When Is Enough Enough?

Posted by Jimi Williams on Aug 30, 2010 | Comments Off

In the last day, 2 different things have brought this question to my mind.

First, our family watched the movie “The Blind Side”, which is about an affluent white family who adopts a teenage black boy.  The unconditional love and provision provided by the family altered the course of the young man’s life and quite possibly the course of many lives as their story is retold.

Secondly, I committed Christian (my son) and I to a Guatemala mission trip next June. While reading up on Guatemala, I found that the average income per year is around $2,500 and the illiteracy rate is the highest in central America.

As Christians, we tend to error in one of two ways regarding wealth:

1. By believing it is wrong for any Christian to accumulate wealth and that we should take a vow of poverty. We cite Jesus’ words in Matthew 19 where he tells the rich guy to “go sell all that you have and give to the poor”. Yet, Jesus had no beef with Zacchaeus who voluntarily vowed to give away only half of his net worth. Seems that Jesus is more concerned with the state of our hearts instead of the state of our bank accounts.

2. By believing that we are “off the hook” if we tithe (10%) to our church and give other money away on occasion. We cite passages in the Old Testament of Abraham, King Solomon and Lot who were blessed by God with great wealth. We also cite passages in Proverbs saying it’s wise to save for unexpected circumstances. Yet, Jesus says that if we see someone in need and have the resources to meet that need, we should.  

At the root of both of these extremes is a wrong heart attitude. We must recognize that all we have belongs to God. We are wealth managers, not wealth owners. When we separate ourselves emotionally from our wealth, it’s easier to make good spending decisions.

The family who took Michael Orr into their home decided to use their wealth for good. Choosing to go on a mission trip to serve the poor is a good use of wealth.

God is not anti-wealth. If fact, the ability to make wealth is a gift from God. But he does want us to remember that it’s all His, not ours. And when he says “give”, our obedience will result in great joy.