Wow. Your responses to our survey yesterday were so moving and thought-provoking. Thank you for taking a few moments to share your feedback and real struggles from your personal leadership journeys. I will prayerfully respond to these in coming weeks as topics in our daily posts. If you haven’t responded to our brief survey and you would like to, simply click here. From our entire team, thank you.
Should Christian leaders aim to make a lot of money?
Some argue that God has called His disciples to a life of poverty, basing their belief on teachings from Jesus like the one in which He said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. If this Bible verse means that to have wealth is spiritually damning, then how do we explain Biblical paragons of faith who had a lot of money and power like King David, King Solomon, Abraham, Joseph, and many more?
Others argue that obtaining financial wealth is spiritually esteemed, that Christian leaders must make money to use for God’s Kingdom. Moreover, according to this Bible teaching, we are expected to increase that which God gives us. Still those who ascribe to the prosperity theology believe God wants us to have an abundance of blessings and that we should expect riches and material things as evidence of His blessing in our lives.
While these teachings all have threads of scriptural basis, the Bible makes it fundamentally clear that we should not seek earthly riches. God does not need our money. Even stewardship does not exclusively refer to financial assets. And for some, it could be a “blessing” to actually lose their money in order to wake up and focus on God.
So, should Christian leaders aim to make a lot of money? The answer is found in the Biblical teaching that says it is the love of money that’s the problem. Money itself is not bad. When we place our desire for money above our desire for God, we are in dire straits spiritually. To take it even further, the love of anything above God is a sin. When we place our love of a spouse, parent, child, or any earthly matter above our desire for God, we are not following God’s commandment. Jesus said the most important commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength—meaning, we must love God above everything else in this world.
If like me, you have been curious whether we should seek to make good money, I invite you to first examine your relationship with God. Make Him your first priority. Pray and seek Him diligently, seriously, and consistently each day. When you do this, money, and all other aspects of life, will settle into their proper places. If you don’t seek Him first, you will have trouble Biblically answering this question and most any question life throws your way.
The essence of knowing God’s will for every area of our lives, including our finances, is to walk closely with God. The more you are one with Him, the more your life will be aligned to His will. For some seasons, God may want us to make a lot money, and in other seasons, He may call us to a life of little.
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