The Responsibility of Wealth

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from the book DoesYour Bag Have Holes.

Since all things belong to the Lord, we are not owners of our wealth, possessions, and property but are steward for the Lord. We are the mere trustees of what funds we are temporarily given on this earth. We will be accountable to the Lord for how we manage this stewardship.

Businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie stated, “This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: First, to set an example of modesty, unostentatious living, shunning display, or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community.”

Thomas Jefferson said, “I deem it the duty of every man to devote a certain portion of his income for charitable purposes; and that it is his further duty to see it so applied as to do the most good of which it is capable.” “Charity is the salt which keeps wealth from corruption.” (Lady Katie Magnus, Jewish Portraits, (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1888) p. 151)

Jon Huntsman, founder of Huntsman Chemical, shows that he understands the stewardship of money when he said, “The Lord has tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘To you, my son, I am entrusting large amounts of money. You determine best how you can redeploy these assets into the community of humankind around you.’. . . Over the years we’ve spent a lot of money on homelessness and feeding the poor. . . I received a letter recently . . . all it said was Homeless Shelter. The letter read: ‘Dear Mr. Huntsman. I am warm and dry and out of the cold of last night, and I had a real bed to sleep on. I know you sent some money to keep this shelter, where I am staying, alive. I arose knowing I would shower with warm water and have soap and shampoo and a clean towel to use. Maybe this humble letter does not, or will not mean much within the vastness of the universe, but for this moment in time I just wanted to say with all my heart, thank you. For it means to me a great deal, to this homeless woman a great deal indeed. Thank you.’ I’ve had that letter framed, not because it’s important to receive recognition for gifts, but because it’s important to know the feeling in the hearts of people when they are down and out and receive help.”

We are to give a percent of our income each year to care for those in need such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, administering to the sick, and “to look after orphans and widows.” (James 1:27, New International Version) What percent should we give for these purposes? Jon Huntsman suggests, “There is no set formula, but I would hold that the excess over and above one’s guidelines for a comfortable standard of living is a reasonable starting point. . . We don’t need millions of dollars to live comfortably.” C.S. Lewis provided this insight, “If our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.” In the words of St. Augustine, “Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need: the remainder is needed by others.”

Parable of Greater Barns

Jesus spoke to the people saying, “‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’ And he told them a parable, saying, ‘The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:15–21, English Standard Version) 

The foolish rich man made two mistakes. One, he didn’t give of his abundance to lift others, and two, he didn’t produce all he could. Once he had enough for himself, he became idle, saying, “I have enough. I will now relax and eat, drink, and be merry.” In doing God’s work, you never retire. We must always work to move forth the kingdom of God. Abundance is about production not consumption. We are not to simply produce as much as we need, but we are to produce as much as we can and use the excess to lift our fellow man and build the Kingdom of God. The gospel of Christ moves us past the focus of only providing for our needs to becoming abundantly productive so that we have surplus to serve others.

Jon Huntsman continued to work even after he became a billionaire. He wrote, “For the past 20 years, we concentrated on making money so we could give it away.” David Green, founder of Hobby Lobby, continues to work even with companies doing more than $2 billion in annual sales. He wrote, “God didn’t put any of us here to sit on a yacht. . . In order to keep giving, we need to keep growing Hobby Lobby and its affiliate companies. This is what energizes my day-to-day work in retailing now—the knowledge that if we can add stores and thereby boost profits, we can give away that much more to make a difference eternally.”

The goal of producing is not to lift ourselves above others but to lift all to a higher level. The Lord doesn’t want a few of His children to live in abundance; he wants all His children to live in abundance. We should strive to work toward the state found among the followers of Christ in the New Testament where “all the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. . . There were no needy persons among them.” (Acts 4:32, 34, New International Version)

Comments

[Kevin]

This sort of follows with one of my favorite quotes:

"To those upon whom much have been given, much is expected."

(Probably not the exact quote, but you get the idea) I try to remember this whenever I feel myself getting greedy.

[John]

I *highly* recommend Huntsman's book:
Winners Never Cheat: Everyday Values We Learned as Children (But May Have Forgotten)

It is a quick, easy read but very encouraging in these times.

FMF, thanks for another post from this book.