thank the Lord for his grace and forgiveness, is all I can say; I fall way short.

That said, I want to rise to the challenge! By the power of God’s spirit, I want to truly seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. So how do I achieve that? Hand in my resignation tomorrow and spend all my time and energy in God’s word? Not only is that impractical, it borders on foolish. I simply don’t believe that is what God’s word demands of us.

Rather, I believe it is a process. First, I can start with twenty minutes a day spent in prayer and reading God’s word. That is a great place to start! In that time, if I truly seek his kingdom and his righteousness, I believe a picture will start to form. That picture will show what God’s kingdom should look like in my life. Once I know what his kingdom looks like in my life, I can formulate a plan to craft that life.

This will almost certainly change the way I currently earn and spend my money. I cannot seek God’s kingdom first while I still worry about what I will eat, what I will drink or what I will wear. These are flip-sides of the same coin.

How to Focus on the Right Bible Teaching

Posted on March 7, 2022March 15, 2022 by richabbaholyabba

This week offered another teaching opportunity around the dinner table. We had dinner with extended family, all of whom are believers.

At one point, dinner conversation turned to the subject of investment and financial stewardship. It didn’t take long before my mother pointed out the obvious off the back of something my son said.

‘Just remember, some of the unhappiest people in the world are also some of the richest,’ she said. The silent message; money doesn’t buy happiness.

While her statement was true, I had no compunction calling out the inherent error in that train of thought. The issue I take with assertions like this is in the hidden message that, somehow, poverty is more Godly than wealth.

I responded, ‘It is equally true that some of the unhappiest people in the world are also some of the poorest.’

Love of Money is the Real Heart Issue

My point? Wealth and happiness are not the core issue believers need to deal with in this context. The real issue we need to deal with, as believers, is the love of money. That is a fight every believer has to wage, rich and poor alike. And, when combating the love of money, doing battle from a place of poverty or financial struggle won’t make our fight any easier or more noble.

When combating the love of money, doing battle from a place of financial struggle won’t make our fight any easier or more noble.
Rich Abba, Holy Abba

The reason I push back against statements like this — especially around the dinner table — is simple. I don’t want to teach my children that consumer debt and its accompanying financial struggle is a Godly way to live. Poverty offers no immunity from the love of money.

I want them to understand that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Furthermore, I want them to learn sound financial management principles so that they are able to give generously to God’s kingdom and to live their lives with a Kingdom-first mindset.

In short, I want my children to learn to live their lives in such a way that they don’t worry about what they will eat, what they will drink or what they will wear but rather to seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness.

There will be times in their lives when they experience God’s abundance, and there will be times when they experience lack. If they learn to be wise stewards of the money God entrusts to them then, hopefully, they will experience more of the former and less of the latter.

But through it all, I want them to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.