Have you ever played the “Would You Rather…” game?  It pits two opposing choices against each other and people go around and decide which one they’d rather have and why.

It’s a good ice-breaker and a fun game to hear people’s insights.

That’s exactly what I’d like to do this weekend – play the “Would You Rather” game and hear your points of view.

At first glance this looks like an easy question – I mean who really wants to be extremely poor!? 

In order to play the game effectively you have to think about the implications of both:

If you’d rather be filthy rich, do you think that would lead to pride, arrogance, self-sufficiency and perhaps even an indifference toward God?

Or would it lead to doing more good and giving to the poor.

If you chose extreme poverty do you think that would lead you down the road of anxiousness, hating God for your situation or even stealing to meet your needs?

What Scripture Says

Here’s a couple of interesting verses to consider as we wrestle with this question: 

Proverbs 30:8-9:

…give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me,  lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

Luke 11:2-4:

And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins,  for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.  And lead us not into temptation.”

So, it seems like Scripture would have us go with a balanced view here.  Neither poverty nor riches, just enough to get by each day.

What I Would Choose

I’d try to go with the balanced view of Scripture found in Proverbs, but if I had to pick one – the pious side of me could justify both. 

On the one hand, if I was rich think of all the good I could do and poverty I could help eliminate.

On the flip side, think of how big my faith would be because I’d have to trust in God for every meal and after all - God has a heart for the poor and marginalized.

But would I really do that much good or would I really have a deep faith in God’s provision and sovereignty?

What About You – Which Would You Choose?

Now it’s your turn!  I purposely didn’t give a full answer of what I’d choose because I’d like to hear your insights into this question.

So, which is it – Would You Rather Be Filthy Rich or Extremely Poor – and why?

These two terms belong together don’t they - Wealth and Happiness?  Do you remember a time in your life where you weren’t making much money?  You probably weren’t very happy.

Maybe it was during college, or when you first started a business – perhaps it’s now and you’ve lost your job recently.  One thing that often goes through our minds if we were honest with ourselves is this:

If only I had a bit more money, then I wouldn’t be so strapped and could actually enjoy life!

What’s ironic is that not only do many poor people feel this way, but what I’ve often noticed is that many wealthy people feel this way too!

John D. Rockefeller famously answered, “Just a little bit more” when asked the question how much money is enough.

I went to a business planning session yesterday with a group of advisors and one gentlemen mentioned how America is the richest nation in the world - yet the most depressed! 

How could this be?  The answer is clearly that wealth does not equal happiness!

After you arrive at a certain standard of living that affords you the basics - house, food, clothing etc. – any correlation between happiness and money is short lived! 

Think about it, all those things you thought would make you happy didn’t really bring you happiness.  Be honest.  How long after you achieved that goal or that wealth did you say to yourself:

Is that it?  What can I accomplish now?

1 Timothy 6:17-19 offers a little perspective about the rich and their attitude towards money:

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and  ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

What’s interesting about this passage is that the Apostle Paul tells us that in order to enjoy our wealth and our lives our hope should be set on God.

He also tells us that the rich should be generous, ready to share, doing good and their wealth shouldn’t define them, but rather their good works (rich in good works).

Now, some of you might say, but I’m not rich.  I dare you to go to the Global Rich List - type in your annual income and compare yourself to the rest of the world!  Then let me know what percentile you are in! 

You are wealthier than you think – and that wealth won’t bring you ultimate happiness.  You want true happiness?  Put your hope in God, through Jesus Christ and be generous!

In Part 1 of Avoiding Financial Hell we looked at the power that money can have in our lives and the consequences of loving money.  If left unchecked, our love for money could have a say in where we spend eternity.  In this post I’d like to offer some tools or resources to help us in our fight against the love of money.

Last time we began looking at 1 Timothy 6:6-20 (click here to read the passage).  If you haven’t read part one, I highly suggest perusing it so you can have some context for part 2.  Otherewise here is a quick summary:   

• False teachers were preaching to get rich. v.5
• The Apostle Paul redefined true wealth: “godliness with contentment is great gain” v.6
• Proper perspective: nothing is really ours anyways. v.7
• Our love for money has the power to send us to hell and lead us away from our faith. v. 9-10

Thankfully Paul doesn’t just end there.  He gives us some practical guidance on how we can avoid the issue of money controlling us instead of us controlling our money.  So here are Paul’s tools for the fight against loving money.

Flee, Pursue & Fight

In verse 11, Paul encourages Timothy to “flee these things”.  In other words, run as fast as you can from the idolatry, materialism and greed that we are so prone to.  We need something to run to, not just run from so Paul tells Timothy to instead “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness and gentleness”.  I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a pretty good list.  One of the best ways to get our minds off our money is to get serious about pursuing “bigger” things. 

Paul tells Timothy in verse 12 to “fight the good fight of faith”.  Fighting involves shunning evil and running towards virtue.  As John Piper often mentions in his preaching, we need to have a “war time mentality” when it comes to fighting against sin.  We need to fight against loving money.   Pray for help and read and memorize scripture passages that have to do with money. 

Humility & Hope

Paul stresses that Timothy should exhort the rich in this present age to be humble (v.17) or to not view themselves as better than others because they have money.  At first glance, many of us will gloss over this thinking that surely Paul isn’t talking about us.  After all we don’t look down on others if they have less money.  Besides we are not really rich, or at least we don’t feel rich.  That may be true if we compare ourselves to others in America, however, it is far from global reality.

If you want a little perspective on just how rich you really are then check out Global Rich List, type in your annual income and see where you rank on the global list.  If you are making $25,000 per year you are in the top 10% of all the world!   A good application of this is to remember that a person’s value does not come from their net worth statement, so don’t look down on others who have less money than you and don’t idolize those who have more. 

Paul also mentions that Timothy should “charge the rich to not set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us everything to enjoy”.  2008 was a great lesson for those of us putting our hope in uncertain things like brokerage accounts, home values and our jobs.  God is the one constant, He never changes so put your hope in Him. 

Proverbs 23:4-5 says,

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. 

Open Hands & Loose Grips

Verse 18 gives a final admonition for the rich.  They are to “do good, be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share”.  We must remember that our treasures are not found on earth.  We should store up heavenly treasure by using our money to do good for others.  I have to constantly remind myself and often times I fail to remember that I need to view my money with an “open hand – loose grip” policy.  None of it is mine anyways so I should seek to be generous, pray for opportunities to give where there are needs and “be ready to share”.

What does it mean to be ready to share?  Perhaps we need to build generosity into our monthly expenses at first just so we can get used to the idea of giving to others.  Here are some other tips on how to be ready to share:

• Simplify your lifestyle – the more stuff we accumulate, the more time and attention gets taken away from what’s really important.
• Get rid of debt – when we are bogged down by credit cards, mortgages, car payments, it is very difficult to be generous and ready to share with those who are in need.
• Seek opportunities – pray for God to provide circumstances where you can be generous and then seek them out.  Volunteer at a food pantry or visit the poor end of town and seek to help others.

Christians should be known for their generosity.  After all,  God has been so generous to us and we should respond likewise.  He sent his only Son to die for us.  We didn’t deserve it, yet Christ came and laid down his life.  What an amazing example of a generous life!

Did you ever play that game where you imagined you won the lottery or came into a large sum of money and daydreamed about all the things you would do with it?  I know I have.  I thought about the house I would buy, the car I would drive, the charities I would give to and businesses I would invest in.  The funny thing is that I’ve actually never played, but dreaming about it was always fun. 

Photo by bjmin5

It sure would be nice to win the lottery.  Or would it?  I got to thinking about this again after the news about Neal Wanless, the 23-year old rancher from one of the poorest counties in the U.S. bought $15 worth of lottery tickets in a town called Winner and wound up being the big winner of $232 million dollars. 

Wanless, who is single and lives with his parents on the family’s 320-acre ranch in South Dakota, said he’s going to buy a bigger spread of land, repay the townspeople for the kindness they have shown his family and spend his fortune wisely.

“I want to thank the Lord for giving me this opportunity and blessing me with this great fortune. I will not squander it,” he said.  I hope that’s the case for Neal, for history has shown other lottery winners haven’t had the greatest fortune with their fortunes.

Take for example West Virginia’s Jack Whittaker, who won $315 million on Christmas Day, 2002.  Five years later Jack blamed the new riches for causing his granddaughter’s fatal drug overdose, his divorce, his inability to trust and for the hundreds of lawsuits filed against him.

“I don’t have any friends,” he told The Associated Press in 2007. “Every friend that I’ve had, practically, has wanted to borrow money or something and of course, once they borrow money from you, you can’t be friends anymore.”

This isn’t the case for every lottery winner, but there are countless stories on the web about winners squandering every last cent and wishing they had never even purchased the ticket.  What every lottery winner eventually finds out is that true joy does not come from any amount of money.  

On the surface it seems to me like life would be so much easier having that much cash in the bank, being able to buy whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.  But it’s not true.  Happiness derived from money is fleeting.  It won’t last because it’s not designed to give us ultimate joy.  We were made to find our full joy, satisfaction and treasure in worshipping and being in relationship with our great God.  Jesus said to his disciples in John 15:11, “ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”  The danger of winning the lottery or having any amount of money for that matter is that it can lead us away from our great Savior and prohibit us from finding complete joy in Him. 

Perhaps a wise prayer for us to meditate on is found in Proberbs 30:8-9:

“..give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”