A Holy Boldness Toward Money And A Fear Of Its Power
Fred Smith
April 1, 1981
When I start talking about money, I have to admit I have questions I'd like to ask when we get beyond the valley of tears and into the promised land. By the time we get there, we'll probably have such clarity that the questions will no longer exist, but one I'd like to ask is this: "Lord, why do you tie money and ministry together?" I've watched many Christian workers try to separate them by saying, "I'm interested in the ministry and I'm willing to dedicate my life to it, but I don't want to be in the money." I've had several wealthy friends, converted late in life who were asked to participate in prayer and counsel. They were very disillusioned when they learned prayer and counsel simply meant money. I've also wondered why we have a tendency to use the best-known human methods to raise money for divine causes. I personally believe there is a scriptural way to raise and use money; but apparently our need for money is so intense we are loath to swap visible power for invisible power. God's power is always invisible. Money is always visible. Money has temporal power; and if we have to choose between the two, we take money while we can get it and then count on being able to get the other later on. This usually creates some real problems in our Christian value system. Perhaps money and ministry are combined because there's no greater test of human ego than money. The gospel confronts our ego. The Scriptures say very clearly not to treat a wealthy man with more respect than a poor man, yet it's a rare church that doesn't treat a wealthy visitor entirely different from a poor man. I've been in church services where wealthy men were introduced from the pulpit but I've never been in one where some poor man was pointed out. Some of ...
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