Last year, I witnessed something that thought me a lot. There is a man who grew up from a humble family in the community where I grew. His dream was to become a medical doctor. He worked so hard. Besides all the financial difficulties he faced, he never let go of his vision. After a very long time, he finally became a medical doctor and works with a top world class health institution. He usually calls me to find out how the people in my community are doing. If they had any problem, he would send huge amounts of money so that these problems could be solved. Some people even tried to stop this doctor from spending so much on people but he could not stop. One day, I enquired from this medical doctor why he works so hard and will usually just want to use his finances to serve humanity. He told me that when he was still suffering and struggling to go through medical school, he prayed to God to bless him so that he could bless others and now God had endowed him with talents to serve lives and also blessed the works of his hands and he is thriving financially. So besides serving as a medical doctor, he still remembers his prayers to God and decided to use his finances wisely by impacting other lives. Wow. I was amazed that after having acquired such riches, a man could still be this humble.
I recently discussed with a young Christian lady young who is from what we usually call “a well to do family”, meaning a family with good financial standing. This lady is thriving in her ministry; profession; she has her own business and working hard and obviously she is blessed financially. Yet, I noticed she still has this burning zeal for God and it is so evident in her character. She remains so committed despite all she has. In one of our chats, I told her I really believe that her ministry, profession and business is growing and will be renowned. She appreciated what I said but she said one thing she is intentional about is NOT LETTING MONEY RULE HER. When I enquired more on this, I understood that what she meant is that having material wealth is not bad but letting it rule you by shaping your beliefs, values and character is what is wrong. The approach of these two people towards finances thought me a lesson about humility.
Let’s be clear on this. The word of God never tells us to be lazy. Rather, hard work is encouraged. “Proverbs 14:23-24 says “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. The wealth of the wise is their crown, but the folly of fools yields folly.”
“Proverbs 10:4-5 says “Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.”
Every good thing comes from God and one of the ways God blesses us financially is by endowing us with talents which we use in serving and our diligent services and hard work are rewarded. Nevertheless, we need to be careful that the love of money or material possession does not make us compromise our believes and wonder away from God. One of the ways material possessions make us compromise our Christian values is by making us become prideful. Being prideful is having an excessive and unhealthy opinion about oneself over others. There is a clear difference between self-esteem and pride. Self-esteem is healthy confidence in one’s worth. While self esteem says “I believe I can do the job well but even if I make a mistake, I accept corrections..”, Pride says “I can do the work and no other person can ever challenge me, so I don’t need corrections”. Pride intrigues arrogance which results in many negative in actions. Just take a look around you and see how material possessions has made some people to look upon other fellow humans as “lesser humans”. Some people have turned to value money than human lives. It is not strange any more to hear people going to the extent of killing others just for material gain.
Being rich in the present world is not wrong. Notwithstanding, it is making these riches rule over us that is wrong. The biblical book of Job tells us of Job, a man whose works had been blessed by God and who had a right approach to his wealth. The wealth never took the place of God in Job’s life and he still remained humble, feared God and shunned evil despite enormous riches. Job’s wealth never controlled him. Rather, he Served God and had control over his wealth. For this reason, even when Job was very wealthy, he remained a faithful servant to God and when Job was stripped of all his wealth, amidst pain and poverty, he remained faithful to God. From Job’s story, I understand that you can have material riches yet not enslaved to it because you have only one master who is GOD ALMIGHTY.
“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” (Matthew 6:24)
God may bless us with material possessions, notwithstanding, let us guard what has been entrusted to us with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us so that we do not wander away from the faith and pierce ourselves with many griefs. We need to take authority over our riches so that it does not control our actions rather, our Christian values should determine how we handle our riches.
Let us get inspired by God’s word in 2 Timothy 6:10 and 17-20.
“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… Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care.”