Life Meets Doctrine

So what do we do with money? If all of it belongs to God, and he has established us as his stewards, what does he tell us to do with it? He has not left us without instructions. He has given us careful, detailed directions for how to handle his money in a way that honors Him. Here is the first of those directions.

1. Earn it. We have to get money if we are going to steward it, and to get money we should earn it. It isn’t wrong to make money; it isn’t wrong to make lots of money. In fact there are men and women in Scripture who are noted as people of wealth, both from the Old Testament and the New Testament. Here is how the father in Proverbs tells his son to make money:
   1. Earn it through faithfulness. Proverbs 28:20: A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished. Proverbs 13:11: Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. For many of you in my parents’ generation you are thinking in your minds right now, “Amen! That’s true!” And for many of us in my generation you are thinking, “Ahhh, crud. Even the Bible says that. I thought it was just my grandma.” I know I definitely don’t like to read that in Scripture. I want it to say, “Be faithful to God and he will suddenly give you millions of dollars.” Bing! Bang! Boom! I am done with work and toil and waking up to go to the office. But God tells us that we must earn our money through faithful, ongoing work.
   2. Earn it through hard work. Proverbs 14:23: In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty. Furthermore, consider Proverbs 13:4: The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. Talking about getting a job doesn’t get you a job. Talking about your dream self-started business that is going to make you millions doesn’t make you millions. Hard work leads to profit. Hard, tenuous, toilsome, tough, painful, laborsome, back-breaking, sleep-missing, sometimes-wish-you-could-fire-your-boss, sometimes-wish-the-lottery-odds-were-better kind of work is what leads to profit. The soul of the diligent is richly supplied. Be diligent and work hard.
   3. Earn it with great caution. Proverbs 23:4-5: Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven. We have all experienced this, right? You get a paycheck and it is gone in a moment to this bill, that bill, that debt, this debt, this meal, that meal. It seriously took wings and flew away.

This is the balance to the hard work described earlier. Don’t kill yourself or your family because you work too hard. Your paycheck will be gone soon. Do not put your trust in your money or your paycheck.