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(3 of 4) the snake in your bed
the snake in your bed (part 3 of 4)
In Part 1, we met the snake -- a metaphor for the quiet danger of accumulating wealth. In Part 2, we challenged it. Wealth isn’t a predator. It’s a God-given tool that can be dangerous when mishandled. So how do we hold both of those truths at the same time?
the Christian financial paradox
John Wesley put it this way: “Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.”
Sounds great, John. But how?
That’s the paradox. Two truths that seem to contradict each other but ultimately point to something deeper. On one side: save. Be wise. Plan for the future. Provide for your household. Scripture is clear that failing to do so is worse than being an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8). On the other side: give. Sacrificially. Now. Not from your leftovers but from your firstfruits. Not after you’ve “made it” but while it still costs you something.
Most of us dislike tension, so we tend to pick one side as default over the other.
Some become savers who give occasionally -- responsible, disciplined, but rarely generous in a way that actually hurts. Others give impulsively and find themselves financially fragile, confusing recklessness with faith.
Wesley wasn’t describing two options. He was describing one life.
the apple tree
God has given us many metaphors to help us illustrate the necessity of living in this tension instead of seeking to escape from it. One of them is the apple tree.
A single apple tree produces roughly 1,500 seeds per season. Over a 50-to-80-year lifespan, if every seed grew into another tree, one tree could replace itself 100,000 times over.
But it takes roughly 1,000 gallons of water (i.e. money, in our metaphor) to keep an apple tree alive for a full year. That tree produces, on average, 500 apples. So about 2 gallons of water per apple. And each apple weighs about 5.3 ounces and contains roughly 85% water -- about 4.5 ounces of it. That water came from the roots, trunk, and branches soaking up those 2 gallons and bearing life-giving, fruit-producing sap to each apple as it grew and ripened.
The sap represents your wealth. Your income. Your financial discipline that’s building a solid fiscal foundation for your family and home. Without it, there’s no fruit. No generosity. No kingdom impact. Nothing to give.
But the tree wasn’t made to simply drink the water and enjoy the sap. It was made to bear the fruit. The sap serves the fruit.
That’s the paradox. Not save or give. Save and give. Build the sap so the fruit keeps coming -- not for one season, but for a lifetime. Not so the tree can admire itself, but so it can reproduce 100,000 times over.
Is your financial water producing fruit-bearing sap? Or has sap accumulation become the default?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit faithandfinance.substack.com
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By Nicholas Garofalothe snake in your bed (part 3 of 4)
In Part 1, we met the snake -- a metaphor for the quiet danger of accumulating wealth. In Part 2, we challenged it. Wealth isn’t a predator. It’s a God-given tool that can be dangerous when mishandled. So how do we hold both of those truths at the same time?
the Christian financial paradox
John Wesley put it this way: “Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.”
Sounds great, John. But how?
That’s the paradox. Two truths that seem to contradict each other but ultimately point to something deeper. On one side: save. Be wise. Plan for the future. Provide for your household. Scripture is clear that failing to do so is worse than being an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8). On the other side: give. Sacrificially. Now. Not from your leftovers but from your firstfruits. Not after you’ve “made it” but while it still costs you something.
Most of us dislike tension, so we tend to pick one side as default over the other.
Some become savers who give occasionally -- responsible, disciplined, but rarely generous in a way that actually hurts. Others give impulsively and find themselves financially fragile, confusing recklessness with faith.
Wesley wasn’t describing two options. He was describing one life.
the apple tree
God has given us many metaphors to help us illustrate the necessity of living in this tension instead of seeking to escape from it. One of them is the apple tree.
A single apple tree produces roughly 1,500 seeds per season. Over a 50-to-80-year lifespan, if every seed grew into another tree, one tree could replace itself 100,000 times over.
But it takes roughly 1,000 gallons of water (i.e. money, in our metaphor) to keep an apple tree alive for a full year. That tree produces, on average, 500 apples. So about 2 gallons of water per apple. And each apple weighs about 5.3 ounces and contains roughly 85% water -- about 4.5 ounces of it. That water came from the roots, trunk, and branches soaking up those 2 gallons and bearing life-giving, fruit-producing sap to each apple as it grew and ripened.
The sap represents your wealth. Your income. Your financial discipline that’s building a solid fiscal foundation for your family and home. Without it, there’s no fruit. No generosity. No kingdom impact. Nothing to give.
But the tree wasn’t made to simply drink the water and enjoy the sap. It was made to bear the fruit. The sap serves the fruit.
That’s the paradox. Not save or give. Save and give. Build the sap so the fruit keeps coming -- not for one season, but for a lifetime. Not so the tree can admire itself, but so it can reproduce 100,000 times over.
Is your financial water producing fruit-bearing sap? Or has sap accumulation become the default?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit faithandfinance.substack.com