Editorial for August 25, 2005
By Jim White
The issue of money has always been a problem for me. Usually the problem seems to be in not having enough of it. They say money talks. This must be true because I've heard it saying “good-bye.”
But behind this is the issue of being content with what we have as opposed to desiring a better life for our families. Industry, in the book of Proverbs, is a prime virtue. The wife of Proverbs 31 manufactures linen for sale to merchants, plants vineyards, speculates in real estate and engages in trade. That she is wealthy is presumed in that she also supplies gifts for her servant girls.
When he needed money for taxes, Jesus told Peter to go fishing (Matthew 17:27) and pull a gold coin from the mouth of the first fish he caught. For his day-to-day needs of food, lodging and clothing how did he manage? Some say he relied on the generosity of his friends. Joseph of Arimathea, a man of some wealth, supplied the tomb in which Christ was laid. God provided through the abundance of generous people.
In the early church, men like Barnabas were wealthy enough to leave their work and go plant churches. Clearly, having money did not represent moral failure on his part. In his case, the more money he had, the more generous he could be with his money and time.
Is it greed or ambition to want more than we have? It seems to be a human reality to be discontented. Sometimes this trait is admirable, as in the case of a medical researcher who dreams of a breakthrough and works tirelessly to achieve it. Sometimes the trait leads to lust for power and greed for gain. But what is the difference between lust for power and the desire for godly influence? Where is that line between greed and industrious ambition?
It all comes down to who is at the center of our lives. As human beings, our greatest temptation has always been to put our wants at the very center of our concerns. Rather than feel sincere gratitude for what we have, we are prone to feel deprived if we don't have what others have. In fact, for many it isn't enough to have as much as their neighbors. They want enough to make their neighbors envious! The driver of a sports car I saw recently must have had this attitude. His vanity plate read “UNVME.”
The foolish farmer of Luke 12 got into trouble when he decided to pull down his barns and build bigger ones, store his crop and retire. How is this different than building a bigger annuity so we can retire? It isn't. The foolish farmer's problem was not that he decided to retire after working hard but that his entire life revolved around himself. In Jesus' words, he was not rich toward God. In this same passage, Jesus speaks of the seductive power of riches.“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (v. 15, NIV).
But, for much of the world the problem is not that they want too much but that they have too little. On Aug. 12, 113 Ecuadorian men, women and children boarded a 65-foot fishing boat designed to carry a crew of 15. Each had paid $10,000 to be taken to Guatemala. From there, they would proceed overland to the United States. Tragically, the overcrowded vessel was swamped by a large wave and a hundred souls, trapped in the hold, perished as the ship sank. Two women and seven men survived until their rescue last week by clinging to a plastic fuel container. It is estimated that tens of thousands have entered the United States in this way.
Not that we have done so by intention, but we have made our neighbors envious. Our standard of living is the envy of the world. But our comfort comes at a price. With 5 percent of the world's population, we consume 26 percent of the electricity, 25 percent of the natural gas and 26 percent of the oil produced in the world.
Don't misunderstand my intent! I'm not America-bashing. Folks who run down America get on the fightin' side of Merle Haggard and Jim White. But I am stating facts. We can see our own needs and comfort as central, or we can see ourselves as one nation in relationship to others. Wealth is seductive even at the national level. Perhaps it is unrealistic to think that on a civic scale America will be rich toward God, but surely it is not fantasy to believe that Christian Americans will lead the way in using our wealth to further the Kingdom of God and to bless those who have not.
“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 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 6:6-10, NIV).
Jim White is editor and business manager of the Religious Herald.