What Does The Bible Say About How To Acquire Wealth?
September/19/2023 09:11 PM Filed in: CrossWinds
Many of us are looking for ways to build wealth and prepare for tomorrow. What does the Bible say are the wrong ways to acquire wealth? What does the Bible say are the right ways to acquire wealth? What are some reasons Christians run financially short? Let’s find answers.
What does the Bible say are the wrong ways to build wealth? First, Exodus 20:15 reminds us, “You shall not steal.” That may seem obvious, but in some places, where prosecution only extends to criminals who steal over $1,000, stealing is considered a legitimate option. God says it doesn’t matter if it is $5 or $5,000. You shall not steal. Second, we are not to exploit others to gain wealth. Proverbs 22:22-23 reminds us not to use our financial or leadership position to exploit the poor, forcing them to work long hours for low pay. Proverbs reminds us that God will protect those who take advantage of the poor and fight for them. Third, we should not increase our wealth by not paying our bills. Leviticus 19:13 reminds us to pay what we owe and to pay it on time. Dragging out paying an agreed-upon contract or paying only a portion of a contract is a form of robbery. Fourth, we are not to gamble to acquire wealth. While the Bible doesn’t have a verse that says, “Thou shalt not go to the Wild Rose Casino,” it does warn us in 1 Timothy 6:10 that the love of money and greed will lead to great suffering, loss, and pain. One in every five homeless Americans contributes gambling to losing it all. Seventy-five percent of addicted gamblers will commit crimes to continue their gambling addiction.
What does the Bible say are the wrong ways to build wealth? First, Exodus 20:15 reminds us, “You shall not steal.” That may seem obvious, but in some places, where prosecution only extends to criminals who steal over $1,000, stealing is considered a legitimate option. God says it doesn’t matter if it is $5 or $5,000. You shall not steal. Second, we are not to exploit others to gain wealth. Proverbs 22:22-23 reminds us not to use our financial or leadership position to exploit the poor, forcing them to work long hours for low pay. Proverbs reminds us that God will protect those who take advantage of the poor and fight for them. Third, we should not increase our wealth by not paying our bills. Leviticus 19:13 reminds us to pay what we owe and to pay it on time. Dragging out paying an agreed-upon contract or paying only a portion of a contract is a form of robbery. Fourth, we are not to gamble to acquire wealth. While the Bible doesn’t have a verse that says, “Thou shalt not go to the Wild Rose Casino,” it does warn us in 1 Timothy 6:10 that the love of money and greed will lead to great suffering, loss, and pain. One in every five homeless Americans contributes gambling to losing it all. Seventy-five percent of addicted gamblers will commit crimes to continue their gambling addiction.
What does the Bible say are the right ways to accumulate wealth? In Matthew 25:27, Jesus talks about investing money. He doesn’t expect us to take extra cash and stuff it between the mattresses but to put it into wise investments to make a return. Second, the Bible encourages us to work for money. In Exodus 20:9, we are told to work six days a week and rest for one. Six days of work is a lot of work. Hard work is how wealth is developed, and that may be six days a week. When it comes to work, Proverbs 14:23 tells us mere talk leads only to poverty. We are not to be people who are all talk but no action when it comes to work. Prosperity comes from people who accomplish work instead of just talking about it. Regarding work, the Bible reminds us that to be successful, we need to be self-motivated workers. Proverbs 6:6-8 tells us to consider the ants when it comes to work. Without having a boss, they are diligent on the job. You don’t see an ant slacking in the break room watching silly cat videos on YouTube or TikTok. Third, the Bible encourages us to acquire money by saving, not just spending. Proverbs 21:20 tells us it is the fool who spends all of his paychecks. A wise person always lays a portion of his paychecks aside for the future to prepare for retirement or unseen financial difficulties. Fourth, the Bible encourages us to budget our money, not just to spend as we desire. Proverbs 27:23-24 tells us to give attention to our flocks and remember that riches will not last forever. That means it is our job to regularly watch our investments. We must examine where we are spending money each week and every month. We need to regularly cut away unneeded expenses and explore more cost-effective solutions. As part of building a budget to acquire wealth, I would encourage everyone to be cautious with credit cards. Preparing for this article, I found these statistics. In 2022, the average adult’s credit card debt is $3,911. The average family has $6.027 in credit card debt. Twenty-nine percent of credit card holders can only make the minimum payment each month. The average credit card interest rate is 19 percent. Over 70 percent of credit card holders do not pay their balance off in full at the end of the month. For many people, easy access to money through credit cards has led to financial slavery! As Proverbs 22:7 warns us, the borrower is slave to the lender.
Why do many Christians run short on money? In Proverbs 21:5, the Bible tells us impulsive spending leads to poverty. We can walk into a car or boat dealership and walk out a hundred thousand or more in debt in less than 60 minutes. Those in sales encourage quick, frictionless purchases because they know that will encourage us to spend far more than we should. Shopping on Amazon can also lead to impulse spending. We can purchase anything and have it on our doorstep in two days with only the tap of a finger and the flick of a thumb. Another reason Christians run short on money is simply because they are stingy. This is the opposite of what we think. Many Christians run short of cash simply because they don’t give enough away. In Proverbs 11:24, we find those who freely give to God’s work and benevolent needs grow richer, but those who withhold what they should give find themselves in need. In Luke 6:38, Jesus tells us that when we give, it will be given back to us by God. God isn’t stingy when he gives back to us. God promises to give back to us far more than we gave to him. In Haggai 1, we read of God’s people sowing much but harvesting little. They earned wages, but it seemed like they were putting their money into a bag with holes. They had so many expenses that they couldn’t accumulate wealth. What was the problem? God told them the reason was they hadn’t put God first in their lives. They were financially stingy toward God, so he refused to bless them with resources while they left God’s house in shambles. Similarly, in 2 Corinthians 9, the apostle Paul tells us that when it comes to giving our resources to God’s work, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever sows generously will reap generously. When we give a little, God will give back to us a little. When we give to God’s work more sacrificially, God will give back to us more.
In Acts 20:35, we read these words of Jesus, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Why does Jesus say that? There are many reasons, but one of them is that God loves to bless givers by giving them more to give away.
There are wrong and right ways to acquire wealth, but the best way is counterintuitive. When we give a portion of what God entrusts to us back to his work, he guarantees to bless us so we can give more. God’s work in this world can be financially supporting your church, sponsoring a child, supporting a missionary, or a local ministry in town. The reason givers acquire more wealth is because God promises to give them more to give away. That is one reason why it is always more blessed to give than to receive.
(Written for the Dickinson County News September 19, 2023)
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