Tag Archives: wealth

An Unexpected Journey

Yesterday evening Marion and I watched The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey, based on the first part of Tolkien’s 1937 fantasy classic The Hobbit. This was my first experience watching a movie in 3D, and I found The Hobbit impressive in every respect. As someone who doesn’t go to a lot of movies, I was struck by how cinematographic technology has made it possible to create an alternate reality so powerful that it completely overwhelms your senses.

Yet for me, no matter how technically impressive it may be, a movie is only truly satisfying if it says something important. The Hobbit satisfies on that count too. This morning, while lying half-awake in bed, images and thoughts from The Hobbit were chasing themselves through my head. I sensed a blog post coming on, so I asked the Lord for clarity, and gradually found myself mulling over two significant and inter-related themes. Others may find other messages in this story, but for me these are the ones that stood out.

First there is the character of Bilbo Baggins himself. He’s an unlikely hero who doesn’t really want any part of the quest to recapture the dwarves’  lost kingdom, around which the story is built. But Gandalf the wizard chooses him intentionally, believing that Bilbo has a crucial role to play. Gandalf sees something in Bilbo that the others on the expedition – including Bilbo himself – seem to have overlooked. The legendary dwarvish warrior Thorin Oakenshield, leader of the expedition, despises Bilbo at first, and writes him off as a no-account who should have stayed home. Yet in the end the surprising Bilbo finds a reserve of courage within himself and saves Thorin’s life in a key battle.

Another significant though understated motif is the destructive effect of the dwarves’ lust for gold and gems. Smaug, the dragon who stole the dwarves’ wealth and their homeland, is an undeniably nasty character. Still, it was the unbridled greed and covetousness of Thorin’s grandfather that attracted Smaug’s attention in the first place, and thus ironically led to the downfall of the dwarves’  kingdom. Ever since, the dwarves have nursed hatred and resentment over their lost riches. Their quest to recover their lost kingdom is fuelled by more than just a desire to return to their homeland. It’s not just their homes that they regret losing, but their treasure troves of gold and jewels.

There is a subtle irony here. In the overarching delineation of good vs. evil that characterizes almost all fantasy literature, the dwarves are clearly among the good guys. They are basically positive characters. Yet their lust for ever more and greater wealth, like some sort of inner cancer gnawing at their hearts, has tainted them with an enduring bitterness over the loss of their mountain of gold. This bitterness has skewed their perspective until they mistrust anyone but themselves, and see even their potential allies – the Elves – as objects of suspicion. Obsessed with their lost wealth, they are so consumed with rage that they are in danger of becoming almost the mirror image of their hated enemy Smaug.

And then there is the Precious. In one of the many misadventures that characterize Tolkien’s tale, Bilbo stumbles upon Gollum, anti-hero of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Gollum has somehow found the One Ring of Power, an occult object that later turns out to be the key to a new attempt at world domination by the forces of darkness. The ring has taken possession of Gollum’s soul and transformed him into a despicable yet pitiful character. He is obsessed with the ring and calls it his Precious. Bilbo finds the ring, not realizing its significance. The ring helps him escape, but those who know the plot line of Lord of the Rings will remember that years later, Bilbo’s nephew Frodo would need to sacrifice the ring of power to save the world. So the theme of the One Ring, though largely undeveloped in this first installment of The Hobbit series, could be seen as a sub-theme of the “greed and lust for power” motif.

For those who are still with me, I want to shift gears now and talk a bit about why these themes stood out for me.

Jesus has been reminding me these last few months about the things that have true and enduring value. On one occasion Jesus compared the Kingdom of God to buried treasure. This treasure is so valuable, said Jesus, that if you find it, you should sell everything you own to buy it. He also compared the Kingdom of God to a merchant in search of fine pearls who found a single pearl of such great worth that he sold everything he had to buy this one pearl. As well, he said that the way to true life is narrow and few find it, while the road to destruction is broad and many take it.

The pearl of great price and the buried treasure are one and the same. The pearl is Jesus himself, the crucified one who bore our sins and who is coming to reign. He is the rightful king of our lives and of the whole universe. Jesus was king even while he was dying for our sins, and he is still king now while seated at his Father’s right hand in the heavens, but at present Jesus is king in a hidden way. Most people don’t realize that Jesus is the rightful king of the whole earth. Right now it looks to most people as though little or nothing is under Jesus’ control. That’s because Jesus is above all a merciful king. In his mercy and his patience he has chosen to delay the inevitable Day of Reckoning. He is waiting to see who will come to repentance – who will put their trust and their hope in Him. He is waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool. But Jesus has promised that one day the waiting will be over. Soon He will return in power and glory to rule the earth openly and restore all things.

God’s Kingdom is much more valuable than gold or jewels or power or any of the other things people chase in this world, but most people are blind to what is really worth investing their lives in. That’s why most people take the broad and easy road that leads to destruction. Even if they’re not consumed with greed like Smaug, most people want to live their own life their own way. They don’t really want to live life Jesus’ way, because that means giving up control, laying down their right to call the shots, run their own careers, set their own course, choose their own path. Jesus’  invitation is open to anyone – anyone may come on this journey – but it means surrendering our pride, our independence and what we think of as our security. Most people don’t want to do that. Yet ironically, the only truly secure place to be is with Jesus.

Jesus isn’t the only treasure in God’s kingdom. Another way to think of the parables of the Pearl and the Hidden Treasure is that Jesus is the one searching for treasure and looking for fine pearls. Every time he finds someone whose heart is hungry for reality, He says “That one’s mine! That’s my treasure, the one I gave my life for”. And so Jesus, the Pearl of Great Price, is himself on a treasure hunt. The treasure he seeks consists of all those who will put their hope in him – the unlikely heroes, like Bilbo, who aren’t impressed with themselves but are impressed with Jesus and are willing to walk with him through the adventures of life, no matter where he leads. They are willing to do this because He has promised them a homeland, an eternal city that is coming to earth.

All of this may sound horribly old-fashioned, but it’s as true today as when Jesus and the apostles first spoke these things. If we get sidetracked by the lust for wealth, power, control and security, then like the dwarves, we will become embittered and unfruitful as our hearts get burdened down with cares that we were never meant to carry. But when we surrender our independence, invest our hearts in Jesus and decide to follow where He leads, then like Bilbo we are transformed little by little until to our own surprise we become heroes in God’s army.

An unexpected journey? Not a bad name for the walk of a disciple of Jesus. It’s a journey down a road that not everyone wants to walk, but a journey that is more than worth the cost. All that we surrender – all that we have to lose – is our independence, our pride, our so-called security, and all the illusions that we have about ourselves. But Jesus has no illusions about us. He knows our potential. He knows what needs to die in us so that we can embrace this journey, and what we can become as we walk with Him. Down this road lies true treasure – not the fleeting pleasure of worldly wealth and power that will fade and vanish like a mist, but the lasting satisfaction of a love relationship with the One who made the universe, the promise that He will always provide for us and lead us, and the sure knowledge that one day He will rule the whole earth, and we will reign with him. That’s the homeland we are looking for, that’s the king we are eager to serve, that’s the treasure that we seek, that’s the life that is worth living – the life that is truly life.

 

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Money – blessing or curse?

Someone once asked John D. Rockefeller, a multi-millionaire industrialist of a past generation, how much wealth was enough.  His famous reply? “Just a little bit more.” In his day, Rockefeller was one of the richest men on earth. He was also one of the most generous, believing strongly that he had a responsibility to use wealth to improve the lives of others.

By contrast, I recently read a news piece about Karl Rabeder, an Austrian millionaire who is currently in the process of giving away most of his fortune.  He plans to use the proceeds to finance a microcredit charity (see Leaving an Imprint – January 6).  He has taken this radical step after coming to the realization that money could not make him happy.  Having grown up in a poor family, and having spent most of his lifetime striving for wealth, Rabeder says he is now finding peace and genuine satisfaction through giving away his wealth to others, living very simply and renouncing luxury.

Rockefeller was a Christian and his views on wealth and its proper uses were motivated by Christian convictions. I have no idea whether Rabeder is a Christian, but his decision to renounce wealth and give most of his substance to the poor is consistent with some interpretations of Christian obedience. Taken together, the actions and viewpoints of these two wealthy men highlight an issue that has always posed a dilemma for those who seek to follow Jesus.  What is the proper attitude of the Christ follower towards wealth and property? Should we seek wealth, as Rockefeller did, or renounce it as Rabeder has done and is doing?

Attitudes towards money vary widely. Sadly, like the man in Jesus’ parable who built bigger and bigger barns but was not rich toward God, many make the pursuit of financial security the major goal of their lives. Others, reacting to the evils caused by greed, conclude that money and the pursuit of wealth are inherently evil. Ironically, however, it is often wealth gained through business that ends up being used to finance works of charity – as in the case of both Rockefeller’s and Rabeder’s fortunes.

There is no Biblical support for the claim that money in itself is impure or evil, or that the wealthy are wicked by definition – nor did Rabeder make any such claim when he decided to give up his fortune. What the Bible actually teaches on this subject is not that money is evil, or a source of evil, but that the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. This observation is not actually a statement about money at all, but rather about the human heart. The Bible speaks in very positive terms of those who walk uprightly, gain their wealth honestly and use it to bless others, and in very negative terms about those who gain wealth by oppression or unrighteousness or who place their ultimate hope in their riches.

One of the ironies of life is that you can be in financial bondage whether you are rich or poor. Some are in slavery to poverty, some in slavery to wealth. Some reject all wealth as evil, others are addicted to it.  Some fear poverty because they are afraid for their own survival and that of their children; others fear prosperity because they are afraid it will corrupt them.  Strange as it may seem, both these maladies stem from the same root.  They are the work of a spiritual power that feeds our minds with lies,  tempting us to assign ultimate power to a created thing rather than to God, thereby diverting us from walking in faith and love.

When I was a young man I had a very one-sided view of this issue.  I knew the words of Jesus about not serving two masters, and was famliar with his instruction to the rich young man to give away all his possessions to the poor.  I saw the dangers of materialism, and saw the church of my upbringing as hypocritical, filled with middle class people who from my perspective had given their lives to the pursuit of Mammon.  I did not yet see how judgmental I was, or how dependent on the generosity of those who were more prosperous than I.  More recently I have come to see that prosperity can be used in the service of the Kingdom of God, and that while Jesus warned against the dangers of pursuing wealth as a primary goal in life, he was quite willing to accept financial support from those who worked for wealthy people.  The key to a right understanding of wealth, I now see, is a Biblical view of stewardship.  If God has entrusted wealth to me, I am not the owner but the steward, and I am accountable to Him for what I do with whatever He has entrusted to me. Wealth is a tool which can be used to accomplish much good – but only if we first settle the issue of Lordship and decide who will have our primary allegiance.  In Jesus’ words, No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.  In other words, you can only have one Lord, not two – or three or four.

When we believe the lie that our lives are controlled by money, or wealth, we make money into a god, and submit to the control of the principality, or spiritual power, that Jesus called Mammon.  If you think this doesn’t apply to you, consider how many times you have said that you would do thus-and-so if only you had the money. Consider also how much of your energy goes to getting more wealth than you have, and how much of your hope is fixed on things that money can buy. Yes, God can use financial plenty and financial lack to open and close doors, but often we live as though our primary allegiance is to Mammon, and the true God has to get Mammon’s approval before we can step out in faith – rather than the other way around. Jesus, on the other hand, lived in a culture where needs were great and wealth was comparitively more scarce than it is in North America today, yet he never acted or spoke as though provision were lacking for any undertaking that his Father had ordained. To use a phrase that I first learned from my friend Brian Sauder, Jesus had a prosperous soul – he believed that Father’s provision for him would always be more than enough, and he lived in confident expectation of that provision. This is Biblical prosperity – staying in the center of Father’s will, and living our lives as though His provision will always be more than enough.

There is nothing wrong with having an abundance.  There is also no sin in being poor. The key to staying blessed in both sets of circumstances is to recognize the Lordship of Jesus – to recognize that God is the owner, everything comes to us from His hand and we are his stewards. The only way to freedom is to give control of our finances to the One who is the only rightful Lord of everything in our lives, including our finances, place our trust in His goodness, and let His word renew our minds with regard to wealth and finances. This act of surrender may or may not result in a change in our financial circumstances, but it will certainly result in a change in our attitude towards wealth and property. In the early church in the Book of Acts, no-one said that anything he had belonged to him.  This is a key insight.  Jesus said that if we seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, everything else we need will be provided for us. He also told us to be content and to give generously. Giving control to Jesus means learning to live our lives by the values of the Kingdom, not the values of the world system.

I have learned to fear neither prosperity nor poverty. Due to a ministry commitment, for several years when our children were young Marion and I lived in relative poverty (at least by Canadian standards) and we found that these were good years in the life of our family – years when we grew in faith and experienced much blessing. We have now come into a much greater level of financial abundance, and have discovered that it is a tremendous blessing to be able to do for others what many did for us during the years when our income was more limited. I have also discovered that no matter how prosperous we may be, we always tend to make commitments in accordance with our wealth – so a wealthy man is just as dependent on a constant flow of provision as a poor man. This posture of dependency and humility coupled with confident expectation is a good posture for a believer – it is a posture that allows us to walk in freedom, faith and joy with regard to finances.

My church is currently in a financial crisis. I believe this financial crisis is the result of a crisis of vision, and that God is dealing with us sovereignly to bring us back to where He wants us to be. There is no lack with God. If we respond to him in faith and obedience, there will always be more than enough to do what He wants to do in and through us. Consequently I am not worried about this crisis. Of course this circumstance has created some pressure, but pressure is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be one of God’s choice instruments to purify our hearts and bring us to a place of greater surrender, greater obedience and greater faith. Yes, God is capable of providing in abundance, but there are conditions on receiving and walking in that abundance. Increasingly, when it comes to finances, my own prayer is for wisdom to steward well what God has entrusted to me, and a faithful heart that will rightly discern and respond to what He wants to do with what He has placed in my hands.  In the end, nothing else brings any lasting satisfaction.

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