One question that has been on my mind a lot for several years is the question of desiring money.

Ben Franklin’s Mona Lisa "smile" on a $100 Bill

Ask The Pastor: How it got started
E-mail your questions
Master List of Articles

Question: One question that has been on my mind a lot for several years is the question of desiring money.

I know we should place our faith in the Lord to provide for our needs but I also know that we're supposed to work and do our best in all things. I view my investing as work and thus spend a lot of time planning and fretting when it doesn't go as planned. I don't desire a lot of money for a lavish lifestyle but do want to be comfortable and not spend my retirement worrying about paying the bills. I guess my question is, is it wrong to be concerned over money or should we just go day to day in faith and not be concerned with what the future holds.

PP

ATP: PP, the Bible is very clear when it comes to money, that it is the love of money is the root of all evils… 1 Timothy 6:10 Money itself, whether we have much or little, isn’t the issue. It is our view of money and how we handle money that matters.

Paul told Timothy in the same section one verse earlier, But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.

There is nothing wrong with trying to improve our financial lot in life, as long as we have the right attitude about that pursuit. If we don’t have the right attitude, we end up chasing the meaningless rainbow of wealth and find ourselves in senseless greedy pursuits that will ruin us.

In Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 Solomon said,

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money; nor he who loves wealth, with gain: this is also vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them; and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of the laborer, whether he eats little or much; but the surfeit (abundance) of the rich will not let him sleep.

So our baseline for financial contentment level should be what Paul said in verse 8 of 1 Timothy 6:

…but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

As long as we are truly content at that level, then pursuing “success” in our business pursuits, whether as a full time investor or a business owner or whatever our role/function is in the business/work world, is fine. In fact, it is expected and normal.

The core or key point is what our attitude is. Does the pursuit of money own us? Are we sacrificing our families or our relationships in the pursuit of some financial goal? Have we placed our desire for a certain lifestyle ahead of our desire to walk with and serve the Lord?

If our answers to these questions are on the proper side of God’s balance sheet concerning them, we will be able to avoid the result that occurred in Solomon’s life when he said in Ecclesiastes 2:18-19,

I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me; and who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This is also vanity.

We are going to leave everything behind—everything. Keeping that in mind can help keep us in balance.

This blog is already a bit long, but let me close it out with a story I heard some years ago.

It seems a wealthy man in a private conversation with God, made a deal that when the man died he could bring to heaven with him one suitcase of precious possessions from earth. When the day of his death came he arrived at the Pearly Gates only to be greeted by Peter who immediately told him that no possessions were allowed.

"Oh yes they are Peter! I have a special deal with God: one suitcase of my most precious possessions is allowed. You can talk to the Boss. He’ll confirm that to be the case."

Peter, fully equipped with his heavenly Palm Pilot…this one his real palm…spoke into his palm to call the Boss. Sure enough the man had it right: one suitcase was allowed.

"I guess you are right," Peter said. "But since this has never happened before, I am curious. Would you mind if I looked in your suitcase to see what you have brought along?"

"No problem with that at all," said the man, proud that he was going to be the wealthiest man ever to enter the gates of heaven, for he had loaded his suitcase with bars of solid gold!

Upon opening the man’s suitcase a questioning furrow appeared on Peter’s forehead. Seeing Peter’s puzzled expression, rather than one of "wow!" that he had expected, the man said to Peter, "I don’t understand Peter. What is the problem with the gold bars in the suitcase? I expected a more excited response."

To that Peter responded, "I guess what is puzzling to me is that of all the things you chose to bring from earth, you decided to bring….pavement!"

Pavement--there are streets of gold in heaven! You get the idea. What we value so highly here, is nothing but pavement in heaven. If we can keep a heavenly focus on money, understanding that it has no more heavenly value than the dirt we walk on, we’ll be fine.