J. I. Packer on Wealth in the Christian Life
I have been mulling over this passage from Packer’s classic, Knowing God, and considering to what extent my own life ought to reflect the willful simplicity of the early church. What do you think?
You are called to go through this world as a pilgrim, a mere temporary resident, traveling light. You are to be willing, as Christ directs, to give up material wealth and the security it provides and live in a way that involves you in poverty and loss of possessions. Having your treasure in heaven, you are not to budget for treasure on earth, nor for a high standard of living—you may well be required to forgo both. You are called to follow Christ, carrying your cross.
“My God will meet all your needs according, to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” [Phil. 4:19]
We are unlike the Christians of New Testament times. The thought of “safety first” was not a drag on their enterprise as it is on ours. By being exuberant, unconventional and uninhibited in living by the gospel, they turned their world upside down. You could not accuse us twenty-first-century Christians of doing anything like that.
Why are we so different? Whence comes the nervous, dithery, take-no-risks mood that mars so much of our discipleship? Why are we not free enough from fear and anxiety to allow ourselves to go full stretch in following Christ? Now let us call a spade a spade. The name of the game we are playing is unbelief, and Paul’s “he will give us all things” (Romans 8:32) stands as an everlasting rebuke to us. Paul is telling us that there is no ultimate loss or irreparable impoverishment to be feared. If God denies us something, it is only in order to make room for one or another of the things he has in mind. Are we, perhaps, still assuming that a person’s life consists (partly, at any rate) in the things he possesses?
(Pages 312-313)
The Apostle Paul was capable of being content with “food and clothing,” and exhorted us to be likewise. I pray never to become discontent with giving sacrificially for the help of others in real need.
Poverty in itself is never a virtue but often the result of vice.
The question of morality in relation to wealth is not whether we have or lack any certain amount of goods, but of the circumstances involved in possessing or losing them.
The greatest economic charity a man can do is to inspire others with his work ethic.
I’m of the persuasion that, generally speaking, help for the poor is best generated by maintaining for oneself a principled middle-class lifestyle; a state wherein one has enough capital to continue developing profitable businesses, thereby creating employment and goods for others, with an end to raising the standard of living to an enjoyable modesty for all.
