One of the real sticking points to Christians embracing the idea of wealth is the ‘scarcity mentality'. This view sees the world as having finite resources; a pre-destined size of the pie from which we all must eat.
Paul Zane Pilzer, leading economist and advisor to US presidential administrations, finally puts this viewpoint to rest in his best selling book, God Wants You To Be Rich - How and Why Everyone Can Enjoy Material and Spiritual Wealth in Our Abundant World. The problem, he says, stems from the very definition of economists - the study of how people choose to employ scarce resources. Read this next bit carefully:
"Most economists have agreed on one basic premise - a society's wealth is determined by its supply of natural resources (land, oil, gas etc), and therefore that the world contains a limited amount of these physical resources. The incorrect supposition that we live in a world of scarce resources has done more than preclude most individuals from achieving economic success. Over the centuries, this zero-sum game view of the world has been responsible for wars, revolutions, political strategies and human suffering of unfathomable proportions."
In truth, he argues, we live in a world of unlimited physical resources. Advancing technology is the key, continually increasing the supply of existing resources. Indeed, in the long term, it changes our definition of ‘physical resources. This is a difficult concept for many Christians to fathom. Pilzer says:
"Today, this mistaken view of the world continues to take its toll on most Jews, Christians and Moslems, who collectively make up more than 75% of the world's population. The erroneous economic belief in scarcity leads directly to the theological belief that God does no want us to be rich. After all, in a world of scarce physical resources, a person could achieve personal wealth only by taking wealth from another - something a truly benevolent, loving God would never allow."
This distorted view has meant most people believe there is something wrong with being rich. Let us go back to the words of Jesus:
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God"
Matthew 19:24 (KJV)
The correct teaching on this is now apparent. The problem is not in being rich. The problem is holding onto your riches at the expense of what really counts - your relationship with God and others. More specifically, it is about what is in your heart rather than your wallet.
"Virtually 95% of our economy is involved in producing new and innovative products and services that did not exist 50 years ago."
Technology is the key driver here. In 1930, there were around 30 million farmers in the USA, barely producing enough food to fee a population of around 100 million. Technological breakthroughs over the next 50 years made farming so efficient that by 1980, around 3 million farmers were producing enough food for a population of more than 300 million. That's a 3000% increase in productivity!
Where did all the farmers go? The better question is where did their sons and daughters go? Rather than inherit the ‘family business', they went into new jobs like car manufacturing. And so the cycle goes. Since the 1960s, manufacturing has taken a hit and those job moved into areas like computing and fast food - areas that did not exist in 1930!
"Our faith in God wanting us to be rich is important because the greatest economic opportunities of tomorrow are in sectors of our economy that may not even exist today."
God's covenant with Abraham to see all the nations of the earth blessed (Genesis 22:17-18) is not so much about a time when all the world would be Jewish, Moslem or Christian, but about giving all the opportunity to become wealthy. Indeed, it would be a thousand years after God's covenant with Abraham that Jews first appeared, when Moses was given the Ten Commandments at Sinai. There were no Christians until 2500 years later when Christ died on the cross in Jerusalem. And there were no Moslems until 3100 years later when Mohammed began preaching Islam in Mecca.
Rather than giving us this wealth, God has given us the tools, the talents, the skills and the minds to create it for ourselves. Deuteronomy 8:18 tells us to 'remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth'.
"Today, every one of us is capable, with God's help, of achieving unlimited wealth. Thanks to the now universal application of these tools and the laws of Abraham, the blessings of the Messiah promised o our ancestors are finally within our grasp. What remains is for each of us to learn how to use what God has given us."
Here is the conclusion for you.
- There is no limit to the amount of single goods or service an individual can produce by making use of their talents and technology.
- The economic pie of resources is increasing as we evolve, not staying the same or even decreasing.
God is guiding us economically as well as morally. If we can get over this hurdle of a scarcity mentality, and embrace the notion that God has both empowered and equipped us all to create wealth of one kind or another, then we can abundantly enjoy a bigger slice of an ever bigger pie.
Does God want you to be rich? Well, that depends on how you define rich. If rich is to have enough to do all that God has called you to do and be all that God has caled you to be, then yes!
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