Alex said

I love Brian’s trilogy:

Earn all you can
Save all you can
Give all you can

What if we tweaked it like this?

Create all the wealth you can
Save what you need
Invest in opportunities for others all you can
Give all you can

My response: This is a good tweak but the problem of the NA culture’s seeming lack of interest in saving except to spend on something we want messes it up. I think also what we need so easily becomes everything.

How do we speak to that cultural scenario from a Christian faith perspective?

From the standpoint of the word wealth being somewhat universal, IE - wealth of what exactly?, I think it is a Christ value to create wealth. What we do with the wealth we accumulate is evident of which master we serve. Relational/Spiritual/Emotional/Physical/Monitary wealth. How do we use these to serve our King? Are we giving our wealth in a healthy, God honoring, Jesus following way? (see below)

Went to see Cinderella Man. After, my wife comments about the era of the Depression and fear of its reoccurrence. My mind whirled with the realization that currently, people are living the great Depression right now. The scene when James J. Braddock enters the Gardens and asks for financial assistance to get his kids back. Some offer little (when they could give more), some offer much, some turn their heads and look away.

What are we doing with our wealth, and I’m not talking just dollars and cents wealth!? That might be an even bigger question. (Hope I’m not too off topic….)

Welcome to the mystic…

Determine your calling with God’s help
Earn according to your calling
Give what you are directed to give by God
Save the rest and God will show you how you can use it wisely

Let me know what think. Thanks.

-The creation of wealth itself is nothing more than a thing… in my opinion, and echoing several other comments already made, the use of the wealth created and the heart posture of the one creating the wealth are the important factors.

-I’ve been blown away by how my heart can become comletely gripped with the potential of a deal that could pay off big…I’ve had to go grab a Bible after a meeting and detox with Matthew 6 to remind myself that my primary job is to seek God’s kingdom. I know now why Jesus told the rich ruler to sell everything…not because I’m rich but because I’ve tasted a sip of the money wine and it’s very, very good…and I can see how it could completely capture your heart. On the other hand, when you people, and I know several like this, who create a lot of wealth and are not a slave to it…and can freely give when called upon by God…they are an extremely powerful tool for the kingdom…not only can they give what they presently have, but they have the ability to keep creating and giving more. But I think it’s hard work to keep your heart in that place….probably easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle….and then I sometimes find myself wanting to be that kind of a person….so that I can get more money :(.

-God’s been telling me lately that I need to focus on keeping my heart free from the love of money–and to start now…with whatever I’m making…by giving it away. I see guys who are tremendously gifted at making money, but the time when they’re really going to kick it in gear for the Kingdom is “out there” somewhere….when the next big deal comes through. Problem is, the next deal helps finance the next, and on it goes. If we can’t hold ten bucks loosely today, we’ll hold on even tighter to a hundred or a thousand down the road.

-I think your remake of Brian’s trilogy is excellent, but we need to take a hard look at the “needed” part of “save what is needed.” As I hear daily reports of all the suffering going on in various parts of the world, I’m feeling more and more that our definition in the American church of what we “need” is unbelievably warped…and I’m not sure yet what to with that in my own life…as I type this on our new computer with a nice flat screen that we really “needed”. I’m not at all advocating legalistic sacrifice, but we don’t have a clue what “need” really is.

-Final thought, sorry this got long…as I see the potential for money to be used for Kingdom good, I can’t help wondering if there’s a way to smear the lines between those in the business world and those in “full time ministry.” It wouldn’t be easy, but there has to be a way for talented money makers to walk with God in such a way that they understand that in the middle of creating wealth, they are to seek God’s Kingdom. Examples: I want to approach a builder friend of mine about this. He has multiple homes going up at the same time…he could easily buy a lot and put up a nice but affordable home for a needy family…and let them have it at or below cost…he could have one project like that going all the time and still have plenty of money left over. It wouldn’t be about throwing money at a church project, it would be about a Christ-follower doing kingdom work as a part of what he does in the marketplace.

For myself..a tenant approached me today about wanting old supplies to put in a run-down house that’s been given to her…she’s a single mom trying to scrape some money together to fix up this house and move out of our apartments. I’m going to contact a local church who already has a team in place to do these types of mission projects–maybe we can get her help to fix it right. I might help myself lose a tenant, but maybe I can use this platform to futher the Kingdom…I am creating wealth, but it’s not all about me or the money…it’s about the Kingdom. Am I making sense? Gotta run..