Christians with Exorbitant Wealth? Christians in Poverty? What’s Wrong with this Picture?

A guest post from: Mystery Guy from CA

I spoke to a Christian business owner last week. Our nation’s economic downturn has washed away some of her income, and she has had subsequent challenges with her smarmy landlord (won’t alter lease, sending threatening lawyers, etc.). When she shared some of her woes with one of her Christian patrons, the patron said You should be happy – at least you are just about breaking even. Her response: Well, I’m not really breaking even. I can’t take any kind of salary, nor can I provide any benefits to my two employees. He then said But doesn’t your husband’s job cover you? And your employees are just college students. She told me of this conversation, and then asked me “Is it okay for me to make a profit that covers my costs, my employees, my salary, my benefits, my retirement – and then to have a little left over without fellow Christians thinking I’m greedy?”

What’s wrong with this picture?

Another friend teaches a Sunday school class, and the discussion drifted towards money and wealth. She told the class that it was important to live as God’s people with God’s money, and to be people of responsibility and of service to others. One of the ordained ministers in her class quipped a question – “You mean, it’s not okay for me to keep my Mercedes?”

What the heck is wrong with this picture?

On the Bobby Jones Gospel Countdown (syndicated Black gospel music show I brave thru some Sunday mornings), for the week of September 21-27, the #7 song was Back to Eden whose lyrics include the tag “Let’s get back to Eden; live on top of the world.” I have listened to this song carefully, and I believe it purports that Jesus came to send us all back to the Garden of Eden, and that if we have this ‘Eden’ mindset, our families, our finances, our minds, our spirits, and our bodies will be blessed – so let’s get back to Eden and live on top of the world.

What the heck is wrong with this frackin’ picture?

Do I feel strongly about these vignettes of life? YES, I do, because IMHO many Christians have chosen not to live in the Holy Spirit-guided tension of gaining property/wealth versus giving it away via hospitality/generosity/charity. We have just sold out to money, and along with it has come greed, selfishness, Christian pabulum (some music and media), and overall ineffectiveness. We have equated free-market capitalism with the gospel message.

It would take too long for me to lay out all of my ideas about how money and how Christians are supposed to act, but some of it includes:

– All money/wealth is God’s money/wealth; I ultimately own nothing;

– I (as a Christian) am called to steward this money/wealth for God’s sake;

– God wants me to use God’s money for God’s purposes in the world;

– God cares about me: God wants me to eat, sleep, have a roof over my head, have medical bennies, save for retirement, and to keep an overall reasonable budget;

– In all cases, God wants me to be hospitable, generous, and charitable with God’s money/wealth (whether I have a lot or a little). This is especially true (and acute) when I have money/wealth beyond my ‘reasonable’ budget.

– When I am not hospitable, generous, and charitable with God’s money/wealth, not only see Christians as greedy sonsofbitches (and rightfully so), but that my soul begins to dry up.

– Conspicuous consumption of money/wealth by Christian defame the name and work of God; I wish people like Creflo Dollar and Kenneth Copeland (at the extremes) and even nice guys T.D. Jakes were more primarily known for their generosity (some of these folks are generous, but this is not for which they are primarily known).

– Although God especially loves the poor, and they hold a special place in God’s heart and God’s work, there is nothing particularly holy or desirable about being poor; it’s actually a very tough and demoralizing life. Those who are poor should work hard to not be poor. Those who are not poor should work hard to help those that are poor.

– God wants those of us who have options about our money/wealth make decisions toward a simpler lifestyle, one that serves not only ourselves but also those around us and all of creation.

Now you can see I am mostly talking about Black people (my world), but IMHO most of the mainstream Christian world has also too closely equated free market capitalism with the gospel message by either actively preaching the joys of money OR just not talking about it and letting people do as they well please. When I recently visited a beautiful church in my Southern California (with its rock fountain and its state-of-the-art classrooms), as much as I appreciated my stay, a part of me wondered….

…is there something wrong with this picture?

Should those of us that have church building project seek to raise another 25%, and give away that 25% to the poor (so that they won’t be poor anymore).

Side note: our country is having vigorous debate about health care. Many of my Christian conservative friends (and they really are friends) prefer to work on a plan that ‘gets government out of the way.’ What are we (as Christians) doing to make up that difference?

-Guest post from: Mystery Guy from CA

Your thoughts on the matter?