Be Prosperous With the Money You Make
Be poor! Give away everything you have! Make a vow of poverty, and live a life of sacrifice. That’s what the Bible teaches, correct?
Many people have this impression. Perhaps even messages like the one we shared last week on being generous leads us to think that we shouldn’t make much money—that our earnings should be modest. But I believe the Bible teaches a different message. The Bible teaches us to be prosperous with the money we make.
We’re in the middle of four episodes on discovering what the Bible teaches about money. This is important for those of us who are Christians. For those who aren’t, much wisdom can be gained through these ancient texts. While by no means an exhaustive look at what the Bible teaches, the four principles we are looking at are:
- Beware of the Money You Love
- Be Generous with the Money You Have
- Be Prosperous with the Money You Make
- Be Wise with the Money You Manage
Today we’re covering the third, and it may surprise you that the Bible teaches us to earn lots of money. Let’s explore.
Be Prosperous with the Money You Make
What if the Bible encouraged you to make lots of money? Would that surprise you? The Proverbs are full of wisdom about money, and many are about making it! What are the Proverbs?
Proverbs are wise sayings shared by wise people. An important note is that Proverbs are principles, not promises. They are not guarantees. They make bold statements that generally come to pass but not always.
Before we get to how to be prosperous with the money we make, let’s look at what it says about how not to be prosperous. The Proverbs give four warnings against behavior that lead to poverty rather than prosperity.
Laziness Brings Poverty
The Proverbs are littered with warnings against laziness. Here are a few:
Proverbs 6:9-11: How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.
Proverbs 22:13: The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!” or, “I will be murdered in the streets!”
Proverbs 13:4: The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
Proverbs 10:4 Lazy hands make a person poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.
Proverbs 13:18: Those who ignore discipline come to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored.
Proverbs 12:24: Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.
“Poverty will come on you like a bandit.” “Gets nothing.” “Poverty and shame.” “Slave labor.” These do not sound like fun outcomes.
What is laziness today? Showing up late to work and dawdling while you’re there. Consuming entertainment instead of learning new skills or searching for work better suited to your skills. Doing the bare minimum to get by and being upset when passed up for a promotion.
Certainly, many factors lead to poverty. Family and economic systems. Mental health. Substance abuse. Choices earlier in life that weigh people down for years or decades. The Proverbs aren’t talking about those, and neither are we. It’s beyond the scope of this podcast.
But I am as certain that many lack the income they want because of laziness. And the Bible speaks against that. We’ll contrast this with its positive alternative in a moment, but let’s look at the next principle.
Haste Brings Poverty
Want to make a quick buck? What to get rich quick? Not according to Proverbs.
Proverbs 12:11: He who works his land will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment.
Proverbs 20:28 A faithful person will be richly blessed, but whoever hastens to get rich will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 21:5 The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.
Haste brings poverty. Chasing fantasies brings poverty. We’ve talked about this a lot on the podcast.
People who want to get rich quickly end up losing it all. Instead of investing, they speculate on risky ventures hoping to make a quick buck. They continually switch their investment strategies, chasing the highest return, only to end up with substandard results. If you are hasty in your approach to making money, you will not succeed.
Gluttony Brings Poverty
Here are some sobering Proverbs for us in America.
Proverbs 21:17,20,25: Those who love pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich. In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish person devours all they have. The sluggard’s craving will be the death of them, because their hands refuse to work.
Proverbs 23:20-21: Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
It doesn’t matter how much money we make if we spend it all on our pleasures. It doesn’t matter how much income we earn if we squander 100% of it on food, drink, and entertainment. We will never be prosperous if our chief goal is pleasure.
I’ve seen households that make $100,000 per year, and they give 10% and save 20% of their income. And I’ve seen households that make $400,000 annually, give nothing, and struggle to save 3%. All of their discretionary income goes to their pleasure, and maybe more, if their credit card debt is any indication. They will never be prosperous. You cannot out-earn gluttony.
Dishonesty Brings Poverty
One of the common objections about those with high incomes is when they’ve achieved those incomes dishonestly. The Bible hates that too.
Proverbs 22:1: A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.
Proverbs 28:6: Better a poor person whose walk is blameless than a rich person whose ways are perverse.
Proverbs 20:17: Food gained by fraud tastes sweet, but one ends up with a mouth full of gravel.
Proverbs 11:1 God hates cheating in the marketplace; he loves it when business is aboveboard.
Proverbs 21:6: A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare.
In our attempts to increase our income and be prosperous with the money we make, we must never resort to dishonesty or cheating. It will never last.
Ready for the good news? Among others, the Proverbs give us two principles being prosperous with the money we make.
Diligence Leads to Prosperity
We saw the antidote to laziness and haste in the proverbs we read. Let’s look at them again.
Proverbs 13:4: The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
Proverbs 13:18: Those who ignore discipline come to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored.
Proverbs 12:24: Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.
Proverbs 21:5 The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.
Proverbs 10:4 Lazy hands make a person poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.
Working hard. Working diligently. Consistency in our work. These are what bring wealth.
When you consistently work hard in your work, you get paid more. Studies have confirmed that consistency usually beats passion. Authors who write daily publish more books than those who try to do it in bursts. Office workers who consistently achieve the little goals hit the big targets. Tradespeople who constantly do good work make more than those who are sporadic.
When you consistently do the right things with your finances, you make more. One of the Seven Pillars of Financial Victory we discuss is Disciple: doing the little things repeatedly. Contribute to your 401(k) every paycheck. Fund your Roth IRA and HSA every month. Increase your savings rate with every raise. Diligently doing the right things lead, unequivocally, to wealth.
Where do you need to be more diligent? In your work? With your finances? It leads to wealth, so if you aren’t on track to have wealth, perhaps this is why. Or perhaps you don’t know how which leads to our last principle.
Wisdom Brings Prosperity
You can diligently work a plan, but it won’t lead to wealth if it’s a bad plan. You can diligently save each month, but if you save into CDs and ultra-conservative funds in your 401(k), you’ll never prosper.
This Proverb is not about money, but it applies, and it changed my life when I truly read it for the first time.
Proverbs 4:7: Wisdom is supreme; therefore, get wisdom. Though it costs all you have, gain understanding.
Wisdom is supreme. What a statement. What a principle! Here’s another like it.
Proverbs 16:16: How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!
In the Bible, God tells King Solomon he’ll grant him any wish. Instead of asking for riches, he asks for wisdom. And the Lord gave him both, making him the wisest, and thus the richest, person of his time.
When you have wisdom, you can become wealthy. We know this.
Wisdom can help us earn more. We delay earning an income to get a university degree or apprentice in a trade. If our education imparts wisdom (not merely knowledge), we can use that to make better income later.
Wisdom can help our money earn more. When we understand modern finance or work with someone who does, we can save more and make more money without additional effort. This is not “get rich quick.” It’s diligently applying wisdom over decades for superior results.
Wisdom is supreme; therefore, get wisdom. Though it costs you all you have, gain understanding.
Are you willing to pay to get wisdom? One of our tenants here at RetireMentorship is to “Increase Your Knowledge” of finances. You’re getting that for free. Are you willing to pay for more wisdom? Because understanding finance may return to you two- to ten-fold whatever you pay for it.
Get wisdom. Act diligently on it. And you will be prosperous with the money you make.
Conclusion
The Bible teaches us to get rich. It doesn’t teach us how to get rich; it just encourages us to do so. It also encourages us to give generously and commands us to avoid loving money. And isn’t that what we want?
Do we want all the greedy jerks to make and have all the money? No! Compare that with folks who love people instead of money and are wise and generous with the money they make and manage. Wouldn’t we be better off having more people like that earn and own more money?
If you’re a Christian, you should be the best employee, manager, or business owner around. You should work diligently and wisely and treat others in the workplace the way the Bible teaches. If we worked the way the Bible instructs us to live, wouldn’t that make us the best employees, managers, or business owners? And if we were the best, wouldn’t we also make more money to be generous with?
The Bible doesn’t teach us to be poor. It teaches us to be prosperous. And if you make a lot of money, or a little for that matter, you’d better manage it well. We’ll cover that next week in the last installment of our Principles of Biblical Finance.
