Money is this strange thing that continues to be front and center of my life whether I choose to acknowledge it or not. There are all sorts of things I want in life like freedom to do what I want when I want, to travel, to help people, to give people opportunity, to have a big living room that is open to all, to have a fridge that anyone can eat out of. The problem is with all these things, they sound so great and a lot of them make me sound even like a decent guy but when it comes down to it, they all lead to me needing money of some sort.

I was talking to a friend a few days ago, and she cares about money even less than I do, and she had an opportunity to get a lot of money handed to her but she didn’t really care. I reminded her that with her getting this money it would mean that she could quit the job she didn’t like and start doing things that she liked. The very thing she didn’t care about was the thing offering her freedom. Money all of sudden didn’t mean money anymore but was a symbol of something else.

Tonight we watched the Pursuit of Happiness and I saw this theme interwoven throughout the entire film. Will Smith in his “pursuit of happiness” was continually chasing money. He needed money to eat, have shelter and to take care of his son. Never for a second though did I think that his pursuit of money was in vain or was in some way sinful. Oddly the thing that takes the face of so much corruption and leads to so much hurt and destruction is now bringing life and fulfillment.

All of this is making me think that maybe money isn’t really something to hate. Maybe money can’t have titles pinned to it and actually stick. I can’t say money is evil because money isn’t something that can have a face or a personality. Maybe money is more like a mask of a sort; the substance never lies in itself but in what’s underneath the mask. Money can’t bring happiness because there is no substance, but it also can’t bring turmoil. It’s whatever we put that mask on which leads us down the right or wrong path. If what lies under that mask is selfishness and being power hungry than the money automatically begins to take that shape. The mask will speak those words and become that type.

In many ways this is good. This is good because this means money doesn’t have some sort of power over us that we can’t control. We are the ones that put the mask on. It’s our heart and our motives that will come through not the money itself. It’s the art of putting the mask on right so generosity, selflessness and goodness is always flowing through the use of that money (or the lack of it). May God grant us the strength to use money the way it was meant to be used and for it not to take captive of our lives. May he give us wisdom to know the difference between loving what money does and loving money.

Sometimes I feel sick to my stomach when I hear stories about how little it takes to help someone, and yet they remain unhelped. Rob Bell tells a story about this women who got a small business loan and how it transformed her life and her families life and was able to provide for the people under her care and it was all because of this loan. The loan’s worth; $75. I then think about all the seventy-five dollar purchases I’ve made in my life and feel sick about how brutally I’ve spent it. Here are some of the things I’ve spent $75 on:

- T-shirt and Jeans
- Monthly Car Insurance
- 24 DVD Series Seasons 1-5
- Groceries
- My bi-monthly web hosting fees
- Cable and Internet
- Dinner at a fancy restaurant for Rachel and I

After looking at that list, I surprise myself at my lack of energy I put into spending my money wisely. I could very well blame it on my lack of knowledge, because it is true, even if I did want to give a small business loan to someone to help kick start their life, I wouldn’t know where to begin. I could blame it on our culture, after all when we live in our culture it is just more expensive and we have different needs. I could blame it on many things, but all my justifications are coming back to haunt me. I just started reading “Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger” by Ron Sider. I’m one chapter in and I’m floored by some of the statistics like this one:

“UNICEF estimates that the total cost of providing basic social serves in the developing countries, including health, education, family planning, and clean water, would cost $30 to $40 billion per year. The rich of this world spend more than this on golf each year.”

How are we as Christians supposed to live in a way that we live justly and not just merciful. I want to help the rejects and the products of a systems that injures and spits out broken people but now more than ever I want to help change the system. How are we to do it? I feel that Jesus holds the answer, but I’m way too nervous to actually do what he says. I’m way too good at justifying it to myself that what Jesus says really isn’t what he means either. He doesn’t actually want us to sell everything we have and give it to the poor does he? I’m feeling convicted yet lost at the same time. I know my lifestyle needs to change even more and I know that there is such a long way for me to go before I actually start affecting the system, but I don’t know where to go next. I’m broken at the state of our world, it hurts to see people in agony and it makes no sense that I am so happy. I want to use my position, my gifts and my talents to actually change this system that hurts so many but I don’t know where to start.

“Imagine what one quarter of the world’s Christians could do if they became truly generous. A few of us could move to desperately poor areas. The rest of us could defy surrounding materialism. We could refuse to let our affluent world squeeze us into its consumerisitic mold. Instead, we could become generous non-conformists who love Jesus more than wealth. In obedience to our Lord, we could empower the poor through small loans, community development, and better societal systems. And in the process, we would learn again this paradoxical truth that true happiness flows from generosity.”

Looks like a good start.

I don’t think I’m done with this yet. I talked a bunch about how consumerism has so infected the church that now we think it’s normal to think like a consumerist and follow Jesus. I think the same, at least for us here in the west, goes for materialism.

One stat till haunts me.

“It is quite astounding that although Protestant and Catholic churches have raised – and spent – close to one trillion dollars on domestic ministry during the past two decades, there has been no measurable increase in one of the expressed purposes of the church: to lead people to Christ and have them commit their lives to Him.”

Barna, George and The Barna Group The State of the Church: 2005, Copyright © 2005 by George Barna and The Barna Group, 1957 Eastman Avenue, Ventura, CA 93003

Yes, I think a large part of this is because of consumerism I also think these problems can be equally related to materialism. Yes, I also think they are very much related but also have very much of a different expression when allowed to grow to where it is now. Consumerism (these are in my own understanding) seems to be a constant need of more and having collections of nothing but more. While materialism (which may very well be the root of consumerism) seems to be more the need of depending on stuff in the first place. It is remarkable how much value we place on things and stuff.

It is very important for us as followers of Jesus to keep an eye on what we value. You can walk into most churches and within five minutes understand their values (no matter what it says on there website). Some churches value parking lots, roofs, building projects, alpha programs and others value community, preaching, singing and others value discussion, freedom and the list goes on. There are many non-material values that are harmful, but I think as soon as we start to value the material things of life, we begin to devalue the opposite; those being relationships, emotions and worship. Why have we spent so much money in church lately with no sign of increase? Because most of that money went to materials to help us in our ministry, most of that money went to material of some sort that eventually fades away and dies.

Materials need to take a place in our life properly, not in front of Jesus. We do not need to get ‘ahead in life’ before we start living for Jesus. We don’t have to have our two cars, in our two car garage and that camera we want with the sick computer to edit the photos before we start living for Jesus. It’s easy to say, we all say this and most have stopped reading by now because its cliché. But I don’t think we actually do this. Most of us are thinking about ourselves most of the time. If you asked yourself honestly, when have you ever saved up money to buy something for someone else? I can’t even think of one time that I have done that. I can’t think of one time that I had even remotely the same desire to buy something for someone else as I have for myself. I’m selfish. I think we all can probably say that.

This is why, now its ok two be rich and be a Christian. It’s why the prosperity gospel exists. It’s why Christians can live in wealth with lots of spare bedrooms, food going bad because it’s not eaten and an extra car in the driveway all day long and not think twice about it. Materialism comes first, then we follow Jesus. Materialism really is our God know. We depend on the stuff we can provide for ourselves to bring us health (health plans), comfort (luxury living), security (rrsps), happiness (entertainment)….why do we need Jesus anymore? We don’t even need the stuff about Jesus telling us not to worry about tomorrow. Worry about tomorrow? That is a joke to us. Afterall we have got enough stuff to last us till the day we die. We’ve got our lives perfectly set with all our stuff to fill in all the blanks that Jesus was meant to fill. So what does Jesus become? Just one more thing to add to our list of things. So don’t worry Jesus, we won’t worry about tomorrow, we’ve taken care of it already.

Mark 10 is one of the most amazing passages in the New Testament because it is so harsh, honest and barely understood let alone followed. We all know the story. It’s the story of the rich man who comes up to Jesus and asks him how he inherits eternal life. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments, and the rich man claims that he has always kept them since he was a boy. Jesus responds by telling him to go sell all his stuff, give it to the poor and come and follow him.

Eternal life in biblical context is not the afterlife or heave/hell language that so many of us think it is or we normally default to. Eternal life in the bible means a fulfilling life that surpasses any other kind of life; a life of the age so to speak. The rich man here isn’t asking how he’s going to get to heaven when he dies, he’s asking Jesus how he can have eternal life now. Jesus first response is something I think a lot of us use all the time. When someone first comes to know Christ, we as the church pile on all the things that they must do now to be a follower of Christ. We caution them not to swear, sleep around, drink, do drugs and make sure they go to church and weekly bible study. You know, the modern ten commandments.

Usually though, we stop there, if someone isn’t fulfilled or walks away from Christ its because they haven’t followed they close enough. Jesus though, instead of telling him to “really make sure” he’s following the ten commandments looks a bit deeper into his life and hits him where his heart is. He makes it hard and painful. He tells him to give away everything that he has saved up for himself, everything that gives him security and power and then gives him the simple solution of following Jesus. Then he will inherit eternal life; then he will know what it is like to live for the Kingdom.

I think the command from Jesus to give away all your stuff is so revolutionary that most of us think he’s not serious. We will think of a hundred different reasons of why Jesus didn’t really mean what he said, or he was actually trying to make a point, or it was only for rich men (which by the way, in our world, if you live in North America, you are most likely in the top 1-10% richest in the world, even at 10, 000 a year) or fill in your own excuse here. We are so comfortable with our stuff and our money that we have convinced ourselves it’s not a problem. It is exactly that mentality that the rich man must have had. It was exactly that mentality that Jesus was combating by telling him to get rid of all his stuff.

I truly believe that until we can honestly say to ourselves that our stuff means nothing to us and that we could give it away in a second that we will never truly understand what it means to have eternal life. I think most of us are called to live a lot simpler than we are right now. I think that we are so far from experiencing eternal life that we have made up our own climaxes and feel good feelings and we try to use those to replace what it will be really like to actually follow the words of Jesus.

Just a thought…what would happen if we chose to sell all our stuff and give it to the poor? Or how about what would happen if we just stopped buying things that we didn’t need. Like that 20th pair of shoes that we own, or the tenth pair of jeans, or the brand new car or the constant eating out. This is only the beginning of what Jesus actually commands to the rich man, but I have a feeling most of us can’t even do that. I have a feeling that most of us are so caught up in feeling good about ourselves by money and what it can do for us with our up-to-date clothing, fancy transportation and having whatever we want instantly that we probably think someone is going off the deep end now if they actually chose to live simple. So, I’m assuming you reading this, have like me, not sold all your stuff and given it to the poor. So my question is, why haven’t we?

Lately I’ve started to wonder more and more about money, what its good for and what it isn’t good for. How dangerous it can be and how helpful it can be. How tempting it can be and how freeing it can be.

For instance, I’m now I believe at the point in my life that if I was presented with two jobs. One job that paid two hundred thousand dollars a year but I had to work 50 hours a week at a job that I didn’t enjoy all that much but I didn’t hate. The other job would pay around twenty thousand a year but I actually enjoyed my job and I felt that I was fulfilling my purpose here. I would take the latter now in a second. Money would make me no happier than having no money. Living in luxury with fashionable clothes and a nice car would change my joy level not even a bit compared to if I lived in a one bedroom grungy apartment, wore clothes from value village, sat on used furniture and took public transit. I don’t say that to boost my ego at all, it’s just the point I am at right now. In fact, many people would say that I am naïve and will understand as I get older.

People like my parents who have raised three kids and have them depending on them would tell me that when I get married and have kids depending on me it will change. People like them will say that I will care more about money and want to provide nice things for my family and treat them well. Some of my friends would tell me that I’m wasting so much potential since I have business sense and know my way around computers and websites. Truth is, I know my talents and my weaknesses and I could probably work my way up pretty quick in corporations and make some good cash if I wanted to.

It’s amazing how much money dictates everything we do. Either we are spending it to do something we want or we are earning it so we can spend it to do something we want. To get out of that cycle, is almost, if not impossible in a culture like ours. How do we escape it? Do we? Are we meant to? I think it is one thing to live in culture and work with culture in making money and earning and spending over and over again. I think its another thing to become a product of culture and actually become something that culture earns and culture spends. We can easily enough become part of the endless cycle of working ourselves to death to earn a nice place and have nice things and keep working to produce more nice things for ourselves and to build ‘equity’ into ourselves. It is entirely different to do what I believe God has called us to do and that is to do all we do to the glory of God.

This means that we are no longer being used by culture to simply keep culture alive. We are now earning money not to work back into culture but to change culture. We are using what culture produces, consumerism and using that to help bring the Kingdom of God forward instead of a stronger culture. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me. By simply buying and spending we are nothing more than products of the culture around her. Instead we are called to redeem and transform the culture. What that looks like depends. But imagine a community of faith who didn’t earn and buy things for themselves only to consume but instead put their money towards something for someone else. What if instead of a new parking lot for a church we put it into new clothes for families who don’t have any in the neighborhood. What if instead of buying our tenth pair of shoes, we bought a pair of shoes for the little girl in the poor area whose been wearing a pair that has been to small for her for a few years. What if we started to look to something rather than ourselves to spend our money. What if before every purchase we sat down and weighed out if we were just being selfish and being nothing more than a cookie-cutter consumer, a product of our own culture or if we were intentionally seeking out to be like Christ and further the Kingdom of God.

From my naïve, 21 year old perspective here is something I have noticed. Young kids, youth, and many young adults have nothing to lose. They live like death doesn’t exist. They live like someone exists who is on their side. They take chances. They live the life that they want. Then there are those that are older, maybe sixty to eighty and many of them, if finances allow it are equally living the life. They move to Florida. Go on cruises. Buy each other diamonds. Go on vacations everywhere. Spoil their grandchildren.

There are two things that stick out to me in this observation.

1. How come when we are young, money has usually nothing to do with their lives. Sure t hey need it and they use it but their happiness far comes from it. They enjoy life because of its highs of being with friends, parties with friends, bungee-jumping, cliff jumping and doing whatever is fun. Why does it seem that so many older people depend on that which costs them a fortune to live their life? Money finds itself as used more, depended on more and valued more as people get older. Why?

2. Another thing I notice is that most people that find themselves in both age groups live an entirely completely different lifestyle. Young people live like they have nothing to lose. Older people live thinking they have nothing to lose anymore and spend so much of what they have before they pass on. Middle-aged people live trying to accumulate as much money as possible so that they can get to that old age and be stable or secure. It’s a vicious cycle if you ask me.

I don’t say any of that because I think I know it all. I’m obviously making broad strokes and harsh generalizations that many won’t fit into. With my experience though, this is what I find. I realize that money starts to be used a lot more to achieve things further and further up my list as I get older, and that scares me. I don’t want to live my life trying to gain security in money, or lifelong stability through a few dollars (not that old people now do). It becomes easy to depend on something that you have constant access to. I say this now, hopefully in ten years I will look back on a post like this and remember how I used to think and it will reprimand me for caring so much about something that the world created a value for and start focusing my attention on that which really has value.