The Purpose of Wealth

But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8:18)

Writing so much about corruption, I feel it is important to look at wealth in the eyes of God. This will help us focus on how we can use wealth, from its acquisition to usage, to live out our purpose in ways that please God.

This is because many, even ministers, behave as if God is only involved in handing out wealth and then pulling His hand out of the resulting mess. No wonder many plead with people to give as the usage is 100% in the hands of the possessor. God must also plead with people to give.

But that is not the Biblical position. It is interesting that cults and even demonic religions do not believe in such deviant theology as they know that everything they have belongs to their god, whether for good or evil. That is the reason terrorism is funded by Muslim tycoons, even if they will hide it under funding this or the other foundation. That is why we talk about devil worshippers who must fund their fellow ‘believers’ to succeed.

The Biblical position is that God owns everything and everybody and does not need anyone’s permission to use what is His. Our battle with possessing wealth is thus a battle of rebellion. It really is our profession that our father is the father of rebellion, the devil.

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16)

God really does not need anything from us as He already owns it and can take it if and when He wants.

I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: (Psalm 50: 8 – 14)

It is therefore deceptive to teach people that God needs their giving to move His agenda forward.

God is more interested in you than in your money and things. You see He created you in His image and likeness.

God gave man things to manage. And a manager gives account of his management to the owner. This means God is more interested in how you manage things than how much of them you give. And especially that you know that you are accountable to Him for that stewardship.

How would you feel if you employed a manager in your business and found out that he has changed the name and line of business because it looked an excellent idea to him?

Chances are that you would surcharge him and sack him. It won’t be surprising if you took everything he has to recover from his creativity.

Why do you penalize him for his creativity?

It is simply because it is your business. You built it, invested heavily in it and had sleepless nights before it could require a manager.

That is how God feels when we take the things He has entrusted to us and use them without making Him our reference. And it is not much different in the way we acquire them.

That is the context through which this is written

For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. (Luke 18:25)

It is hard because wealth has a way of making one independent of God.

Let me ask a question we all need to answer.

How many of us will pray for direction after receiving a salary or even gift? How many will ask God for direction after receiving a gift?

Chances are you will start implementing your desires before caring to know what God requires of that money. Many times one gets into prayer after realizing that the money is not enough for all the desires they had. They then want God to stretch the little remaining to cover the desire deficit.

That is where many preachers hit, when the iron is hot. You must give so that God will stretch the little remaining to cover that deficit. Or you tithe early enough to constrain God to stretch what remains to cover all your desires.

That is not the reason God asks His people to give.

How many times do you think of God’s glory when you are budgeting for the little or much money you have? How many people pray for God’s manifestation when they receive the money or resources due them? How many pray that the contract or salary they get will enable God make maximum use of the resulting resources?

We are very good at praying before the resources come, for them to come. But we forget prayer once they come.

I have written about Solomon and his backsliding many times. Yet it has dawned on me that that is how he drifted.

You see, mammon is a god like no other. He does not seek direct worship or submission to. He is a channel to the worship of other gods. And what he does is to slightly shift one’s focus from God (not the false gods). Then he introduces the false gods very slowly.

He many times uses commerce and resources to make us too busy to continue pursuing the godly things that led us to the acquisition of the positions or things so that we slowly find ourselves swimming to stay afloat in busyness of that answer to our prayer.

Once that happens, it will be easy to then introduce alternative worship in the name of better ways to maximize on that busyness.

Let me illustrate.

You are going through very tight financial straits and can barely feed your family and therefore pray for a job that will make you sufficiently provided. You are also very active in church. In fact that is the pain that drives you to pray almost to the point of bitterness as you wonder why people who are casual about their faith are the ones who are sometimes providing for you.

Then you get one of those dream jobs that pay you way beyond your dreams and offers you everything; from a big house to schooling for your children and cars, one for you and another for your family. You even get a chauffeur.

But the job is also very demanding. You realize you barely have any free time even during the night. Church therefore becomes hard to attend.

There are quite a few job related social functions, sometimes in the evenings and other times during weekends, especially Sundays. In a short time you notice that your family has not been in church for months.

Due to being ferried in cars all the time, you add quite some weight until it becomes a bother. It also dents your company’s image. You therefore must create time to go to gyms almost daily, time you couldn’t get to go to church weekly.

Then your spiritual malnutrition starts showing off. You become just like the people who led you to pray for that job, in fact infinitely worse because you completely forget about God and His standards.

That is what happened to Solomon. And that is what happens to the best of us when we forget God in our success. Mammon just slightly shifts our focus from God as he knows that it is the only thing required to get us to worship other things.

Very few pastors imagined in their wildest dreams being unfaithful to their wives as they knew it would have disqualified their calling. How come they are comfortable with pursuing any girl they see in their success? Their focus shifted from God to what they were doing.

Like the first verse I quoted says, God enables us to make wealth for the purposes of a covenant. Simply said, the wealth He gives is meant to connect better with Him in a covenant relationship. He gives us wealth to enable us to work with Him in His agenda of reconciling the world with its creator.

For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. (Romans 8:19)

Sons of God are those who will use their wealth in accordance with the revelation and covenant that will demonstrate that heaven is reigning in their whole life, especially in their acquisition and usage of wealth.