Money Management
10 The lover of money will not be satisfied with money, nor the lover of wealth with gain. This also is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 5:10 (NRSV)
16 Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
Luke 12: 16-21 (NRSV)
STORY
John Wesley was born in Epworth, England, in 1703. Throughout his life he remained as an Anglican priest in the Church of England. On March 17, 1726, Wesley was unanimously elected as a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. This assignment carried with it a room at the college and a regular salary. At the college Wesley taught Greek, philosophy, and the New Testament.
While at Oxford he led a small Bible study group that became known as the “Holy Club.” The purpose of the club was to learn more about the scriptures in the fellowship of others and to pursue a devout Christian life with the encouragement of club participants. The original Bible study group fostered more fellowship groups that spread throughout England and later in the American colonies. The association of these clubs eventually emerged to become the United Methodist Church, with John Wesley recognized as the founding father.
Wesley wrote on the proper conduct of Christians, one of which was the stewardship of one’s income. A hallmark of Wesley’s teaching, still evident in Methodism today, is when he wrote, “Earn all you can, give all you can, save all you can.” This is a mantra that John Wesley himself lived by as a fellow at Lincoln College. His beginning salary was £28, of which he gave £2 away. When his income increased to £60, £90, and then £120 a year, Wesley still lived on £28 and gave the rest of his income away.
DEVOTION
How often, upon reading Wesley’s instruction on the management of income, do we skim over the central and most significant clause, which is “give all you can,” and focus entirely on “earn all you can, save all you can.”
Our reading this morning from Ecclesiastes shares with us that attempting to have a meaningful life by being “satisfied with money” is “vanity.” The Romans had a proverb which said that money was like drinking seawater, the more you drink the thirstier you become. It is futile to think that an individual can ever obtain enough money and possessions to be satisfied.
No one will fault you for earning money. No one will fault you for having an ambition to be successful and earn lots of money. Where you will encounter the ire of individuals is a selfish hording of that wealth as you reside in a global community of poverty.
Few who read this devotion will have the mega bucks that will necessitate building more and bigger barns, as the rich fool did in Jesus’ parable. Nonetheless, for most of us our household income is sufficient enough to “give all you can.”
Take a look at your barn and see if it reflects a vain attempt to buy happiness. Stroll around your barn and make a heartfelt decision to “give all you can.”