3 Words That Summarize How We Should View Money, if We Want to View It Like Jesus
By Michael Kelley
When you look back to the recorded teachings of Jesus in Scripture, you find a surprising number of references to the subject of personal finance. Just how much did Jesus talk about money?
Financial themes appear in roughly 11 to 16 of His 38 recorded parables.
That topic accounts for somewhere between 10% and 15% of Jesus’ total recorded words in the gospels.
Across the gospels, almost 300 verses deal directly with wealth and stewardship - that’s one out of every ten verses.
So Jesus talked about money… a lot. It’s not wrong, then, that we should also think about and talk about money. But we should be careful when doing so, because if we are to be like Jesus, then we would do well to think about and talk about money in the same way that He did. So Jesus talked about money a lot, but HOW did He talk about it? How did Jesus view money?
For the sake of simplicity, here are three words to help us get a handle on that question.
1. Opportunity.
Jesus viewed money as an opportunity. Another word that describes the opportunistic nature of finances is stewardship. In Luke 16, Jesus told a somewhat confusing story about a shrewd manager. It’s confusing because at first reading, the manager used what might be unscrupulous tactics to secure a good future for himself. But at the end of the story, Jesus lauded him, saying:
“I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9).
But Jesus overall point is that financial resources present an opportunity. And while we can view that opportunity from a worldly perspective to make our lives more comfortable, the real opportunity is eternal. We have been entrusted with a certain amount of resources, and the shrewd steward recognizes that those resources can be used for eternal reasons.
If we want to view money like Jesus did, then we also must view ourselves as stewards of those funds. We should, then, take a long-term view on money, understanding that it is an opportunity to make an eternal difference for the sake of God’s kingdom:
“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).
2. Window.
Yes, Jesus cares about money, but not because He needs it. He cares about money because He cares about our hearts. He knows that the clearest window into what we truly love, desire and pursue is visible through our bank statements.
Think about it – Jesus could have set up anything as the primary competitor to God in our lives. He could have easily said something like, “You cannot serve both God and power,” or “You cannot serve both God and sex,” but instead He chose money:
“No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money” (Matthew 6:24).
This is a helpful perspective because our hearts will often deceive us. We might well think we have our priorities in line with God’s kingdom, but if we want to know for sure, then all we have to do is take a look at how we are spending our money. As Jesus said:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
3. Dangerous.
The third word that describes Jesus viewpoint on money is “dangerous:”
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:23-25).
It is so dangerously easy for us to begin to trust in money instead of Jesus. That’s why money is so dangerous - as the primary competitor to God in our hearts, we can easily drift to finding our security in it instead of in Christ alone. This is why it’s so hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God - it’s because there are so many other things in which they can trust other than Jesus.
So yes, let’s talk about money. But in light of how Jesus saw it, let’s make sure we are talking about it appropriately. With a long-term perspective. And with a view on our hearts. And with caution.
Michael Kelley is a husband, father of three, author, and speaker from Nashville, TN. His latest book is a year-long family devotional guide called The Whole Story for the Whole Family. Find his personal blog at michaelkelley.co.
