Soma Austin

Would you classify yourself as rich? It is an important question to ponder, maybe you would and maybe you would not; the fact remains, however, that most of the world would say you are.  In case your not sure if you agree, check out the Global Rich List which answers, "How Rich Are You?"

Approximately three billion people live on less than $2 US dollars a day while the West coins phrases such as “retail therapy” or “shopaholics”. The stark reality is that while none of us makes as much money as we would like, we are all rich. Our culture tells us to put emphasis on, and gain confidence from our paycheck and job title, this is just wrong. As Christians, we are given a different emphasis to live by, Luke 18 says,

18And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 19And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'" 21And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth." 22When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." 23But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, "How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." 26Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?" 27But he said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." 28And Peter said, "See, we have left our homes and followed you." 29And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life."

A Counter-Cultural Way

In these words, Jesus gives us what may be one of the most counter-cultural ways to live that we could imagine. He tells us that we are supposed to live not only with others, but also for others. He rightly tells the ruler that riches are dangerous; wealth, and what it leads to, is perhaps one of the easiest things to make an idol and honor before God. When it comes down to it, humans are designed to glorify God, we are at our best when we glorify Him most. In instructing the ruler in this story to give away his riches to the poor, Christ is telling him to put God before all else in his life, living by the law is not simply enough, Jesus wants the ruler to have a heart change—to step outside of himself. Wealth is blinding, it allows us to live away from others, to increasingly separate ourselves from the needy and turn our own hearts to stone.

Wealth & Generosity

The Bible offers us examples throughout of righteous men and women who followed the instructions of Christ laid before us in Luke 18. Two of the most vivid of these examples are laid out for us in Acts 4 & 5 with the stories of Joseph, and Ananias and Sapphira who lived righteously and unrighteously respectively.

Acts 4 tells us that the early church lived in such a way that no one was with need; they lived for one another and took the job of spreading the Gospel seriously, those with land, sold it to finance the mission. Joseph was one such man, selling his land and bringing the money to the feet of the Apostles so that they might spread the news of Christ. Shortly thereafter, Acts 5 tells us of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, who sold their land for the church, but with held some for themselves. This act was sinful for several reasons: 1) for putting wealth before God, 2) for lying to the church, and 3) for not trusting that God would see to their needs. Wealth, as with everything in life, is a gift from God. We are given it so that we may honor Him.

The Wealth of a Nation

As the richest nation to have ever existed, how then are we to handle wealth? Luke 21 provides with a prime example, showing that the offering of a poor widow, despite being much smaller than the offering of the rich means more to God. When it comes down to it, God cares none about the zeroes in your bank account. What he is looking for is that you will place your trust in him, by constantly remembering your treasures to be in Heaven; taking care of the poor and giving your money to God on Earth, he creates in you a heart change.

Statistics are taken from the World Bank and the ONE Campaign.

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