Despite the widespread freedom and wealth that much of the first world enjoys and even takes for granted, millions of hard-working people still feel trapped and impoverished by crippling debt and mounting bills.
Christians are not immune to this pain. In fact, many hard-working first world believers feel this way. Trapped in never-ending servitude or chained by financial bondage from which there seems to be no escape.
Why would Christians, who are rich in Christ, still feel poor?
The answer is simple. In order to maintain their current lifestyle and pay their bills each month, a sacrifice is required — and that sacrifice is time. Everybody knows and accepts this. However, when a person spends all their time trying to earn money, the result is time-poverty. When this happens, regardless of how much money they earn, that person will always feel poor.
Overcoming the love of money is the only way out of this financial prison.
When a person spends all their time trying to earn money, the result is time-poverty
Rich Abba, Holy Abba
Some have chased after riches to overcome this but that is not God’s way. As Christians, we know that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil and the Bible is very clear on this.
The truth is that most Christians don’t want to be rich. What they really long for is freedom. Freedom from the fear that drives them to the office each day. Freedom from the obligations that keep them chained to a desk forty to sixty hours each week. Freedom to seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness without the constant worry of how to make rent or put food on the table.
In short, most Christians who feel stuck in a constant state of financial struggle don’t want more money. What they long for is more time!
I define true wealth as the freedom to:
- Pursue God’s will and purposes
- Spend time with those we love
- Give generously
The good news for all believers is this. We can!
Overcoming the Love of Money
By understanding what the Bible really teaches about managing money, every believer can find that freedom. And they can do it with little or no more money than they have right now.
The truth is that many Christians could achieve true wealth with little or no more money than they have now.
Rich Abba, Holy Abba
The only requirement is a commitment to Stewardship. That means studying God’s word on the subject of money and learning to properly manage the resources with which He has already blessed us.
The secret is really quite simple. Instead of spending all of our time trying to earn money, we need learn how to spend our money in such a way that we get back our time!
This means we need to become more deliberate about how we spend our money. It means changing our spending patterns so that we are planting seed for next year’s harvest (i.e. investing) rather than consuming all we earn on fleeting pleasures that have no long-term or eternal value.
We can only achieve this by first recognizing, and then overcoming the love of money that drives those poor spending patterns that keep us in a constant state of financial struggle.