The proper use of money is not for living high down here; that would be a very poor investment indeed. No, the proper use of money is for investing as much of it as possible in the lives of people, so that we will have treasure in heaven. Of course, we need to keep a...
Riches, both material and spiritual, can choke you if you do not use them fairly. For not even God can put anything in a heart that is already full. One day there springs up the desire for money and for all that money can provide--the superfluous, luxury in eating,...
When Jesus uses the Aramaic term mammon to refer to wealth, he is giving it a personal and spiritual character. When he declares, "You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt. 6:24), he is personifying mammon as a rival god. In saying this, Jesus is making it unmistakably...
Money has power out of all proportion to its purchasing power. Because the children of this world understand this, they can use money for non-economic purposes. And use it they do! Money is used as a weapon to bully people and to keep them in line. Money is used to...
When we believe our church's purpose is to please us and make us happy, then we will withhold our money and withdraw our participation when we are displeased with our church. When we believe our church's purpose is to make us more like Jesus, we expect discomfort in...
There is a couple I know who earn very good money, and yet they live simply, without any status symbols or luxuries, with money set aside for charity. It’s a trimmed-down life for them and their six children. Every month the mother gathers the six children around the...
I am also free to assume that the money I have earned is now mine. I can hoard it or use it for illicit or unscrupulous purposes or lend it at exorbitant rates. But if I take that for which I have traded my life and share it with others, I am, in a tangible way,...
There are many suicides—not because people have too little money or suffer disappointments in love—but because they lost the meaning of life and see themselves confronted by a black wall.
Justice differs from private charity: Charity is about giving a hungry person some bread, while justice is about trying to change the system so that nobody has excess bread while some have none; charity is about treating your neighbors with respect, while justice is...