The Gospel Coalition

This world you and I live in is marked by a radical commitment to thievery. Every single day, attempts are made to steal your time, your talents, and your money.

Think about this: The advertising industry spends untold billions of dollars each year trying to steal your time by making you believe that relaxation, not work, is what you were meant to live for, ultimately. Maybe you’ve seen this bumper sticker: “I say we fish six days and work one.” I’m not a fisherman, so I’d probably be more sympathetic to the one that goes, “I say we surf six days and work one.” That’s the thinking that results from the endlessly proclaimed falsehood that we all deserve a break today — a long one — and that our time is best spent if it’s idle. Sit back, relax, enjoy the ride, take as many vacations as you possibly can, because that’s the real goal of human life — not working, not investing yourself for others and for the good of society as a whole, not making the most of every opportunity as the Bible teaches us. Rather, we are told to pursue personal comfort and convenience regardless of the cost. The good life is a life spent leisurely.  To be sure, workaholism is a real danger in our day, but even the tendency of workaholics is often fueled by the promise that if they work hard enough they might make enough money to retire early so that they can spend their time doing what they were really meant to enjoy: time off.   

Think too of the billions of dollars spent every year trying to convince you to expend all your talents and money on yourself here and now instead of investing long-term in others for others. Because life is lived for the moment and today is really all that matters, don’t think about the consequences of your decisions or how they’ll affect tomorrow. Advertisers are relentless in their attempts to steal your money by giving you the line that you can’t be happy without their product. They keep proclaiming that in order to be happy, you need to buy what their selling, that more stuff can bring you fulfillment like nothing else can. 

According to American Consumer Credit Counseling, the total U.S. credit card debt in the first quarter of a recent year was approximately $60 billion. This ends up being about a $8,000 in credit card debt per family in America. This shows that the world around us wants you to believe that it’s all about “now”, and they have a never-ending strategy for persuading you to believe it. But God has equipped you to make a lasting, significant contribution to society in various ways. He’s given you different gifts to be exercised not only within the community of God but also in long-term service to the world. The world strongly influences us in a thousand ways to take a short view of life—eat, drink, and be merry tonight, because tomorrow may never come. Christians, on the other hand, are to take a long view of life—living intentionally so that we make contributions to the common good of society which last long after our individual life in this world is over.

Living in a world where attempts are made every day to steal your time, talents, and money makes people feel cheap and used. People become objects that are to be marketed to, not loved and invested in. In that way it dehumanizes us. Every human being is simply a potential buyer, so we should market ourselves in such a way to cause others to live for us, rather than being committed to live for others.

The bottom line is that the world’s ethic is marked by taking, not giving. But the church can step in here and become an alternative society, a breath of fresh air. Paul instructs us to distinguish ourselves by being a community of givers, not takers — having “something to share with anyone in need.”

For instance, it’s fashionable (basically automatic) in our world to view getting a raise first as an opportunity to elevate your standard of living: get a nicer car, buy a bigger house, a home entertainment center, more expensive clothing, etc. But in the Bible what we find is the principle that to whom much is given much is required. In other words, more income does not first mean increased spending, but increased giving. Choosing to view something like a financial raise in this way is radically unfashionable—and to the watching world, radically refreshing!

When it comes to money specifically, my friend Trevin recently wrote, “[Christians] can show that money is not Lord by demonstrating to the world that all money comes from God, by embracing a mindset that focuses on eternal investments over temporal benefits, and by showing the world that people matter more than possessions. The best way to subvert the idol of Mammon is by giving it away freely.”

Christians ought to be known as the most generous people on the face of this earth — the most generous with their time, their talents, and their money. Why? Because more than anyone else, Christians are to understand that they are owners of nothing and stewards of everything—believing that everything they have is a gift from God that they are to handle responsibly. The only thing you and I own — the only thing that’s really ours — is our sin. Everything else is a blessing from our Creator. Our resources, our time, our abilities — they’re all a gift from God.

The fact is, you are a steward of everything in your life — every dollar you earn, every good idea that goes through your mind, every feeling of compassion. All of your skills, resources, experiences, influence, and social capital—all of these things are to be stewarded well, invested back into the created order for the good of other people. We are to leverage our God-given resources for the common good, making this society a better place to live for everyone, not just us. As Christians, we’ll be held accountable for the way we invested all of the “assets” God has given us.

Christians, more than anyone else, ought to operate according to the words of the martyred missionary Jim Elliott who said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Surely, Mr. Elliott had these very words of his Savior in mind: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). Christians ought to give joyfully remembering always that “for the joy set before him”, Christ gave everything that we might possess all.

If Christians really began living generously, investing all that we are and have in order to make this a better place to live for everyone, think about the witness that would be in our world. Every non-Christian in our community should be able to say about us, “I might not believe what they believe but this place would be a much less livable place without them here, because of the way these people invest their time, talents, and money in service to our community.”

That’s what God wants people to say about us, as we lay down our lives for others. Speaking of the world around them, Jesus commands his disciples to “Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). This, by the way, is a far greater witness to the world than being able to give five rational proofs for the existence of God, as important as that is.

Here again, the body of Christ is to follow Christ the head. Christ gave everything that we might possess all. We, too, are to give everything, and give joyfully, that others might possess all.