Handling Wealth as a Christian

Do you know there is a way of handling wealth that conveys a message about one’s faith?

1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NIV)
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.

Faith is made complete by action and the way we manage our wealth also conveys a message about our faith. The scripture above teaches how we can use our riches in a way that pleases God which are enumerated below.

– By understanding and acknowledging that it is God who provided all we have and putting our hope in God and not wealth which is very uncertain.

– Making sure our wealth does not make us prideful and arrogant.

– By upholding the love for God, love for others and then love for self in managing our riches. In this way, the first priority of our wealth is to invest in fostering the work of God and extending the love of God to others through good deeds and then to are to take care of our physical needs. Fostering the work of God can entail giving tithes, supporting the work of ministries engaged in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ etc. Loving others can entail using your riches to provide for your family, providing for people in need etc. Taking care of yourself may entail you providing for your needs such as food, shelter, clothing or savings etc.
God delights in providing our needs. 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. Sometimes, God may send helpers who bless us with financial or with material possessions. Nevertheless, we need to be careful that the love of money or material possession does not make us compromise our belief and wander away from God. The issue is that most times, when God blesses us with riches, we tend to focus on self and forget God and others. Once self becomes exalted above every other thing, we become prideful and arrogant and this makes us wander away from God.

Mark 12:41-44 records a poor widow who gave the little money she had as offerings in the temple treasury. Many rich people had put larger amounts of money into the treasury but Jesus commended the poor widow’s giving. I believe this was because the way she used the finances she had portrayed a lot about her faith. Her priorities were God, others and then self.

God sees and knows what wealth we have and the way we handle our wealth communicates what is most valuable to us conveys a message about our faith. It is not the amount one possesses that matters but the stewardship in handling the wealth which uncovers a person’s values.
Rather than our wealth causing us to be prideful and wander away from God, we can use our riches in a way that exhibits our faith in God, exalts God above all else, be an asset for fostering the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, extending the love of Christ to others and for taking care of our physical needs. Let our way of handling wealth convey a message about our faith in Jesus Christ.