#104 Does God Want Us to be Rich?

God wants us to be rich, but that’s not the same as wanting us to be wealthy.

God wants us to obey, which often results in wealth.

That question was posed at a men’s Bible study this week.  Good question.  It’s always a good question when we ask, “What does God want?”  Because Who knows the mind of God?

You must be rich!

When my Dad’s health was failing, I would often leave my early morning econ class and take the direct flight from DFW to Sioux Falls to spend a few days with him.  One night, very late, the kind healthcare giver noticed me in the hall and commented, “You’re here from Dallas again, you must be rich.”  I responded, “I’m rich, but I’m not wealthy.  I’m rich because I get to spend my Dad’s last days with him.  I’m rich because I have a wife who loves me.  I’m rich because my extended family cares about me.  I’m rich because I have a church group that helps me understand the scriptures.  I’m rich because I have fellow professors at Dallas Baptist University who help me integrate faith with learning in the classroom.  

Teaching at a Christian University is not the path to great wealth.  Oh, you want to know what is?  BOIL.  If that doesn’t sound familiar, it’s because I made it up.  A high percentage of rich people made their wealth in Business, Oil, and Land.  Now, if you have a business that deals in real estate, you get a twofer.  If that land has oil on it, you get a three-fer!  Now, just go get wealthy.  The problem is: That data is from the past.  Who knows what will make people wealthy in the future?

Get the point: God wants us to be rich.  Does he want us to be wealthy?

Be or Do?

In The Call, Oz Guinness explains that we have two calls.  The first is to BE a Christian, the second is to DO something.  The order of our calls is important.  Oh, and if you forget how to spell Guinness, look in your refrigerator.  Yes, he’s the descendant of the Irish brewer who started the Guinness brewery.  For details about how Guinness fulfilled God’s creational intent by brewing beer, I’ll suggest you do a Google search for “God and Guinness.”  

Hugh Whelchel said, “God made something out of nothing.”  Our call is to make something out of something.”  We are called to transform the world by supplying goods and services our neighbors demand.  

In Corporate Cults, I explain that our work should be what we do, not who we are.  Golfer Tiger Woods said simply, “Golf is what I do, it’s not who I am.”

We’re supposed to find our identity in Christ, not in our behaviors.  One of my favorite phrases is “In most religions, you behave to be saved.  But in Christianity, we believe we are saved to behave.  The order is important. 

A businessman in Brazil told me “To be successful, I don’t need to BE a Christian, but I need to act like one.”  That’s sounds hypocritical, but that’s not what he meant at all.  His point was that the behaviors that accompany Christianity happen to align with successful business practices.  Sergiy Saydometov and I include many of them in our book Biblical Economic Policy.  Just a few:  Don’t steal, don’t covet, use honest measures, and work is good.  Those Christian practices make a person rich. 

In his book For God and Profit, Sam Gregg writes, “Scripture doesn’t criticize the wealthy because they are richer than others. They are criticized, often fiercely when they are engaged in fraud, when they forget their real and direct responsibilities to the poor, or when their wealth becomes their God.”

 Nowhere in the New Testament,