As it seems to me, personal monetary resources have two key functions in the life of the 21st century American. Money may provide some source of entertainment (e.g. fancy cars and homes, an xbox, season tickets and so on) and/or a sense of financial security. We find enjoy the former by a variety of avenues. We are entertained by competing for social standing, owning the most powerful new technology in the smallest possible casing, and being the best at all endeavors we take on. For some, these thrills never get old and age has no effect on where money is spent, while for others, as they become older and have families to care for, nothing is more important than leaving nothing to chance and, in order to do so, creating the largest 6 or 7 digit account balance possible.
The reason for my brief analysis of American monetary culture is to contrast it with the ideals presented to us by Christ in scripture. Many Christians today want to disregard the truths found in the Bible in order to allow themselves a lifestyle that has the outward appearance of being more satisfying.
The scriptures do say the following about 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
"'No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.'"
Matthew 6:24
I believe many of us read these things and believe that since we don't necessarily consciously obsess over money all the time we then should be exempt from any conviction in this area. Personally though I believe that our Lord is calling every single Christian to examine his or her own heart through these verses. Christ said that the entirety of the law could be summed up by saying "love your neighbor as yourself," and through the good Samaritan parable we learn that anybody in need is our neighbor. And so we have the choice to love our neighbor through our ample supply of financial resources, or to spend selfishly on ourselves over and over.
The most obvious example of a neighbor in need would be our brothers and sisters in Haiti. I learned that the Haitian GDP per capita is 790 dollars a year or about $2 per person per day. These numbers were accrued before the capital city was destroyed by the infamous earthquake. And as for a neighbor more literally, how about the 46 million Americans uninsured, some of whom are currently suffering through health crises. Or those 1.1 billion across the world that lack clean drinking water, which has been estimated to account for 1.8 million deaths a year due to waterborne disease. Do you believe that you did something to deserve being born into the wealthiest country in world history? Or do you believe that God in his sovereignty placed you here for his glory?
There are so many incredible things we can do with our wealth. The choice really boils down to this: would we rather build up our own personal kingdoms of opulence or would we prefer to invest in the eternal Kingdom of God by following our one command in order to glorify his name.
Christ said "'seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well'" (mat 6:33). If we just seek first his kingdom, then he promsies us all we need. No need then to place all of our trust in ourselves to produce a security blanket of funds to insure our happiness and vitality. And so here in lies the beauty of Christ: a life filled with freedom from all worry and freedom from America's chief concern, money.
