Think on These Things
April 2001
1. Using Our "Treasures on this Earth"
Using Our "Treasures on this Earth"
Our
title is suggested from Mt. 6:19-21: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Perhaps many who have had their money in the stock market over the past
year have gained increased recognition of “where their heart is.”
We saw in a previous issue (12/00) that Mt. 6:19f is a “not ... but
...” statement. The “not”
clause is not an absolute prohibition, but rather a call for a de-emphasis. While it is not wrong to save or invest our earnings, this
should not consume our lives. Laying
up treasures in heaven should be our major concern.
For
those who have suffered recent economic loses, this should not be of great
concern. If our hearts are right
with God, we can have faith that He will take care of us, and that every event
has its purpose. Perhaps this was a
test to enable us to see just how much this world’s treasures actually mean to
us. Christians should know that all
that we have belongs to God. It is
merely loaned to us for the short time that we are on this earth. It is important that we do not waste what God has provided
us, but that we are good stewards of it. Christians
tend to gain in wealth over the years because they are frugal, do not waste a
fortune on tobacco, alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc., and because they are
rewarded for being trusted, valued employees.
We devote this issue to the subject of good stewardship, hoping that it
will provide sound advice on ways that we can better serve God with our material
things. We cannot give as we should, nor can we help others as we are commanded,
if we waste what God has entrusted to us.
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The goal of this page is to promote morality and justice in our society (Prov. 14:23).
Money
is power.
To most working people, the savings they have accrued is a stored up part
of their life spent working for others. It
can be used now to acquire this world’s goods, or stored and invested for
future use. While it may not seem
to be much to any given individual, the tax cut now being proposed represents a
tremendous transfer of power from our government to the people.
The average $1,600 per year might not seem to be much, but if this money
were consistently invested in a sound, conservative mutual fund by someone near
the beginning of their career, it could accumulate to well over a million
dollars by the time that they retired (assumption: 10% over 45 years). So this tax cut could be the ticket to you or your children
becoming millionaires.
But
it will not happen for most people. It
will be squandered away on a new car or boat; or worse yet, just disappear.
Yet, if the tax cut had not materialized, somehow the boats and cars
would still be obtained, but without the $1,600.
There are Christians who have no conscience in spending all that they earn (and then some). At the same time they will condemn their fellow Christians who have exercised discipline in making conservative and frugal investments as being “rich.” (We are assuming here that both of these classes of Christians are properly giving of their means as they have prospered — 1 Cor. 16:2, so this is not the issue.) God has made us stewards of the talents and wealth that he has given to us ... it is all His and His alone. Those who deny themselves immediate gratification and invest help others by providing the mechanism for generating new jobs for our society. They also assure that they will never be a financial drain on their families or society. Those who invest become part owners of a company and share in the wealth generated by our economy. It is a legitimate good work, and every Christian should consider it when planning the use of their incomes.
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The
title is suggested within the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:13): “And not
many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into
a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.”
We doubt that many readers of this article are wasting their substance
with riotous living. However, it can be wasted it in many other ways.
If we recognize that we are stewards of what God has given us, we must
realize that such waste must be sin.
The
most obvious personal waste of substance in the United States is credit card
debt (and most other time payments.) It
is waste because interest is being paid (usually at a very high rate).
This results from spending more than what we have.
If you have this kind of debt you need to set up a schedule and get it
paid off as soon as possible, and then never, never, never incur it again.
Only buy what you can afford.
The
most wasteful item that most young people purchase on time is their automobile.
Calculate the total amount, including interest, that you will pay for
your car. Then consider the
alternative: getting a good used car that you can afford (or pay off quickly).
At that point you will have no more payments.
But, continue to pay the payments anyway! Pay them into your own interest-earning bank account, and do
not purchase your next car until you have enough in this account to do it.
In this simple exercise alone, a young couple could save nearly a hundred
thousands dollars over their lifetime. The
reason is because they are earning the interest now instead of paying it.
Having to have that new car now (before you can pay for it) is not
“riotous living,” but both motivations are rooted in vanity.
One
debt that is worth incurring is for the purchase of a home.
(Use part of the money that you save from your car payments for the house
down payment.) Get into a modest
home as soon as you can and trade your way up when you can afford more.
The reason that this is not a bad debt (like car payments) is because
homes generally increase in value, unlike cars that decrease to zero.
If you do not buy, you have to pay rent anyway, so you might as well be
building equity with that “rent” money.
This type of good stewardship glorifies God and assures that you will be
able to help others in your older years. Glorify
God with your decisions.
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“Money is the root of all
evil.”
but
Paul told Timothy to (1 Tim. 6:17) ...
"Instruct those who are rich
in this present world not to be
First,
let’s get the first quote right, since it is in the same context as the
response. It should read (1 Tim.
6:10): “... the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (emphasis
mine). Indeed, when we value any
material thing more than God, it is idolatry.
But the fact that there were rich people in the churches of the first
century tells us that being rich is not a sin per se.
In fact, some poor people have far more love for money than do many rich
people.
Paul’s
instructions continue (1 Tim 6:18-19): “Let them do good, that they be rich in
good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good
foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”
Building wealth is simply a matter of making our expenditures less than
our income. If we give as we have
prospered (1 Cor. 16:2) and are still able to build wealth, this enables us to
better share with those in need and to give more in the future to the
furtherance of the work of the Lord. These
are noble goals, and well worth working toward.
If all Christians were destitute, how would the work of spreading the
gospel be accomplished? Clearly,
God expects us to put the material things that he has given us to the best
possible use (Mt. 25:14f).
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