One Powerful Secret my Pastor Never Taught Me

Posted on July 20, 2020October 21, 2020 by richabbaholyabba

Did you know the Bible actually says God gives us the ability to produce wealth?

¹¹Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe His commands, his laws and His decrees that I am giving to you this day. ¹²Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, ¹³and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹⁵He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, the thirsty waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of the hard rock. ¹⁶He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. ¹⁷You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ ¹⁸But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
Deuteronomy 8:11-18

Some translations say power to create instead of ability to produce wealth but the meaning is the same. We can produce wealth because God enables us to do so.

The key verse is Deuteronomy 8:18 which says ‘… for it is [God] who gives you the ability to produce wealth’

We need to read the whole passage in context, however. The good news, that God gives us the ability to produce wealth, is framed in a warning and this is the main thrust of the passage. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God.

The passage leads with these words in verse 11 and then echoes the warning in verse 18. But remember the Lord your God… because is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.

Most sermons you hear on this passage will concentrate on the warning, and rightly so. After all, this is primarily what the passage is about. They will focus your attention on the fact that God is concerned with your eternal soul and that things of this world are transient. God comes first and is the most important aspect of our lives. All of this is true and we would do well to remember that.

However, this glosses over an interesting fact in the Bible; God actually gives us the ability to produce wealth!

The Ability to Produce Wealth

Note, God’s word says he gives us the ability to produce wealth. This does not mean that every person automatically has instant access to wealth. I may have the ability to run a marathon in under four hours but that doesn’t mean I automatically can.

In order to achieve my ability, I would need to discipline myself, maintain a healthy diet and train hard. I would need to do this consistently over a period of months or even years. While most people are enjoying their morning lie-in, I would have to be out early in all types of weather, ensuring that I put in the miles I need to achieve my goal.

If I choose to adopt a couch-potato lifestyle instead of training as I should, it is unlikely I would ever realize my God-given ability.

I might even have a personal mental block that prevents me from achieving my ability. What if I believed that the Marathon is a race that has its roots in pagan religion? Since the Marathon distance originates in the Olympics which were a celebration of the ancient Greek gods, I might conclude that partaking in, or even attempting to run, a marathon is actually a form of idolatry. As such, I might justify my choice to sit on the couch with a packet of crisps, a few bars of chocolate and a constant supply of sugary drinks while I watch some sport on TV. All in my effort to avoid idolatry.

That thinking probably sounds a bit silly to most people. And yet, we do this with money all the time. The Bible tells us that God has given us the ability to produce wealth. However, instead of exercising that gift, we choose the metaphorical sofa instead. More than that, we are so terrified of making money an idol in our lives that we justify our choice.

How to Produce Wealth

The ability to produce wealth comes down to two things:

The ability to acquire wealth and
The ability to keep wealth

This requires discipline and consistency. Above all, I believe we need to root out the love of money in our lives to achieve this.

Ability to Acquire Wealth

In order to acquire wealth, we need to ensure that we spend less than we earn. The only way to do this is to:

Increase our income and / or
reduce our expenses

In the main, finding ways to reduce expenses is easier than generating additional income. That said, you don’t have to choose one or the other; you should pursue both goals at the same time.

Here is an easy way to reduce your expenses. Get your bank statements for the last three months and go through every item on the list. Focus particularly on the recurring items and follow three easy steps.

1. REMOVE Unnecessary Expenses

You have to be brutal when you do this. What about that gym membership that you haven’t used in over a year? If you are truly honest with yourself, you’re never going back. Cancel it!

That Amazon Prime membership that you signed up for to get free a month’s service? I know, you meant to cancel it at the end of 30 days but then forgot. Cancel it now.

And those subscriptions you have been meaning to cancel but simply never get around to … you know what to do.

What about recurring restaurant bills? If you think about it, eating in is both cheaper and healthier.

I never said this would be easy. It will require some tough choices.

Be brutal. Any expenses that are not absolutely necessary have to go.

Once you have done that, you can move on to step two.

2. REDUCE Remaining Expenses

This is a headache but probably easier than step one. By casting your eye around, you can often find a cheaper supplier for things like

Energy bills
Insurance
Telephone & Broadband

In fact, your suppliers will actually help you out on this. Simply call up your supplier and tell them you want to move… and listen to the person on the end of the line launch into their retention script.

First, they will offer you a cheaper configuration. Next, they will offer you a discounted price. They will engage in all sorts of ploys to keep your business, every one of which will result in a cheaper price than you are currently paying.

In the end, you can either switch to the cheaper supplier or stay with the existing one at the much better rate; a rate that they should have offered you before you told them you planned to leave.

Now that you have removed unnecessary expenses altogether and reduced the remaining expenses, you are ready for step three.

3. REPAY Outstanding Consumer Credit

One of the necessary expenses that remains will, very likely, be minimum payments on one or more credit cards. You can’t remove or even reduce this expense because you are paying for past purchases. What’s done is done. You can’t change the past. But you can change your behavior going forward.

Take all the extra money you are now saving each month and pay off the outstanding balance on your credit cards. This may take a few months but it will be worth it.

There are two trains of thought on this. One suggests that you pick the card with the highest interest rate and pay that off first, then the next highest and so on.

An alternative approach is to pick the one with the smallest balance outstanding and pay that off first, then the next smallest and so on.

The first approach is the more sensible financial one as it will save you the most money in the shortest time. However, studies have shown that the psychological satisfaction of paying off one of your cards is often a greater motivation. Of course there is every chance that your smaller balances come at a higher interest rate in any case.

No matter which option you choose, work to get those credit balances down to zero. Pay off one card, and then the next, until all your cards are down to a zero balance. This will once and for all reduce the impact of interest on consumer debt in your life and free you up to begin planting the seeds from which your wealth will grow.

Ability to Keep Wealth

It sounds absurd but it is true. The ability to keep the wealth you have generated is as much as skill as the ability to acquire wealth. It’s no accident that so many lottery winners end up in a worse financial state within a year or two of winning millions of dollars.

However, it is not just lottery winners who fall into this trap. Many successful business owners build up a company from nothing and sell it for millions. Then, they manage to lose it all in two years or less.

This is because wise investment requires a different skill-set than entrepreneurship. Both of these skills can be learned with the right information and proper mentorship or guidance.

One of the lessons I have learned with respect to keeping wealth is to simply slow down and limit expectations. Every time I have lost a significant amount of money, has been when I tried to grow too fast or too soon. Wealth creation is a slow burn and there are no short-cuts or get-rich-quick schemes. Slow and steady wins the day – every time.

Keeping Things in Perspective

We all know how easy it is to forget God when things are going well. As we discipline ourselves and begin to create wealth, we increase our financial knowledge and wisdom.

Each success builds on the previous one and the temptation is always there to think that we are doing this in our own strength. As our wealth begins to grow, let’s heed the warning in Deuteronomy 8:11-18 and remember the Lord in all we do.

Let us never forget that God is the source of all that is good in our lives and let us not become so arrogant as to think that what we have achieved in life is by our own strength.

Jesus Said This!

Posted on July 13, 2020September 8, 2020 by richabbaholyabba

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

Jesus said this… why can’t Christians be more Christ-like?

A brother in Christ recently posed this question to me. It’s a fair question because, truth be told, far too many believers who advocate Christian wealth and prosperity try to hide from this scripture.

Those who don’t ignore it altogether are quick to point to Old Testament passages where God actually made righteous men like Abraham or Jacob wealthy. Or they point to New Testament scriptures that allude to the fact that many of Jesus’ followers were actually wealthy. Little more than a futile attempt to negate the truth of this verse.

I have even heard a teaching that suggests Jesus didn’t really mean the eye of an actual needle but rather a broken part in Jerusalem’s city wall which, while difficult to negotiate, could actually allow a camel to get through albeit with great difficulty. The teaching contends that this gap in the wall was called The Eye of the Needle by the locals.

For the record, I don’t subscribe to that idea because I see no scriptural basis for the theory. If we profess to be Christians who allow the Bible to guide our thoughts, speech and actions, then we need to seek our understanding from scripture.

In short, we need to own this scripture as believers. As my brother so rightly points out… Jesus said this!

The Eye of a Needle

Let’s take a look at the Matthew 19:16-25 passage.

¹⁶Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’ ¹⁷‘Why do you ask me about what is good?’ Jesus replied. ‘There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.’ ¹⁸‘Which ones?’ he inquired. Jesus replied, ‘’You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, ¹⁹honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’’ ²⁰‘All these I have kept,’ the young man said. ‘What do I still lack?’ ²¹Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ ²²When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. ²³Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ ²⁵When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ ²⁶ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’
Matthew 19:16-26

For me, there are three key verses in this passage. The first is the one everybody knows. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

This is certainly the verse that most of us focus on. I guess we do this because it is a clever catch-phrase that also illustrates a deep spiritual truth.

If ever there was a passage about the love of money, it is this one. The rich young man clearly knew that something was missing in his life and that he needed to be saved. Jesus showed him the way but the young man’s love of money prevented him from embracing the truth.

This leads Jesus to make the observation we all know so well. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle…

The second key verse is the disciples’ reaction to that statement. They were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’

I have been a Christian for most of my life. Every message I have heard on this passage stops at verse 24. The challenge is obvious and our pastors and teachers slam the message home. Rich people cannot enter the kingdom of God.

When we hear messages like this, our take-away is simple. For most of my life, my thought process has been as follows. This verse applies to rich people. I am not rich, therefore this verse doesn’t apply to me – but it is interesting and memorable.

Because we get hung up on verse 24, most of us miss what the disciples so keenly observed in verse 25. Who then can be saved?

Who, indeed? While our first-world culture sees shades of grey, the disciples appear to have had a far more binary view of the world. They saw the poor – and everybody else. The poor were those with disabilities or widows and orphans who were physically or socially incapable of generating an income. As such, they were unable to buy basic necessities like food, shelter or clothing. In the disciples’ eyes, if you were not poor, you were, by definition, rich. Hence their astonishment and the question Who then can be saved?

Instead of assuming that this verse does not apply to them, the disciples accept that it does! This creates a far more frightening thought pattern for them. I am not poor. Therefore I am rich. How then can I be saved?

In their minds, Jesus statement ruled out just about everybody the disciples knew from ever entering the kingdom of heaven, including themselves. And it should do the same for us.

I realize that most of us don’t feel rich or, indeed, consider ourselves to be rich. But this is just a glass-half-empty mentality. It is another example of The Devil’s Greatest Trick.

I was born in South Africa where any family with a household income of more than $500/month was in the top 5% income group in the country. That means, in most homes, both mom and dad work eight hours a day to earn roughly $250/month each. By that measure any family earning the USA national median monthly salary of $4,700 would be considered rich beyond measure.

Who then can be saved?

Fortunately, Jesus provides the answer in the third key verse in this passage. Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’

Conclusion – the Whole Picture

When I see the full picture, I am confronted with a frightening truth. The “rich” folk that Jesus refers to actually includes many more people than I might automatically think. It actually includes me even though, as someone who works hard for a living, I don’t think of myself as rich.

As someone who is already rich by the Biblical measure that the disciples used, I don’t have to hide from this scripture. Nor do I have to invent fantastic stories about merchants squeezing their camels through large cracks in the city wall after the gates have closed for the night, like a group of blokes trying to get a smelly sofa up some narrow stairs to an apartment.

I also don’t have to reach for other scriptures to prove how many of Jesus’ followers were actually rich. The answer is provided by Jesus himself, right there in the passage. With God all things are possible.

I need to be careful here. This does not diminish the value or truth of verse 24. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle... There is a clear warning in this passage to guard against the love of money in our lives. There is also a very specific warning to those who have money and are rich. Anyone who is already “rich” (i.e. not poor) needs to take heed. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Fact! Jesus said this.

But even as he said this he also offered us the way to redemption.

As such, we need to guard our hearts and rely on God’s strength to carry us through. Never stop fighting the good fight. And when money becomes too important, we need to repent, turn back to God and make him the center of our lives once more.

Most of us will probably go through this cycle not once, but many times in our lives. Let us never forget this scripture. Let us never hide from it. Let us never assume that it does not apply to us. Rather, let us embrace it.

Only remember; never stop reading at verse 24. Rather meditate on this scripture in its entirety. Perhaps a better way to remember this verse in future is:

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.…Who then can be saved?….With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

As a parting note, this raises another interesting topic for me. Namely the difference between “rich” and “wealthy”? I have some thoughts on this…

… but I will save that for another post.

Christian Love-of-Money Blinkers

Posted on July 6, 2020September 7, 2020 by richabbaholyabba

As I observe fellow-Christians, I have noticed some general patterns of thinking when it comes to money. Certain things that Christians, as a group, believe with respect to money. When a brother or sister does not conform to these widely-held beliefs, this will often trigger our built-in Christian Love-of-Money alarms.

Sadly, many of these widely-held views have no scriptural basis and, in fact, defy common-sense.

Here are my top two.

Wealth-Accumulation is Love of Money

This is an unspoken belief in Christian circles. It is seldom explicitly stated but it is implied in the things we say or point out when this alarm sounds.

The moment a person begins to focus on actively accumulating wealth, our built-in Christian Love-of-Money alarm-bells start to sound. When we talk about building an investment portfolio or ways of expanding our property portfolio, Christian family and friends can quickly become concerned for our spiritual welfare.

The more interest we take in the subject and the more we apply our minds to increasing our financial literacy and the accumulation of wealth through saving and investment, the louder those alarm-bells begin to sound. Well-meaning friends and pastors might caution us against making money an idol in our lives. And not just them; if you have been involved in the church for any length of time, those same bells will begin ringing in your own head.

Pursuit of wealth is love of money, the voices will say. There are more important things in life than money. You know you can’t take it with you. Be careful that you don’t gain the whole world and forfeit your own soul.

Conversely, when it comes to putting a portion of your monthly income into a pension scheme or 401(k) each month the alarm-bells remain strangely silent. Everybody does this, the voices will say. It is sensible to put something aside for your old age.

The fact that anyone putting money into a pension, retirement annuity or 401(k) is actually paying a team of brokers to manage that pension scheme is strangely irrelevant. The fact that other people are investing and growing the portfolio (i.e. accumulating wealth) on our behalf appears not to register on our built-in Christian Love-of-Money radars.

It’s almost as if there is an unspoken belief among Christians that taking control of your own financial affairs is wrong but paying someone you’ve never met to do it for you is okay.

There is simply no scriptural basis for this mindset. Love of money is a state of heart and a state of mind. Every believer needs to deal with the love of money in their lives whether they manage their own investment portfolio or not.

You think the one who pays into a 401(k) doesn’t love money? Just consider the disappointment or even rage on the face of the last person you spoke to who bemoaned the fact that their 401(k) / retirement annuity was not going to pay out as much as they had hoped it would.

Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness

If you steer the conversation to saving and investment or throw out terms like ‘Passive Income’ and ‘Achieving Financial Freedom’ in Christian circles, expect a reaction. It’s only a matter of time before a fellow-Christian says, ‘That’s all well and good but, remember. Money can’t buy happiness!‘ That is their built-in Christian Love-of-Money alarm-bell sounding.

Don’t hold it against them. I mean this sincerely. This person has the best intentions in the world and their concern is purely for your spiritual welfare.

Conversely, though, you could talk to that same person about the new car or television you’re planning to buy without sounding a single alarm in the conversation.

In fact you could talk about a myriad of things:

Your last ski trip or overseas holiday
Tickets to next week’s football or baseball game
The latest tech gadgets you have bought
Your new dress, shoes, coat or scarf
Your latest home decoration overhaul
The kids’ new games console
Latest generation of mobile phones on the market
New films or pay-channel TV subscriptions
Latest music or sound-blaster to play it on
Great restaurant experiences or
Best spa-days away

All of these are purchases we and our fellow-Christians make month-on-month, year-on-year without a second thought.

But what are these things if not fleeting moments of happiness that we buy with money and which are gone within days of their purchase?

The problem isn’t that money doesn’t buy happiness. The problem is that it does – as our first-world materialistic spending patterns prove every day.

The real danger lies in the blinkered thinking that spends all its money buying those fleeting moments of happiness – moments that keep the purchaser in a constant state of financial struggle by the way – and then triggers a Love-of-Money alarm when somebody else elects to forego some of those fleeting purchases in order to invest in their financial future.

The unspoken message is that investing hard-earned cash in assets that grow in value and secure a future income for us and our family is Love of Money but spending it on frivolous fleeting moments of happiness is not.

There is no scriptural basis for this thinking and it defies common-sense to boot. We can’t tell someone who is trying to save money and build a second income from a few rental properties that money can’t buy happiness while we are spending our last dime on a massive tub of popcorn at the cinema!

Render to Caesar

Posted on June 29, 2020July 14, 2020 by richabbaholyabba

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. ¹⁶And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. ¹⁷Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?’ ¹⁸But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? ¹⁹Show me the coin for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. ²⁰And Jesus said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ ²¹They said, ‘Caesar’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ ²²When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
Matthew 22:15-22

This incident is also related in both Luke 20:20-26 and Mark 12:17.

No discussion on financial conduct in a Christian context would be complete without addressing the question about tax. To pay or not to pay? That is the question.

Matt 22:15-22 is, arguably, the most referenced and quoted passage on this subject. Despite the resounding Render to Caesar catch-phrase, the question of tax is not what this scripture is primarily about. That said, it certainly offers some insight into Jesus’ view on taxes and their payment.

To do this scripture justice, we need to answer several questions:

What was actually going on here?
What was the real question Jesus answered?
What does this mean with respect to paying tax?

Render to Caesar – What was actually Going on Here?

In truth, this question was not about tax at all. The people doing the asking already knew how they, and the Jewish population, felt about paying tax. Actually, they were using this as an opportunity to destroy Jesus’ reputation.

Render to Caesar? By posing the question, they put Jesus between a rock and a hard place and this is made clear in verses 15-18. They asked, ‘Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ The implication, while not explicitly stated was ‘Is it lawful under Jewish law, to pay taxes to Caesar or not. Yes, or no.’

Neither answer would have ended well for Jesus. To say, ‘Yes, when it comes to tax, we should render to Caesar,’ would have put him on the side of Rome and the tax collectors. It is clear in other passages of scripture that tax collectors were reviled by the Jewish population. So much so that they were ostracized from society and treated like lepers. To answer yes would have alienated every person in the crowd and word would have spread quickly that this rabbi was a Roman sympathizer. In an instant, Jesus would have lost the ear of the very people he came to save.

So what then? To answer no? This would have labelled him as a rebel and trouble-maker in the eyes of Israel’s Roman overlords. Rome’s response would have been swift and brutal.

Either way the pharisees, who instigated this line of questioning, would win. They would be rid of the person who had begun to make their lives so uncomfortable. Jesus’ response is sheer genius! First, he challenges them on their insincerity and calls out their own hypocrisy. And second, he doesn’t answer the question at all. Instead, he answers a different question entirely.

The Real Question Jesus Answered

Instead of tackling the question head-on; ‘To pay or not to pay?’ Jesus chose to focus on the bigger question around value systems. In His answer, He uses a simple illustration, thus rephrasing the question.

Caesar was an earthly ruler; a ruler of this world. God is a far higher power, the King of Kings. God created the world and everything in it – including Caesar. In this world, Caesar may have wielded ultimate political power but every Jew understood that even Caesar ate, slept and breathed only because God allowed it.

Furthermore, Jesus used a coin to illustrate that money was a material object; an object of this world. It was created by Caesar’s mint and, as such, marked with his likeness and inscription. Incidentally, this is true for many of today’s currencies as it was in Jesus’ time.

Conversely, people are eternal beings created by God, in His likeness. His primary concern is and always will be for our eternal souls. Jesus’ illustration reduces money – and tax – to its proper place in the spiritual context. While we may acknowledge it as an important aspect of this life, next to eternity, it is insignificant.

In short, Jesus asserted that money is of this world, created by the rulers of this world. If those rulers require tax, then give them what is theirs. God is eternal and His focus is on eternal things. What He wants is our hearts, minds and souls. And Jesus asserts that we should render unto God what is God’s.

What does this mean with respect to paying tax?

In Matt 22:15-22, Jesus is quick to divert our focus to the truly important matters in life; what we should render to God. This could mean giving of our finances and there is certainly plenty of scripture on that subject. More on that in another post. However, in the context of this passage, when Jesus says render to God what is God’s, I don’t believe he is referring to money as that would have undermined His point.

What God requires of us and what we should render to Him are our hearts, minds and souls. Our worship, adoration and thanksgiving. Our fears, our burdens and our griefs. Our prayers and our obedience to His word. Our repentant hearts and our faith in Jesus. This is heaven’s currency and what we should render unto God.

I think it is also clear from the text that Jesus instructs us to pay the lawful taxes due to our earthly governments; render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. In the passage, he clearly acknowledges the legal requirement to pay tax under Roman law but also points out the insignificance of both tax and money in the eternal context.

Beyond that, this passage offers no specific instruction on how to approach the nuts and bolts of taxation from a practical standpoint. To fully understand God’s view on paying taxes, we have to look to other passages in the Bible.

I will look at these in future posts.

Love of Money at its Ugliest

Posted on June 22, 2020June 19, 2020 by richabbaholyabba

Covetousness in the Bible – a heartbreaking true story

¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ ¹⁴Jesus replied, ‘Man, who appointed me judge or arbiter between you?’ ¹⁵Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’
Luke 12:13-15

Some versions use the word greed in verse 15, while others translate this as covetousness. Greed, envy and covetousness in the Bible are often used interchangeably but there are subtle differences.

Greed is never satiated, always wanting more even at the expense of others. Envy, on the other hand, presents as jealousy over something another person has. It observes another person’s possession and despises that person simply because they have it. Envy wants it too.

Covetousness is even more malicious than envy. It takes envy to the next level and asserts, ‘If I can’t have it, then I don’t want them to have it either!’

Sadly, covetousness is one of the most spiteful and destructive attitudes of the human heart. Like a cancer, it eats away at us from inside, destroying us both spiritually and emotionally. The negativity makes us miserable people to be around. It clouds our thoughts, darkens our conversations, and debilitates our overall emotional state.

Left unchecked, covetousness imprisons us spiritually, emotionally and even physically our entire lives.

It certainly impacts our relationships with both God and the people around us. Usually, its effects are more spiritual or psychological than physical but there are times where covetousness can take hold with very real physical consequences.

Love of Money at its Ugliest

Nowhere have the tragic effects of covetousness been clearer to me than in a story related by some missionaries in our church. The family felt called to minister to an impoverished community in Zambia, Southern Africa. One of the villages they used to visit was particularly poor. It had almost zero employment and the community was either on the breadline or starving.

One of the villagers decided to make a change and headed into the city in search of work. He found a job and returned to the village many weeks later for a brief visit with his family. He came back with cash in his pocket and bearing gifts. A television for his family and some brand new shoes for his children.

He had found success and brought the news to the village; there was work to be found in the city and their lives could change!

Far from rejoicing in his good fortune and sharing the joy of his family and children, his neighbors in the village were filled with envy and covetousness. This festered unchecked for days until finally, one evening, a group of men in the village forced their way into his home. They attacked him, beat him, and took the television outside where they smashed it to bits. They tore the new shoes from his children’s feet and took them outside too. Finally, they doused the pile in gasoline and set fire to the lot.

Once this was done, they calmed down. The beating stopped and the men departed. Their parting words were, ‘It’s fine now. We’re all good. Now you’re just like us.’

There are numerous spiritual lessons we can draw from this story. However, I’m going to focus on the economic impact of covetousness on this community. Economics is a complex subject with an intricate network of cause and effect.

Looking at this village as a micro-economy some might say they are covetous because they are poor and uneducated. However, it is equally true that they remain poor because they are covetous!

Consider the course this village might have taken if this community had rooted covetousness out of its heart. Instead of the tragic tale that unfolded, there would have been rejoicing at one family’s good fortune. In fact, a few others might have asked if the man could share his newfound knowledge and show them where they might find work as well.

Since there was now money in the village, trades might begin as neighbours began selling their goods and services to those families that had money to spend. Pretty soon, the money would have begun to spread around the village and a micro-economy would have been born. The surrounding villages would likely have heard that there was wealth in this village and would have begun travelling to the village to trade their own goods and services. Success breeds success and, in time, a thriving community could have been built. It may have taken several years or even a generation but the fate of this village could have been turned around by that one man’s actions… but for covetousness.

Such brutal acts of covetousness are rare in first-world societies. Even so, this mean-spirited attitude can still present in our own lives. When we see that pop-star or sports idol and feel the animosity as we consider how easy their life is. They earn millions of pounds and are adored by fans. It just seems wrong that they should have so much while the rest of the world struggles to make ends meet.

Covetousness in the Bible

Of course most Christians would not consciously be so uncharitable toward another human being. We tend to cloak our covetousness in self-righteous anger. ‘That money he/she squandered on that last shopping spree could have been given to the poor!’ we say. ‘It’s shameful that someone should earn such obscene amounts of money for kicking a football around a field,’ we say.

I’ve been guilty of this attitude many times in my life. At heart, it is covetousness and we need to root it out of our hearts. Let’s not forget, in these instances, the victim of our covetousness is unaffected. They don’t even know we exist. The only people we damage with this covetous attitude are ourselves. It is a chain that binds us in ways we can’t even see.

When we look at the situation in that Zambian village, we can see the folly of the villagers’ actions. We can see how they could change their situation and we can see the destructive consequences of their world-view.

However, we need to understand that those villagers can’t see this at all. They have psychological blinkers that prevent them from seeing what is, perhaps, obvious to outsiders who don’t have those same blinkers. They don’t see the folly or the consequences of their actions. All they know is that they are poor, that they are struggling. They are stuck in a cycle from which there seems to be no escape.

Now let’s turn our eyes inwards. Search for the log in our own eyes, so to speak. What cycles are we stuck in? What are we trying to escape from or change in our lives? Or what do we just wish was different? Then let’s consider; how might our own first-world brand of covetousness be holding us back?

Even when we can’t see the tragic effects of covetousness in our own lives, the effects are still there. The truth is we may never even see the chains that bind us. Not until we root out the sinful attitudes that hold those chains in place. Sometimes, the shackles that bind can only be recognised after they are broken and we are free.

Fear – the Love of Money

Posted on June 15, 2020June 26, 2020 by richabbaholyabba

I remember when I embarked on my journey into property investment. I was plagued by worries, doubts and questions. What if I couldn’t find a tenant? What if my tenants trashed the house or didn’t pay? What if my insurance and maintenance costs outstripped the income and I ran at a loss? The list of nagging doubts went on. It all came down to a fear of loss

Here is an unpalatable truth. Every investor has to put their money down knowing that there is a chance, however small, they will never see it again. This knowledge cripples most people. I spent the first half of my life terrified of losing what I already had. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing the house or car I had worked so hard to acquire.

I recall one conversation with a wealthy friend about stock market investment many years ago. I was dabbling and wanted some tips on investment. He laughed and told me the only tip he had was this. ‘If ever you get a cold call from a foreign-sounding person asking if you are interested in investing and offering to have a broker phone you back, hang up and walk away.’

He then related a story in which this had happened to him. When he expressed interest, he had later received a follow-up call from a professional sounding broker. The man had told him about a stock that was about to skyrocket. He had to get in immediately or he would miss the boat.

My friend is not stupid. He is a savvy investor and said he would think about it and the broker was welcome to contact him again in a month or two. During that time, he watched the stock and saw it rocket up, just as the broker had predicted. He also kept an eye on a few other stocks that interested him.

When the broker called back a month later, my friend asked him about the other stocks he had been watching. The man was able to talk credibly on those stocks and so, suitably impressed, this friend invested a small amount in the new stock the broker was touting. In due course, he received a fancy-looking share certificate and he watched with glee as the stock continued to rise.

More phone calls followed and each time, he invested more money. When he was about $30,000 in, he happened to rent a DVD called Boiler Room. His blood turned cold as the story of the Boiler Room scam unfolded and he began to realise that he might have been duped.

He called the broker’s number the following day and got an answering machine. Nobody ever returned the call. A chill ran through him as he realised the foreign address details he had were probably bogus. A call to the police told him the rest. He had been conned out of his money by foreign nationals. The police had no jurisdiction there. They could maybe contact the USA or the Philippines where the calls originated but he shouldn’t hold out much hope. His money was gone and could not be recovered.

This friend was actually able to laugh at his own expense as he told me this story. Instead of wallowing in his loss, he went out and invested more wisely going forward. Back in the 1990’s $30,000 was a staggering amount to lose.

I remember mulling over this conversation as I drove home that evening. If I lost $30,000, I would cry myself to sleep for the rest of my life. This thought ran through my head over and over. I now realise that it was this very mindset that kept me where I was in life and my friend where he was.

He was prepared to lose what he had and so took some risks and he invested. Sure, he lost on occasion but more often than not, he gained from his successful investments. I was not prepared to lose what I had and therefore never took any risks. Consequently, I never learned about investing and also never allowed my investments to grow.

Overcoming Fear of Loss

Years on, I have now changed my mindset. Now, I have my own stories to tell. Battle-scars, so to speak, with losses from bad investment decisions that match my friend’s $30,000. However, I have increased my income and have a growing portfolio that not only increases with inflation but also produces a positive cash-flow every month.

Most importantly, I have learned from my mistakes and am able to make better investment decisions as a result of those losses.

On reflection, I now realise it was the love of money – or fear of loss – that prevented me from achieving my goals. Too terrified to lose the little I had, I never took the risks to reach for what I really wanted in life. There is a saying among investors. Every time you invest, you either win or you learn.

Learning costs money. It is a painful and expensive experience. Paraphrasing Winston Churchill, I’m always ready to learn – but I don’t always enjoy being taught.

As long as we love money so much that we cannot bear to lose any and learn by making mistakes, we will never achieve financial freedom. That fear of loss will forever hold us back.

Conversely, when we shed the love of money, we reduce its importance in our lives, and we are more likely to take risks. Yes, we may lose some but we will learn from those losses and, in the end, we will acquire the skills we need to make sound investments and ultimately achieve financial freedom.

I can honestly say that confronting my fear of loss has changed my life. I have lost more money in the last three years than in the rest of my life put together – and yet, I am in a better financial position than I have ever been before.

Greed – the Love of Money

Posted on June 8, 2020July 30, 2020 by richabbaholyabba

Christians confronting greed. This seems so obvious, why mention it at all?

How many times have we seen multi-billionaires on TV still chasing the almighty dollar and wondered when will they ever have enough? It sickens us to see the greed; the private jets, helicopters and yachts that cost tens or even hundreds of millions. Or the $20,000 pair of shoes that celebrity bought – to match her $40,000 handbag, of course.

But let’s scale that back a bit. At heart, all we are witnessing is people living according to their means. In fact, they’re probably living a little beyond their means because that is human nature. It seems obscene to us that they spend so much money – but they only do it because they have so much money to spend. The truth is they are no different to all the hard-working folk who earn a few thousand a month and then spend every penny of it plus a little extra on the credit card.

This is one of the first things the financial gurus teach us regarding Financial Freedom. In order to grow your wealth, you first need to learn to live beneath your means. Spend less than you earn by confronting greed, they say. For every $10.00 that goes into your bank account, make sure $1.00 never comes out.

This is not your tithe and it’s not your mortgage. It’s not for your kids’ college fund or your pension contribution. It is your savings; the seed from which you will grow your wealth. Sound financial advice. But does it line up with scripture? I believe it does.

Confronting Greed

⁶But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
1 Timothy 6:6-8

Godliness with contentment is simply the ability to live a Godly life and be content with what he has blessed me rather than striving for what I can’t quite afford at present. It also just so happens to be the best foundation from which to start building wealth.

This is one of sin’s great ironies. The love of money promises happiness and fulfillment. If I only had a little more money I could buy that dream car and then I will be happy. So I work and save and apply for another credit card. And when finally I buy the dream car, I meet a friend who has a better one. Or someone who has just got back from their dream overseas vacation. And now I want that too.

Instead of confronting greed, the cycle begins again. Always striving, never satisfied and, worse, drowning in debt so that I am forced to work ten hours a day just to get that promotion. Which I now need more than ever to pay for all the stuff I’ve bought.

If you’re anything like me, you may value memories more than things – so much more noble, don’t you agree? So instead of golf clubs, cars and yachts, we squander our earnings on expensive restaurants and overseas holidays that we can barely afford but, hey, that’s what credit cards are for, right?

It’s all materialism at heart and at its root is – the love of money!

When we suppress the love of money and root it out of our lives, by confronting greed, we discover godliness with contentment and suddenly none of that stuff matters any more. This is empowering and – here is the irony – it actually starts us on the road to creating true wealth!

It’s About Time!

Posted on June 1, 2020July 27, 2020 by richabbaholyabba

Whenever a conversation about money, investment or financial freedom begins, I feel the urge to set the timer on my mobile phone… and see how long it takes before the first Christian in the room says, ‘Yes, but life is not all about money.’

I actually agree with them. I just don’t feel the need to point it out at every opportunity.

Actually, it’s all about time. Time is the finite commodity in life. There are only so many hours in a day, days in a week, weeks in a year. We have only a few short years when our children, or grandchildren, are growing up and desperately need our time and attention – the time in which we can influence their life’s course.

There are only a finite number of years during which we have the physical and mental capacity to perform our chosen vocation, after which, our bodies will begin to slow down and physically weaken. Travel will become more difficult, our independence will diminish, and our world will begin to shrink.

There are only a finite number of years during which we can share God’s love and the good news of the gospel with others; a time when we can make a mark in this world and, God willing, leave it a little better than we found it.

And every minute wasted is a minute lost. We can never get it back.

So, I ask; why would we choose to chain ourselves to a desk and the accompanying commute to-and-fro for ten to sixteen hours of our waking day for the best forty years of our lives? All in pursuit of money!

Counter-Intuitive Values

I find it strange that so many Christians who spend all their time trying to earn money consider the act of understanding finance and investing money for passive income (to buy back time) the love of money.

Surely the opposite is true.

It is this blinkered thinking that keeps us locked in financial bondage when freedom is just one change of perspective away.

Money, investment, or wealth creation comes up in the conversation and our Love of Money alarm bell sounds. We feel the burning urge to say, ‘Yes, but there is more to life than the almighty dollar. It’s not all about money.’ We do this without even considering the possibility that we, personally, are struggling with that very issue. This is the devil’s greatest trick.

Time is Money

There is a saying that time is money. In one sense it is. In another, time is infinitely more valuable. Rather than focusing all our effort on acquiring money, we should be looking for ways to put our money to work so that we can have more time to:

Spread the gospel
See the people we love and
Share God’s love with others

To me, this is true wealth. In that sense, time is money.

The idea of measuring wealth in terms of time takes love of money out of the equation. The idea is simple. Ask yourself this question. If you lost your job today and your income dried up, how long can you survive before you run out of money and begin to starve? Let’s assume you have investments that earn you $500 per month and expenses of $2000 per month. That means you could last roughly one week before you run out of money.

Now, if you could increase your monthly investment income to $1000, you double the amount of time you can last from one week to two weeks. You have increased your ‘wealth’ by a factor of one week.

What would happen if, instead, you were able to halve your expenses from $2000 to $1000? It is worth noting that expense reduction is far easier to achieve than increased income.

This might mean a smaller house, a smaller car and cheaper vacations but the net result is the same. You will have increased your survival time by a factor of one week and thus doubled your true wealth without increasing your income at all.

See how we can achieve wealth simply by reducing our monthly expenses?

It sounds easy but it’s not. It requires godliness with contentment. To achieve this, we need to break Mammon’s (love of money’s) hold on our lives.

⁶But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
1 Timothy 6:6-8

I realise the numbers I used are a little simplistic and the chances that the average family could halve their expenses overnight is unrealistic. I merely write it to illustrate the point. Every dollar saved in the expenses column is a step towards true wealth and away from the love of money.

Pay What is Owed

Posted on May 25, 2020July 2, 2020 by richabbaholyabba

‘Dad, will you lend me $250.00?’ This from my eleven year old son.

‘What for?’

‘So I can buy V-Bucks for Fortnite on my Playstation!’

‘I’ll lend it to you,’ his older sister chimes in, flexing her financial muscles. ‘I charge two percent interest a month.’

At this point, I elect not to launch into the questionable morals of charging your eleven year old brother interest. That is a lesson for another day It’s all little more than friendly banter at this point. I bite my tongue and wait to see how it plays out.

‘Done!’ says my son who can already feel money in his hand.

Time to step in before this interaction ends in tears. ‘Hold on,’ I say. ‘How are you going to pay back $250.00? Ask yourself, can you pay what is owed?’

My son grins and shrugs. He and I both know he has not even considered repaying the loan. I should explain that money runs through his hands like water. He saves because I make him – but he hasn’t understood the value yet.

I turn to my daughter and say, ‘You’re going to want some sort of security on that loan.’

She looks puzzled so I explain, ‘What if your brother can’t pay the loan back?’

She ponders this for a moment. ‘I’ll charge him even more interest until he can pay what is owed.’

‘Forget the interest!’ I laugh and shake my head, ‘You won’t even get your $250.00 back. That money is in the wind.’

Silence as the two siblings stare each other down each with a lopsided grin on their faces.

‘How about this?’ I suggest. ‘Take your brother’s Playstation as security. If he doesn’t pay you back, he has to give you the Playstation.’

‘What!’ my son is incredulous but his sister’s eyes light up.

‘Yes!’ she exclaims. I can sell it on ebay to get my money back.

Suddenly, my son is less keen. He had to smash up a patio as part of a landscaping project and lift a nearly a ton of rubble into a skip to earn the money for that Playstation. This is too big a prize to lose if he can’t pay what is owed – and, in his heart, he knows he can’t.

‘Why should she get my Playstation?’ he asks.

‘That’s how loans work,’ I explain. ‘When I take out a loan, I have to offer the bank security, like our house. That way, if I don’t pay them back, they can take my stuff and sell it to get their money back.’

‘But what if they sell it for more than you owe?’

‘Well, in that case, they will give you back whatever is left over. But, trust me, it won’t be much.’

More pondering. And staring. And grinning.

‘So, how about it?’ I ask. ‘Do you still want that loan from your sister?’

He grins and shakes his head. ‘Nah! I don’t really need the money.’

We are still all smiling and the game is over.

There were two lessons here.

First, for the lender; don’t lend money unless you are sure the borrower is able to repay you. As a lender, you have a duty to make sure the borrower understands, and can bear, the cost of this loan if they are unable to pay what is owed as originally planned.

Second, the borrower needs to understand that they have a Biblical and moral obligation to pay what is owed.

⁷Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. ⁸Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever has loved others has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:7-8

I would rather teach my children to assess risk properly, both as a borrower and a lender, in their early teens than see them learn this lesson the hard way as adults.

A story my mother told me many years ago about an ex-colleague of hers still haunts me. Recently retired, he received his pension package as a lump-sum payment. This was his nest-egg; the money that would see him and his wife through their autumn years.

When his nephew approached him with plans to open a restaurant, he became excited. He could help out a family member and ensure that his money was in the care of someone he trusted. As a silent partner in the business, he would be guaranteed an income for years to come and who knew what the business could grow into!

A 50/50 partnership seemed fair. He put in all of the money and his nephew would run the business and do all of the work. Sadly, things did not work out as planned. In a matter of months, the business burned through all his cash and ultimately failed. By the time his nephew came clean and told him how bad things were, it was too late. The restaurant closed, leaving the man and his wife destitute.

His nephew couldn’t help or make things right. He had no money of his own, which is why he had needed the loan in the first place. How bad must that young man have felt? He didn’t set out to cheat his uncle out of his life’s savings. What a dreadful position to find yourself in.

What my mom’s colleague failed to do was assess the risk. His nephew may have been a great chef but that did not automatically make him a great businessman. Furthermore, he had no means to pay back the loan if things went wrong. Neither of these men had any recourse and all was lost.

God vs Mammon

Posted on May 18, 2020June 17, 2020 by richabbaholyabba

¹⁹‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ²²‘The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. ²³But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! ²⁴‘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 6:19-24

In the financial context, Jesus sums up the crux of the problem in Matt 6:19-24. There are two types of treasure; one in the next life and one in this life. Each is stored in a separate place; heaven or earth. And each is represented by a different master; God or Mammon.

It is impossible to serve both so we have to choose which master we serve and where our treasure is stored – for there our hearts will be also.

This is hardly an even contest. God is Love and the source of all good in this world while Mammon, a cruel master, the love of which is the root from which all evil stems. And yet, it is Mammon’s lure that we follow. Rich or poor, we are captivated by our need for money and whether we admit it to ourselves or not, money is what drives us out of bed and off to work each day.

It is the promise of riches, or even just making rent for the month, that captivates us and keeps us in Mammon’s clutches. However, the sad reality is that there is never quite enough. No matter how much we already have, we always need just a little bit more – and then we will be satisfied. We literally spend our lives chasing the pot of gold at the end of that rainbow, Mammon.

How does this keep happening? Mammon preys on our basest instincts:

Greed
Fear and
Envy/Covetousness

Greed

Otherwise known as desire represents

the things we want
the things we think we need
the things we can’t live without

Fear

Fear, or insecurity is the second string in Mammon’s bow. Mainly, we fear losing what we already have. It is this fear that keeps us chasing the next increase or the next promotion. As prices continue to rise, we need to earn more money to keep up. So we avoid taking risks and, above all, do nothing to jeopardize what we already have.

Envy

Envy keeps us comparing ourselves to others. Usually the ‘others’ are our peers or those we deem more fortunate than ourselves. The only time we tend to compare ourselves to anyone less fortunate is in the context of fear, as already discussed.

It is envy that drives our fears and desires; fear of losing what we have and being looked down on by our peers or desire to acquire more and become like those to people to whom we aspire.

Choosing the Right Master

When we address these areas of our lives, we redress the imbalance. We break the power of Mammon and the love of money in our lives and we put ourselves in a position where we can serve God, our one true master.

So what then of Mammon? When God is our master, it’s not as if money magically disappears from our lives. It remains very much a part of our day-to-day existence. There is a fundamental difference, however. By choosing God as our master, we reduce money to its rightful place in our lives. A mere resource; something to be used as God directs. In this new hierarchy, God is the master. We are his stewards, managing the resources with which he has entrusted us. And money is forced to do our bidding, aiding us, as we follow God’s plan for our lives.

In a weird twist of spiritual cause and effect, when this happens we make money, or Mammon, our servant rather than our master. But here’s the rub. When you make Mammon your servant rather than let it be your master, you actually unleash the power to create true wealth!

When you eradicate greed and desire, your spending habits will change and it becomes easier to save money.

When you shackle your fear, you are more open to risking your money in investments – and from each investment, you will learn to make even better investments in the future.

When you root covetousness out of your life, the power of both greed and fear begin to diminish and you free yourself to walk in God’s plan for your life rather than concerning yourself with what other people do or think.