Why Should Christians Leave a Legacy?

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A good person leaves an inheritance

A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous

Proverbs 13:22

I found this a rather difficult passage to understand — and the Bible commentaries really don’t offer much additional insight where this Bible verse is concerned.

As part of my research, I read several respected commentaries on this verse. All they really say is that a good, or a righteous, person who acquires their money honestly will leave a legacy to future generations. The wealth they acquire is there to sustain not only them but also their children and grandchildren. Conversely, those same Bible commentaries assert that sinners who acquire their wealth by immoral means will most likely burn through it and leave nothing for future generations. Instead, their money will migrate to righteous people who are more worthy of managing it.

In other words, all the many great theologians have to say about this verse is simply what it says on the tin — a good person will leave a legacy to future generations. They offer no deeper theological insights to help folk like me truly understand what Proverbs 13:22 is driving at.

So, in conclusion, the Bible commentaries agree; good people will leave a legacy — an inheritance for future generations — but the wealth of sinners will be passed on to the righteous who are more worthy of managing it. This poses some some challenges. First off, I see very little evidence of this in the world around me today.

I know many righteous people, Godly men and women, who struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis. These folk are unlikely to leave a legacy in this context to their children, let alone their grandchildren. Most of the Godly families I know never received any real financial legacy or generational inheritance from their parents when they passed. Instead, their equally Godly parents also battled to make ends meet their entire lives and left very little, if anything to their children or grandchildren when they went on to be with the Lord.

Conversely, I see many wealthy — or even super-rich — families that leave vast fortunes, often sheltered in trust funds, for future generations. I suppose some of those families might be thought of as good or righteous, but certainly not all of them. What we see in the news about many of those individuals and families is testament to this on a daily basis.

Looking back at the commentaries I have read, one take-away, on the face of it, might be that those who leave a legacy for their children’s children are good and those who don’t are sinners. That simply cannot be a valid interpretation based on the realities we see in the world today.

I briefly considered the idea that the ‘inheritance’ in Proverbs13:22 should possibly be considered as a spiritual, rather than a financial, inheritance — an inheritance of righteousness, if you will. This idea did not stand up to scrutiny. In such a context, the sinners’ wealth mentioned in the second part of the verse would be worthless. Such people would be morally bankrupt and could offer no spiritual ‘wealth’ that could be stored up for the righteous. No, this verse is definitely talking about a physical, financial inheritance.

So, in the absence of any meaningful steer from the many respected theologians and their Bible commentaries, I felt compelled to mull over this verse and reach conclusions of my own. I will share some of those thoughts below.

My first take-away is a simple one. Leaving a financial inheritance to our children and grandchildren is a good thing. Whatever else we might glean from this verse, it is quite clear that Proverbs 13:22 views the idea of leaving a legacy — a financial inheritance of multi-generational wealth — as a good thing.

I find this interesting, as I live in a first-world culture in which both the media and the politicians view this quite differently. I live in a country that actively undermines the idea of inheritance both politically and culturally, almost as if the nation doesn’t want anyone to leave a legacy to their children and grandchildren.

At time of writing, any estate in the UK worth more than a few hundred thousand pounds sterling will be taxed at 40%. In other words, nearly half of the estate will revert to the government on the death of any individual who has amassed any meaningful wealth in their lifetime. And if they leave money to their spouse, their children will be taxed on the balance a second time when the spouse passes away. This currently includes things like family farms which often have to be sold by the estate’s beneficiaries simply in order to pay the inheritance tax.

Many in the media support this idea, saying things like, ‘So what? Why should the beneficiaries receive all this wealth that they did not work for?’

The thinking goes thus. After paying tax their entire life, any wealth that an individual has managed to scrimp and save over a lifetime will be taxed one more time leaving only a pittance for the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries should go out and make their own fortune and should not be entitled to any wealth that they did not create or work for themselves.

While this may make sense on the face of it, I would submit that such thinking flies in the face of Proverbs 13:22. The ability to leave a legacy, or inheritance, for our children and grandchildren is a good thing; not something to be punished or undermined.

In light of this, I will do everything in my power to minimise the tax bill on any legacy I leave to my children — and I will do all I can to ensure that there is something left for their children as well. I would never break any laws in such an endeavour but I would use every legal means at my disposal to minimise the theft of that legacy.

Many sincere believers might take a very different view of this. In response, I would challenge them to explain away Proverbs 13:22 and show where my interpretation of this verse is at fault.

leave a legacy

How to Leave a Legacy

This led me to my second thought on the topic. If leaving a multi-generational inheritance is a good thing, how can this be achieved? There is a raft of anecdotal evidence of individuals who amassed great fortunes, only to see their empires frittered away by their children, often leaving the grandchildren bereft of any inheritance at all. In all these cases, the money was gone by the third generation.

In my mind, the surest way to avoid this is by instilling a very specific value system in our children — and their children as well. We call this value stewardhsip.

The only way to ensure that our children do not burn through any legacy we leave behind when we shuffle off this mortal coil is by teaching them that the legacy we leave is not theirs to burn. Rather it is theirs to manage for future generations.

In simple terms, when a Godly family inherits a meaningful nest-egg from Godly parents who managed to save up even a small legacy for future generations, the tendency is almost always to burn through the gift as an act of relief. In these situations, said Godly family has inevitably struggled financially for years, barely able to keep their heads above water in financial terms. This sudden injection of funds allows them a brief moment to rise up and grab a breath of fresh air before the next wave of debt engulfs them once more.

Families use this bounty to pay off some long-overdue debts, buy a new car to replace the jalopy they have been driving for years, or to finally redo the kitchen that they have wanted to do for over a decade. In other cases, such families may choose to spend the money on that blow-out family vacation that they have hitherto only been able to dream of but have never been in a position to afford.

And then…

Back to the grindstone, living from pay-check to pay-check. Over time, the new car becomes another scraped and dented jalopy . The kitchen becomes old and tired. The holiday becomes a cherished memory, never to be repeated as the family could never afford to do it again.

The only inheritance this couple is likely to leave their own children is the one they received from their parents; a moment’s respite in an lifetime of financial struggle — if that.

Families with a Stewardship mindset would approach this quite differently. Instead of splurging the inheritance their parents left them, these families recognise that the inheritance is not theirs to spend. Rather it is something to be protected and passed on to future generations — their children and their children’s children.

This is not to say that the inheritance should not be enjoyed by the immediate beneficiaries. That inheritance, properly invested and managed will generate year-on-year income that the family can use to spend, give generously and reinvest for additional future harvests.

Even an initially small inheritance properly invested for the long term over a mere two generations would in all likelihood compound into a significant nest-egg that could support the family’s descendants for generations — as long as the same values of Godly stewardship are instilled across those generations over time.

This could grow into a vast fortune that would free up countless beneficiaries over multiple generations to use their time and energy in Kingdom-minded pursuits. It would generate income that could finance missionaries and ministries throughout the world while still leaving enough income in reserve to support.

You Cannot Serve God and Money!

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No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Matthew 6:24

This is one of the most beloved verses on the topic of money in the Bible. You cannot serve both God and money. It is also one hundred percent true and we should never believe anyone who tells us any different.

That said, we need to think carefully about the conclusions we draw from it. For instance, let’s look at the following scenario.

Two young men graduated from college and embarked on their careers. Both were committed believers who had a vision to follow God’s plan for their lives. They started work with similar salaries. The first budgeted well and managed his money carefully. He never over-spent. Rather, he lived within his means and waited for a promotion or salary increase before increasing his spending. His friends and church peers commended him for his careful approach and wise financial management.

The second wanted more. He lived frugally and saved as much money as he could. Then he invested those savings in a share portfolio in the hopes that it would grow to sustain him in the long term. His friends and church peers voiced their concerns about the dangers of wealth and chasing after riches. Better to be content with what you have, they told him.

By the time the two men reached their mid-thirties, their salaries had increased substantially. The first still budgeted, living within his means and managing money carefully each month. His expenses had increased over the years, as happens, but he worked hard and put in the necessary hours in order to keep pace with his spending. He still managed his money carefully. His friends and church peers commended him for his good work ethic and wise financial management.

The second continued to invest heavily, growing his now substantial portfolio. As his salary increased, so did his investments. He lived quite frugally, choosing to invest rather than spend. His friends and church peers warned him about the love of money. They told him that there is more to life than money and pointed out that you cannot serve both God and money.

A few years later, the two young men found themselves entering the pinnacle of their respective careers. Their salaries were higher than they had ever been. The first continued to manage his money carefully, ensuring that he kept pace with his ever-increasing expenses. Work demands increased but he rose to the challenge and continued to increase his earnings to keep pace with inflation and mounting monthly bills.

The second chose a different path. Having reached a point where his investment income could support him and his family, he decided to resign from his job and pursue a life in ministry as a full-time missionary. He continued to live frugally, allowing his portfolio to grow while living off the income it produced each year.

As these two men approached retirement age, the first man continued working at a demanding job to ensure that he earned enough to keep pace with his expenses. He devoted almost all of his waking hours to working at his job. He found little time to be involved in church activities as a result of work commitments. He continued working well past retirement age in order to ensure that he could still meet his monthly expenses. Even so, his friends and church peers continued to commend him for his good work ethic and wise financial management.

The second man never returned to the corporate world. Instead, he continued his work in the mission field. As his investment portfolio grew, he was able to begin funding other missionaries and ministries in their work around the globe. When he was no longer able to work in the mission field himself, he retired and continued to mentor and support a team young missionaries all over the world.

Now ask yourself. Which of these two men served God — and which one served money?

See, the worship of money — or Mammon — comes in many guises. And the most subtle is an endless pursuit of the next pay-check. In fact, let us now look at Matthew 6:24 in context and read the next verse.

You Cannot Serve Both God and Money — The Real Challenge

You cannot serve both God and money

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

Matthew 6:24-25

Verse 25 calls out the real issue with regards to serving God or money. What we eat, what we drink and what we wear have nothing to do with chasing after wealth or riches; they describe our daily necessities. These are the things that every believer worries about, whether we are rich, poor or anything in between.

As long as we prioritise those daily necessities over God and his kingdom, we will spend our entire life chasing the next pay-check. This spiral will forever prevent us from seeking God’s purpose for our lives. The first man’s mistake was not that he worked hard and earned a steady income; both men did that. It was that he never stopped to seek God and his Kingdom. He never considered what God wanted for his life. Instead, all he ever focused on was his daily needs; what he would eat, drink, or wear — and he did that for his entire adult life.

The second man in the story knew what God wanted for his life and that is where he chose to focus his attention. This was reflected in his actions and choices over a lifetime. Granted, this is quite counter-intuitive to common first-world Christian thinking on the subject of money but that does not mean he was wrong.

In a cruel twist of fate, it was the first man who chose to serve money in his eternal pursuit of the next pay-check, while the second chose to serve God — making money his servant instead.

Let’s think about that before we draw ill-informed conclusions about what a given scripture, like Matthew 6:24 may or may not mean when we apply it to our life-choices.

Through the eye of a Needle

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Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle

Easier for a Camel

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

This raises an all-too-common question in the minds of modern Christians. For anyone who believes, or even suspects, that it is somehow a sin to be rich, please click play in the video on the left.

Using scripture, Dave Ramsey dismantles such thinking quickly and clearly — all in one succinct response.

Well worth the watch!

Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle

Why Money Matters to Christians

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So, if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?

Luke 16:11

Money matters to Christians? It sounds so counter-intuitive. However, this verse is precisely why money matters to Christians — or, at least why it should matter. Not because money is important but, rather, because it shouldn’t be important at all. The verse forms part of a wider text, all about money and how believers should manage it in their personal lives. In fact, there is so much to digest in Luke chapter sixteen that it is really quite easy to miss the powerful truth in verse eleven altogether.

The chapter starts off with the parable of the shrewd manager. This is, itself, probably one of the more difficult of Jesus’ parables to understand. In verses one through eight, Jesus tells the story of a manager who appears to have been wasteful with his master’s possessions.

Jesus told his disciples: ‘There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’

Luke 16:1-2

In short, the manager is about to get fired for wasting his master’s possessions. With his impending dismissal looming, the manager seeks out some of his master’s debtors and writes down their debts in order to curry favour with them. This in the hope that, after he is fired, he will have friends in the community who will help him out, in the same way he helped them out with their debts.

The problem is that this manager was inherently dishonest, forgiving debts that were not his to forgive. Yet, instead of having him thrown in jail for the fraud he had clearly committed, the master commends him for acting shrewdly. This part of the parable has always confused me. Why would Jesus commend an act of such blatant dishonesty?

The best explanation I have heard for this is that the master is not commending the dishonesty itself. Instead, he is acknowledging the smart way in which the manager looked out for his own interests. Even though the manager’s actions were illegal and at the master’s expense, the master is still able to show a grudging respect for his employee’s ingenuity.

In fact, Jesus offers a quiet nod to this interpretation of the text in verse eight when he says, ‘For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.’

In other words, we can still acknowledge the shrewd manager’s street-smarts without condoning his dishonest behaviour.

The Reason Money Matters to Christians

The reason money matters to Christians

Jesus moves straight on from this parable into verses nine and ten…

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much

Luke 16:9-10

In essence, this is the lesson Jesus wants us to learn from the above parable. His instruction is that we use worldly wealth to gain friends for ourselves. This is why money matters to Christians. Who are these friends? They are the souls we lead to Christ in our time here on earth — the friends we will see again in heaven. This can be achieved through sharing the gospel with our friends and neighbours. However, we should also employ our funds and resources to that end, according to Luke chapter 16.

We do this by using the money we earn, and the resources with which God has entrusted us, to support either ourselves or other ministries and missionaries in an effort to spread the gospel both in our communities and across the globe. Even when we are not directly involved in those enterprises, it is our support that enables the church to reach people in far-flung places with the gospel. We may not see the direct results of our giving here on earth, but it is those friends who will be there one day to welcome us when we leave this earth and enter into eternal dwellings. It is in this context that money matters to Christians.

As I thought about it, I came to understand how nicely this lesson actually ties in with the preceding parable. Who is the master — or the rich man — in Jesus parable of the shrewd manager? Of course, it is God himself. So then… who is the manager?

You and I are the managers in the context of this passage. And the Master has given us:

  • Income and resources and
  • The job of managing said income & resources…

… for his Kingdom. As such, how we manage our money matters to Christians!

Now each of us has a question to answer. How well have we managed the income and resources with which God has blessed us?

money matters to Christians

Many of us, like the dishonest manager, may find ourselves accused of wasting our master’s possessions. How so? Easy! When I consider how much money I have earned over a lifetime versus how much I have given to God’s kingdom, the numbers are actually quite pitiful. The trouble is I never realized money matters to Christians. I am sure that many believers, like me, have found themselves so financially stretched that they couldn’t spare any of their income for Kingdom purposes at all.

My heart goes out to sincere believers who find themselves in so much financial stress that they genuinely don’t have so much as a dime to spare for charity or Kingdom giving. I can relate. I have, personally, spent years in financial struggle with barely any money and certainly none left over for Kingdom giving. However, when I look back on those years, I can now see how unwise I was in managing the little I had. Poor career choices, opportunities squandered, and money I wasted in bad spending habits all contributed to my financial state at the time. Not that I lived an extravagant lifestyle. I simply made poor choices that left me in a constant state of financial struggle. All because I never realized money matters to Christians.

In short, I was wasteful with my master’s possessions. How does this happen? For me, it all started because I laboured under the misapprehension that the money I earned and the things I owned belonged to me, and not to God. Only when we come to understand that all we have and all we own belongs to our creator can we grasp why money matters to Christians. We are not managing it for ourselves!

The truth is God blesses us with the money we earn and the things we own. All of it. He is the master and we, his servants, are called to manage those funds on his behalf. Yes, of course, this money is there for us to pay the rent as well as to feed and clothe ourselves and our children. However we are also called to manage these resources wisely so that we have funds available for kingdom-giving as well as seed that we can sow for future harvest, which will enable us to increase our kingdom-giving over time.

Sadly, for many years, in my walk as a Christian, I wasted my master’s possessions. Instead of setting aside even a little and giving to the Kingdom… Instead of saving as I ought and investing my money so that it would grow like seed and produce a future harvest… I spent every penny I earned, living from pay-check to pay-check. Consequently, every time I received an increase, that money was already lost to expenses and debt I had racked up over the preceding year.

As such, I find the words in Luke 16:10 deeply challenging. Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

What is the very little, and what is the much? The answer lies in verse eleven. So, if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth — the very little — who will trust you with true riches? The much! This is why how we manage our money matters to Christians.

Jesus is not talking about volumes of wealth here. He is not saying that we need to be found trustworthy with a little money before we can be trusted with much money. In the context of this verse, all our worldly wealth is the very little. That is all we have, and all we earn. The very little!

Conversely, Kingdom riches is what Jesus meant when he spoke about trusting us with true riches — the much in Luke 16:10. It was a preacher who showed me the frightening truth in this verse. He did this by way of illustration, using his own life and ministry as an example.

In his sermon, he shared how he had long felt the call to ministry. However, he was shackled by his monthly expenses and could see no way to fulfil this calling as he had a relatively high-powered job and a move into ministry would mean a massive pay-cut. He had a family to care for and a mortgage to pay. Bills mounted up each month. As such, he could not see his way clear to enter the ministry as he would never be able to keep up with his monthly costs.

So it was that he languished in a career he did not enjoy, knowing full well that he was not living the life to which God had called him. On top of this, the massive stress of his job left him plagued by depression and anxiety. Without realising it, he had fallen into a trap. While he had never thought of himself as the wasteful manager, this is what he had become. The fact that he was unable to get a grip on his personal finances proved to be the very thing that prevented from embracing his true calling to ministry. He never understood how money matters to Christians.

Fortunately, over a period of time, he reduced his expenses and found ways to live on a far lower income. I have no doubt this was a hard journey for him and his family. However, instead of spending every penny that came in each month, he found ways to economise. In other words, he became trustworthy in managing the little — his worldly wealth.

And so it was that an opportunity finally presented and he moved into full-time ministry. The move no longer required the massive pay-cut, as he had already reduced his expenses and changed jobs in the interim. By becoming trustworthy in managing the very little — his worldly wealth — he had positioned himself to grasp the opportunity to manage true Kingdom riches when it presented. Thus, he transitioned smoothly into his new role in full-time ministry. This is Luke 16:11 in action; if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?

This leaves only one question to answer. How do we become trustworthy in managing the very little? To put it another way, what does trustworthy financial management look like in a Christian household? Fortunately, there are innumerable Bible verses that show us how to manage finances in our day-to-day living. Sadly, these are not widely taught in the modern church, but they are there if you choose to look for them.

You could start by trawling this blog to see what the Bible says on the subject. There are loads of articles that examine what the Bible teaches about wise financial conduct.

Alternatively, why not check out The Wise Man & the Fool. This short parable tells the story of two friends. One lives according to the word of the Lord and the wisdom of Solomon in the way he manages his money, and the other does not. It covers many of the same verses you will find in this blog albeit, all in a single succinct novella.

There is also a free companion book available on this website. You are welcome to download it on its own. That said, it is specifically written as a companion to The Wise Man & the Fool itself so will contain some references to the other book that may lack context if you have not read it.

Happy reading!

The Frightening Truth the Pension Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know

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Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.

Proverbs 27:23-24

Many believers might argue that there is no need to pursue the acquisition of assets. After all, is that not what a pension is for? This is a valid argument; you can certainly think of your pension as that ‘flock’ or ‘herd’ that will sustain you when your strength fails.

I would still extend the challenge in Proverbs 27:23, however…

Do you know the condition of your flocks? How has that pension fared over the past five years? How has it fared over the past ten? Is it currently on track to cover your monthly expenses when it matures?

Do you give careful attention to your herds? How much are you paying your fund manager in fees each year? How much are your payments likely to increase as you approach retirement? Are there better alternatives out there that you could invest in? What type of pension are you invested in? Is it one that you can pass on to your children should you shuffle off this mortal coil before you are able to reap the benefits of said pension? Most of all, if you continue at the current rate of growth, will the pot be sufficient to support you and your family in your twilight years? Will it keep track with inflation?

The truth about retirement is that not all pension schemes have your interests at heart.

If you can’t answer these questions, then I submit you do not know the condition of your flocks and have not given careful attention to your herds. It may be time to heed God’s word on the matter and take this proverb’s instruction on board.

The video below reveals some frightening truths about the modern ‘retirement industry’. This is not specifically Christian content — but truth is still truth. If this video gives you pause for thought, then I would urge you to heed the above Bible verse and start paying attention to your ‘flocks and herds’, as the proverb advises.

The Truth About Retirement

The Bible on Money —That Sword Cuts Both Ways

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I will be the first to acknowledge that the Bible message is not about money, wealth or the pursuit of riches. This raises the obvious question. If this is not what the Bible is about, then why devote an entire blog to the subject? After all, does the Bible not say, ‘For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil?’

In answer to that question, I would submit…

First — even though it is not a core theme, the Bible still has something to say on the subject and…

Second — since most churches I ever attended have failed to address the subject at all, I feel it needs to be discussed somewhere.

With that said, we come to the next protest with regards to falling for the love of money. Whenever interpreting the Bible, we can’t take a single scripture out of context; we have to interpret each scripture in the light of all scripture. This is a common response in modern Christian culture when addressing a taboo subject like money.

For instance, if I choose to focus on the following verse:

Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.

Ecclesiastes 11:2

… and suggest that this is some sound advice that the Bible offers about how we should invest our money…

Christendom’s ‘for love of money’ alarm-bells start to ring. The immediate response is, ‘You can’t take one scripture out of context and disregard all other scripture on the subject! For instance, you can’t ignore,’

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

For the Love of Money is… Only Half the Story

For the love of money is only half the story

My response? Consider those words carefully, dear brother or sister. That sword cuts both ways. And in this instance, that sword is the word of God. I am not suggesting that we should love money or pursue riches. However, the same Bible that contains 1 Timothy 6:10 also says,

Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man’s dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.

Proverbs 21:20

In fact the very same passage in 1 Timothy contains the following verse;

Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

1 Timothy 5:8

And then there are verses like,

Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds;  for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.

Proverbs 27:23-24

… or…

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

Proverbs 12:11

And that is to name only a few verses that speak about how we should manage our money. There are plenty more I could quote. Please look here if you want to explore this further.

All I am saying is, ‘We can’t take one scripture, (E.g. 1 Timothy 6:10) out of context and disregard all other scripture on the subject.’

We need to look at God’s word as a whole to understand everything the Bible has to say on a given subject.

1 Timothy 6:10 is an important verse and it is one hundred percent true. But does that make any of the other verses above less important — or less true?

And here’s the rub. I have lost count of the number of times I have heard 1 Timothy 6:10 quoted or taught in church, from the pulpit, in home groups or in Christian media. There are countless sermons, books, DVD’s and even entire ministries devoted to the truth of this verse.

How many times have I heard any of the other verses above quoted or taught? In some forty years as an active Christian, who has seldom let a week go by when I was not in church or the company of fellow-believers…

… I might have heard 1 Timothy 5:8 quoted once, maybe twice in Christian conversation. And I have definitely heard Ecclesiastes 11:2 quoted on a handful of occasions, though never taught from the pulpit. As for the rest? As far as I can recall, I have never heard one of those verses taught by a pastor or elder in any church I have ever attended. Nor have I heard any of those verses discussed in a home-group or Bible study setting. In fact, I have never even heard those verses mentioned around a dinner table with fellow-believers; I had to seek them out and find them for myself.

This is a pity because, to quote the apostle Paul again,

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

So, here I take my stand — and choose to quote and discuss the verses that others have chosen to avoid.

Noble Poverty in the Bible — Exposing the Lie

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Better the poor whose walk is blameless than the rich whose ways are perverse.

Proverbs 28:6

Proverbs 28:6 is one of those scriptures so easily turned on its head.

Spoiler alert! This verse does not say it is better to be poor than rich; it says better to be blameless than perverse.

Yet, somehow, we always tend to focus on the wrong aspects of verses like this. I guess this is because we are physical beings in a physical world. As such, our immediate focus is on what we see every day; the poor vs the rich.

So, when we read a verse like this, we immediately latch on to the obvious — and we zone in on the words, ‘Better the poor…’

And why wouldn’t we? Our Christian culture loves to focus on the virtues of poverty over the evil of riches. But this is a cardinal error on our part with respect to this verse — because Proverbs 28:6 is not concerned with issues of poverty vs wealth. It is primarily concerned with issues of sin vs righteousness.

Jesus did not come into this world to save us from poverty. Nor did he come into this world to save us from wealth, for that matter. He came to this world to take away our sin and to make us righteous before God.

Better the Poor — Exposing the Lie

Better the poor - exposing the lie

So, if we read the verse again — carefully this time — it does not say, ‘Better the poor… than the rich.’

Rather, it says, ‘Better [to be] blameless… than [to be] perverse.’

The verse simply uses poverty vs riches as a measure against which to show us exactly how important this is. In fact the writer assumes that everyone agrees we would rather NOT be poor. It assumes that everyone would want to have a little more money in their pockets.

Then it teaches the lesson; those whose walk is blameless are far better off than those who are perverse. Even if they were steeped in poverty — something we all agree is a terrible fate — they are still better off than they would be if they were perverse.

To be perverse, according to the dictionary definition, is to deliberately deviate from what is good. At its core, this scripture addresses a condition of the human heart. Blamelessness versus perverseness. So how do we become blameless? Well, that is what the Bible is really all about. Jesus died on the cross and, in so doing, took all our sin — our perverseness, if you like — on himself. And in that same moment, he imparted his righteousness, or blamelessness, to all who would accept his free gift of grace.

Relative wealth or poverty pales into insignificance next to this eternal gift of righteousness — which is precisely the point that the writer of Proverbs 28:6 is trying to make.

The Truth About Jehovah Jireh — Secret Revealed

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When I began looking into what the Bible says about money, I found innumerable articles that that used scripture out of context or stretched a verse’s meaning to teach a ‘Biblical’ lesson about how Christians should manage their finances.

While these teachings were well meant and, in many cases, offered sound financial advice, I needed something more. I was not looking for verses that could be applied to a financial context, provided we squint hard enough and tilt our heads at the right angle. I wanted to find scriptures that spoke about money unequivocally. Nothing less would do.

And, so, I was forced to disregard the many articles I read about Jehovah Jireh.

Why? There is actually only one Jehovah Jireh Bible verse to be found in God’s word — and it has absolutely nothing to do with physical or financial provision.

Jehovah Jireh Bible Verse

Jehovah Jireh Bible verse

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

Genesis 22:13-14

The verses above are the culmination of the passage in which Abraham is called to sacrifice his son, Isaac. In the preceding verses, Isaac notes the fact that they don’t have a lamb for the sacrifice, to which Abraham replies that God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.

In this story, Abraham goes through the entire process of placing his son on the altar and is on the verge of sacrificing his own son — when God stops him at the last second. As we see in verse thirteen above, it is then that Abraham spots the ram caught by its horns; so God provided the sacrifice, after all.

This whole passage is a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice in which God would provide the lamb for the offering. Jesus is the Lamb of God, the sacrifice provided by — Jehovah Jireh — for the forgiveness of our sins.

Isn’t that a far greater gift than mere financial or physical provision? This is the crux of our Christian walk, and physical provision pales into insignificance next to the power of this verse.

So, in conclusion, there are many Bible verses that speak about money and how we should manage it… but Genesis 22:14 — the Jehovah Jireh Bible verse — is not one of them. And I, for one, think that the promise in this scripture is all the richer for this truth.

Everything My Pastors NEVER Taught Me About Money!

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what the bible says about money

I grew up in a single-parent home. My mother worked hard to support me and my sister while we were young but money was always tight and we faced constant financial struggle in my formative years.

After completing school, I was a little rudderless. I never went on to tertiary education. Instead, I started a Christian outreach band and built a small music ministry. This was a great calling but it earned nothing so I started working in sales on a commission-only basis in order to pay the monthly bills. I was a terrible sales-person and, as a result, my income was low and quite sporadic. While my friends all went to university and then started working in high-paying jobs, I continued living from one intermittent paycheck to the next.

I had always believed that the love of money is the root of all evil, just as the Bible and my pastors taught me. I still do. However, there came a time when I realized that I simply had to earn more in order to make rent and put food on the table. I didn’t want to be rich — but I also knew that God did not want me to starve.

It was around this time that I moved to a new church that introduced me to the ‘Prosperity Gospel’. This teaching offered a perspective on money that I had never heard in church previously. Before I go any further, let me state for the record that I DO NOT buy into this teaching. I believe it is contrary to scripture, that it is a false teaching and, ultimately a dangerous one.

However, for a time in my twenties, I attended this church and bought into the idea that God wants every believer, including me, to be rich. The only requirements were a little faith on my part along with a lot of generous giving into the offering each week. This, according to my pastoral team, would obligate God to open the floodgates and pour out a financial blessing so great that my bank account would not be able to contain it.

Needless to say, that promise never came to pass. The only good that came out of the experience is that I learned the value of giving generously to God’s kingdom — something my previous churches had also kept fairly low-key.

In that dark place, I told God that I no longer believed he cared about my financial state…that I no longer needed or wanted his help…from that moment on, I would take care of my finances myself

I cried out to God in frustration

In my late twenties, I found myself earning a paltry $200 (yes — two hundred dollars) a month on average. And many months, I failed to earn even that much. Taking inflation into account, I was earning the equivalent of about $680/month, or just under $4.00/hour. This is less than half of minimum wage in over thirty states, according to these statistics, at time of writing. In short, I was locked in a cycle of eternal financial struggle.

I never lost my faith in God but I reached a point where I cried out to him in frustration. In that dark place, I told God that I no longer believed he cared about my financial state. I told him that I no longer needed or wanted his help or intervention with respect to my finances. And I told him that from that moment on, I would take care of my finances myself and that he would have no part that that aspect of my life going forward.

Fortunately, this dark period of my Christian walk only lasted a few months before I recognized my own foolishness and repented. I realized that my expectations were based on deliberately misunderstood and misinterpreted scriptures about prosperity, taught to me by a misguided pastoral team. I am sure that many of these men of God were and are sincere believers — but, with respect to their teachings on financial prosperity, they were sincerely wrong.

I put the prosperity teaching behind me and turned my face towards God and his word. Still, little changed with respect to my financial worries. God did not deliver me from the deep financial struggle in which I found myself. I started a business which did extremely well in its first year, and then tanked in the second. As I approached my thirties, and looking to get married, I found myself effectively unemployed with nothing to show for my life but a failed business.

I opted for a career change and started working in IT. With no tertiary qualification and zero experience, my starting salary was equivalent to that of someone fresh out of school, and barely above minimum wage. However, for me it was a step up. At least it was a regular income.

I got married in my early thirties. My wife and I built a life together and raised a family. Two children, one emigration and countless career changes later, our financial situation had changed in many respects. Our income was higher and more regular, that much is certain. And yet, our financial struggle remained. We still found ourselves living from paycheck to paycheck every month. As our income grew, so did our expenses, so much so that we were hardly able to keep up.

I now found myself facing a daily commute, two hours each way. I left for work at 06h00 every morning and returned home at 18h30-19h00 each evening. I spent the time in between chained to a desk for five days a week — all in an effort to simply make ends meet. My wife was in the same position as we needed two incomes just to cover our monthly expenses.

Wealthy? You’re joking! We were barely scraping by.

In this new normal, I barely ever saw my children. I was either working or commuting to and from work for roughly sixty-five hours each week. The demands of my job also left little space for God in my life and my Christian walk suffered as a result. The problem was, I dared not stop for fear of falling back into a situation that left me unable to make rent or put food on the table. I wasn’t twenty any more and I had two children relying on me to provide for them.

And so, I continued in my eternal financial struggle. All the while I had this deep-seated feeling that something was terribly wrong. This was not the life to which God had called me. Sure, I was able to put food on the table, but at what cost? My health? My family? My faith?

What the Bible Says About Money

what the Bible says about money

I decided once and for all to understand what the Bible says about money…what it actually says… and, by extension…everything it says

What the Bible says about money

As I approached my fifties, I decided once and for all to understand what the Bible says about money. Not what popular Christian culture claims it says. Not what I think it says — nor what my pastors tell me it says. I wanted to understand what it actually says. And, by extension, I wanted to understand everything it says on the subject.

So began my journey into God’s word to understand… what the Bible says about money.

The first point to note is this; nothing I read negated what I had always been taught with respect to the love of money.

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

This is what the Bible says about money. It is very clear on this — so don’t let anybody tell you anything different.

However, as I studied 1 Timothy 6:10, a frightening truth began to emerge; I was a lover of money! In fact, I had always loved money.

What the Bible says about money in 1 Timothy 6:10, made it clear that the love of money is a state of heart; not a bank balance. As a lifelong believer, I had heard this verse taught countless times from the pulpit. But the way it was taught and, as I had always understood it, the verse simply did not apply to me. After all, I had never chased after riches. Quite the contrary; I had faced financial struggle my whole life.

But, as I read God’s word, this chilling thought consumed me; you don’t have to be rich to love money. In fact, you don’t even have to want to be rich to love money. As I studied what the Bible says about money, I came to realize that the love of money has led far more people into consumer-debt and relative poverty than it has ever led to wealth. And my life was a glaring example of this terrifying Biblical truth.

I began to understand that my desperate need for job security was little more than a fear of loss — loss of the little that I had managed to acquire. I also began to grasp how an ingrained cultural focus on consumer spending always left me coming up short. This, in turn, left me working and commuting sixty hours or more each week, forever chasing that next paycheck to cover mounting bills and keep food in the table. This is the love of money at its stealthiest. I never planned for this life. Not once did I picture this as living the dream back in my teens and twenties.

As I studied God’s word, I began to understand something my pastors had never taught me; how the love of money would keep me steeped in poverty and financial struggle for the rest of my life — if I let it. My pastors had always called out the danger of chasing after riches, and how to avoid it but not once had a pastor ever explained to me how my innate love of money could keep me forever chained in a life of financial struggle.

This was the first Biblical truth my pastor never taught me about money. There were many more to come as I embarked on this frightening and exhilarating journey into God’s word.

As I delved into God’s word to learn what the Bible says about money, I discovered a treasure trove of verses that offer immense wisdom on the subject. Here are a few to get you started.