Wealth

I'm flattered that my posts are so well appreciated. Before I begin this one, however, please let me remind you that I don't have a spirit of "I am (nearly) sixteen! I am the fount of all wisdom- hear me speak!" My father could tell these things infinitely better, but he must work and go to meetings and such while I, after I have finished school, have some spare time to sit around and blog.

My previous posts have talked about wealth some and how it can build inside a family that lives so as to benefit the next generation. Now I intend to go a little deeper lest you think that I'm a heartless diehard capitalist that wants to squeeze every penny he can get out of the business deals he makes. I hope there aren't many such misers.

At the Bootcamp, Mr. Phillips discussed how many modern Christians believe that to be poor is to be holy. This is an illusion that is easily countered by reading scripture. Deuteronomy 6 and 7 are good chapters in dealing with this. Those that serve God with their lives will be blessed. They'll have problems and failures, sure, but God blesses those that seek his glory.

There are only a certain amount of resources in the world. Other than mining gold and silver, wealth cannot really be created. Money can be earned, but you can't print a billion dollar bills and be rich- it must be backed by gold or it will simply cause inflation. Therefore, wealth must be earned that already exists (unless, again, you mine gold, but most people don't do that).

If the Christian community shuns wealth and chooses to live in poverty in order to be holy, who else will get the resources? The world will! If the secular communtiy controls the resources, they'll simply use it to do what they are doing with it now- they'll make Godless movies, back Godless politicians and use it for worldly things in general. If the Christians control those resources (particularly Christians with a vision), then they will be used to glorify God and impact the culture in a Godly way.

Therefore, since it is God who gives resources to control, it is not wrong for us to seek wealth. It isn't money that is the root of all evil. Money is morally neutral; it is the love of that money that is evil. The purpose of seeking the wealth is to live debt-free and to allow later generations to live debt-free. Being out from under the bondage of debt creates more freedom. The borrower is the servant of the lender.

Scripture says that it is hard for a rich man to get to heaven, but the Bible does not say that it is hard for a man going to heaven to get rich. Of course greed is a sin and wealth can be a temptation that produces greed. I refer to resources gained which will be used to glorify God, not to please selfish love of lucre. Samuel's sons fell into this sin, and it's a sad story in 1 Samuel 8.

If the Lord should see fit to bless me with wealth, I wouldn't consider myself a sinner-that's absolutely ridiculous! Isn't it neat how just about any subject can be traced back to the issue of God's sovereignty? However, if I sought that wealth for love of gain, I'm sinning- just like Samuel's sons. It's a matter of why I seek it- for God's glory or my gain- and then if God blesses me with that wealth, how I use it.

~Sherlock