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“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand” (1 Chronicles 29:14).
15 percent of everything Christ said relates to this topic—
I came to this realization years ago while reading Luke 3 on an airplane. Among the crowds that gathered to hear John the Baptist preach, three different groups asked him how they should prove their repentance. John gave three answers: 1. Everyone should share clothes and food with the poor (v. 11). 2. Tax collectors shouldn’t pocket extra money (v. 13). 3. Soldiers should be content with their wages and not extort money (v. 14). No one had asked John about finances! They wanted to know how to demonstrate spiritual transformation. So why did John’s response center almost exclusively on money
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Jesus spoke of a rich man who spent all his wealth on himself. He planned to store up for early retirement and easy living. But God called the man a fool (Luke 12:20). The greatest indictment against him—and the proof of his spiritual condition—is that he was rich toward himself but not rich toward God.
When Jesus warns us not to store up treasures on Earth, it’s not because wealth might be lost; it’s because wealth will always be lost. Either it leaves us while we live, or we leave it when we die. No exceptions.
“Store up for yourselves.” Doesn’t it seem strange that Jesus commands us to do what’s in our own best interests? Wouldn’t that be selfish? No. God expects and commands us to act out of enlightened self-interest. He wants us to live to His glory, but what is to His glory is always to our good. As John Piper put it, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”2
Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him. (Psalm 49:16–17)
John D. Rockefeller was one of the wealthiest men who ever lived. After he died, someone asked his accountant, “How much money did John leave?” The reply was classic: “He left…all of it.”
the Treasure Principle: You can’t take it with you— but you can send it on ahead.
Of course, there are many good things God wants us to do with money that don’t involve giving. It is essential, for instance, that we provide for our family’s basic material needs (1 Timothy 5:8).
My answer is yes, for three reasons: (1) the immediate context, (2) the clear wording of Matthew 19:21, and (3) two more parallel passages in the other Gospels and one of Paul’s letters. These make it emphatically clear that giving away money and possessions is exactly what Jesus was talking about.
“Everything under heaven belongs to me” (Job 41:11).
TREASURE PRINCIPLE KEY #1 God owns everything. I’m His money manager.
If God was the owner, I was the manager. I needed to adopt a steward’s mentality toward the assets He had entrusted—not given—to me.
A steward manages assets for the owner’s benefit. He carries no sense of entitlement to the assets he manages. It’s his job to find out what the owner wants done with his assets, then to carry out his will.
Whenever we think like owners, it’s a red flag. We should be thinking like stewards, investment managers, always looking for the best place to invest the Owner’s money.
“God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). However, the cheerfulness often comes during and after the act of obedience, not before it. So don’t wait until you feel like giving! Just give and watch the joy follow.
These early Christians were dirt-poor but came up with every reason they could to give. What a contrast to those who have so much but come up with endless justifications for not giving!
When the tabernacle was being built, people were so excited they had to be “restrained” from giving more (Exodus 36:5–7). That’s what giving will do to you.
Gaze upon Christ long enough and you’ll become more of a giver. Give long enough and you’ll become more like Christ.
Paul calls the Macedonians’ giving to help the hungry in Jerusalem an “act of grace.” The same Greek word is used for Christian giving and for God’s grace.
Our giving is a reflexive response to God’s grace in our lives. It doesn’t come out of our altruism or philanthropy for which we might congratulate ourselves. Rather, it comes out of Christ’s transforming work in us. We give because He first gave to us. While our giving to Him pales in comparison to His giving to us, it pleases God when we follow His example.
Christians should love their pastors and support them financially (Galatians 6:6), but first and foremost we give to God (2 Corinthians 8:5) as an act of worship.
Proverbs 21:13 tells us, “If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.” In Isaiah 58:6–10, God says that His willingness to answer our prayers is directly affected by whether we’re caring for the needy and oppressed. Want to empower your prayer life? Give.
He also said, “A fortune…is best not passed on to one’s children. It’s not constructive for them.”10
TREASURE PRINCIPLE KEY #2 My heart always goes where I put God’s money.
TREASURE PRINCIPLE KEY #3 Heaven and the future New Earth, not this fallen Earth, is my home.
Where we choose to store our treasures depends largely on where we think our home is.
This is a junkyard—the final resting place for the things we accumulate. Sooner or later, everything we own ends up here. Christmas and birthday presents. Cars, boats, and hot tubs. Clothes, sound systems, computer monitors, and barbecue grills. The treasures that children quarreled about, friendships were lost over, and marriages broke up over—all end up here. (I recommend taking a family field trip to a junkyard. It’s a powerful object lesson.)
TREASURE PRINCIPLE KEY #4 I should live not for the dot but for the line.
This is what missionary Jim Elliot was talking about when he wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
We think we own our possessions, but too often they own us.
We think we own our possessions, but too often they own us.
Nothing makes a journey more difficult than a heavy backpack filled with nice but unnecessary things. Pilgrims travel light.
I carry in my wallet a little card. On one side it says, “God owns it all. I’m His money manager.” The other side says, “God cares what I do with the money He entrusts to me (I’d better ask Him).” Near this are Christ’s words in Matthew 6 :19–21 and Paul’s in 2 Corinthians 9:7. Keeping this near my cash and credit cards is a powerful reminder.17
TREASURE PRINCIPLE KEY #5 Giving is the only antidote to materialism.
“A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD” (Leviticus 27:30).
Tithing isn’t the ceiling of giving; it’s the floor. It’s not the finish line of giving; it’s the starting blocks. Tithes can launch us into the mind-set, skills, and habits of grace giving.
He told them, “You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses” (Haggai 1:9, NLT).
When people tell me they can’t afford to tithe, I ask them, “If your income were reduced by 10 percent would you die?” They say, “No.” And I say, “Then you’ve admitted you can afford to tithe. It’s just that you don’t want to.”
Sometimes giving will seem like it doesn’t make sense, but when we do it, God provides.
we don’t want to burden them with what they don’t need.
Study the lives of people who’ve inherited significant wealth, and you’ll find that, in the vast majority of cases, it’s made them more unhappy and greedy. Who needs to work hard when you’ve got all that money? Money funds new temptations, including addictions. Leaving more to God’s kingdom and less to financially independent children is not just an act of love toward God, but toward them.
Andrew Carnegie said, “The almighty dollar bequeathed to a child is an almighty curse. No man has the right to handicap his son with such a burden as great wealth.”25 Carnegie wrote, “The thoughtful man must…admit to himself that it is not the welfare of children, but family pride, which inspires these enormous legacies.”26
God prospers me not to raise my standard of living but to raise my standard of giving.
Treasure Principle You can’t take it with you– but you can send it on ahead. TREASURE PRINCIPLE KEYS GOD OWNS EVERYTHING. I’M HIS MONEY MANAGER. We are the managers of the assets God has entrusted—not given—to us. MY HEART ALWAYS GOES WHERE I PUT GOD’S MONEY. Watch what happens when you reallocate your money from temporal things to eternal things. HEAVEN AND THE FUTURE NEW EARTH, NOT THIS FALLEN ONE, IS MY HOME. We are citizens of “a better country—a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16). I SHOULD LIVE NOT FOR THE DOT BUT FOR THE LINE. From the dot—our present life on Earth—extends a line that goes on
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Encouraging people to give generously is doing them a great favor!
If we take God’s Word seriously, we should avoid debt when we can, since “the borrower is servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7).
We may need to say no to some or many of our wants, but we shouldn’t say no to obedience or generosity.
You will ultimately be in a better place to give by reducing your debt, but it’s also true that when we give, God is pleased and will honor our efforts to pay off our debts. So give generously to the Lord—not instead of striving to eliminate your debt but in concert with it.
