We’ve all heard the televangelists proudly announce that God wants you to be wealthy. I once heard a Televangelist my dad used to listen to when I was a kid say “God said to me ‘do you doubt me? I know you already have a 8 million dollar private jet, but I want you to believe for a 63 million dollar private jet!” He followed this up with requests for donations so he could live out the word of the Lord. Yeah, I think we can all agree that that kind of wealthy is problematic. 

But what about having a million dollars in your retirement fund, or making 400k a year? Is it a sin to be wealthy?

Jesus said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven (Mat 19:23), but then follows this up by saying that even this isn’t impossible for God. Then, only a few chapters later he tells a story of men given sums of money within the thousands, who are either rewarded or punished based on how they did or didn’t invest that money while their master was gone (Mat 25:14-30). This story is told in Luke as well, and in both cases it is placed right next to a story about the importance of caring for the poor. 

In Jesus’ day, much like in our own, wealth inequality was massive. The wealthy hoarded while the poor suffered. There is absolutely no question that Jesus took massive issue with this. We see him constantly reprimanding the rich and speaking of caring for the poor throughout his entire ministry. He also tells us not to worry about tomorrow and to let tomorrow take care of itself. He says that the birds don’t store up in storehouses, but God always provides for them. Yet were it not for Joseph storing up in storehouses before the famine in Egypt, the people would have starved. 

God cares far more about how you use your wealth, and how you amass it than if you have it or not. I’ve met plenty of people who say “I don’t care what companies we invest in, I just want to make the biggest profit we can. We can do the giving on our own later.” This sort of thinking runs counter to the teachings we see in scripture. Jesus constantly takes issue with how money is made and used. He becomes furious with those seeking to profit off of temple sacrifices, and when Zaccheus interacts with Jesus, his natural overflow of the heart is to give reparations of 4x what he extorted to all those he cheated. God even goes so far as to say that the reason He destroyed Sodom was due to their refusal as a city to help the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:49).

Many of us live in countries that have created much of their wealth through the exploitation of other human beings, be it in the form of slavery for generations, child labor, systemic inequality, or basic generational wealth keeping the haves and have-nots on different playing fields. This means that even if we have not committed the sins ourselves, some of the money we have acquired is basically blood money. This is a truth that warrants a response from us as Believers.

Some folks like to use the language of being “good stewards” of our wealth and resources. I offer a paradigm beyond this, we are to be “generous, love-based stewards.” This is the sort of “good” that Jesus cares about. 

God may want you to be wealthy. You may already be wealthy. You may aspire to be wealthy. Regardless of which category you fall into, the call from God is the same: Acquire wealth in the most ethical, responsible, loving way possible. Store and invest wealth in the most ethical, responsible, loving way possible. Use wealth in the most ethical, responsible, loving way possible. In all things, let generosity be your guide-post. 

It is possible to be a wealthy Christian. It even can be good. God’s Kingdom is filled with all sorts, and those that fund the Kingdom are just as valuable to God as those that do good works by living off of that funding. So should Christians be wealthy? 

Sometimes, but only if that wealth serves as a further expression of the character of Christ.