Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.
Proverbs 30:8-9
The topic of poverty and riches has been coming up for me a lot within the past few weeks. I don’t have any profound insight to add to the ongoing discussion on the issue. If anything, I have a lot of thinking to do. I wonder: What are some good biblical principles for how Christians should live as it relates to this issue? Should we feel guilty for having expensive things? Should we regularly have garage sales to get rid of stuff we have but don’t really need? I don’t know. The whole issue makes me a bit nervous. Partly because, to be quite honest, I’m a little weirded out by some movements that have taken vows of poverty and such, and partly because I like a lot of the stuff I HAVE but DON’T NEED.
The Bible is clear that you shouldn’t love money (1Timothy 6:9-10), and it also warns against the deceitfulness of wealth (Mark 4:19), but is the principle behind Jesus command to the rich young ruler binding on all believers? I don’t know.
“Jesus said to him, ‘If you would be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me.’” Matthew 19:21
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