In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…and man and woman. He created man and woman in His own image…a clear indicator of His intent. That intent was and is that He would have a direct relationship with them. Knowing they would have needs, He surrounded them in creation with every possible “thing” they might need. This was God’s creation. He owned all of it.
He then blessed the man and woman and told them to be fruitful, to multiply, and to subdue the earth and all its vast resources…in service to God and man. That takes me to page 3 of my Bible, and the rest of the book is largely about redemption.
This is because sin entered the world. Evil induced man to make what A.W. Tozer called a “monstrous substitution.” Man substituted “things” for God. “A tough fallen root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess,” came to control the human heart. (Above paragraphs and quote partially excerpted from “The Pursuit of God,” Tozer, Chapter 2).
As a result, man proceeded to subdue the earth and its vast resources in service to his own desires…often with some appeasing measure to God and man. Of course, few among us would admit that this allocation applies to us since we view ourselves as generous people. But most of us define generosity on our own terms and in a place where it fits our budget.
This is particularly true among “the rich” who, like the Rich Young Ruler, may give away a lot of money but not so much as to cause concern about how much remains in their investment portfolios. 1% of Americans own 40% of America’s wealth, and the next 4% own the next 20%. 1% own as much as the remaining 95%. Hence, Jesus speaks most directly to those who have the ability to create wealth.
Like millions of other “good people” of faith, I often stated that “God owns it all,” but that was belied by my own behavior. Sure, I gave generously to the work of the Kingdom, but I served two masters until I was 50. I sought to balance what Jesus said cannot be balanced, God, and that “monstrous substitution” Tozer wrote about. I thought I could tithe and then go shopping.
But Jesus saw my heart. In a very challenging season of my own life, He came alongside me in love to say that I was attempting to put “twin beds” in the spiritual master suite of my life; one for God and one for earthly riches. He made it clear to me that, in light of the idol which I often ranked before Him, He would continue to love me at a distance and not reveal the True Riches of an intimate relationship with Him until He alone was given a King-sized bed in that spiritual master suite.
It was in the months and years that followed that I discovered the freedom of serving One Master. Jesus took my hand and walked me through The Eye of the Needle into a realm of freedom and joy and exhilaration and purpose and experiential life I had never known.
I was spiritually confronted with the reality that I viewed God as my partner, but I was the managing partner. I was led to surrender that spiritual bondage. Jesus guided me in breaking away from conformity to the “two-master” norm of this world into a One Master spiritual transformation by renewal of my mind…and embarking on a specific, intentional generosity journey where the question became not how much do I give, but how much do I keep.
The ability to create wealth is a gift from God. Deuteronomy 8:18. Wealth creation is meant to be a glorious thing when used for Kingdom purposes. The question isn’t how much is accumulated. The question is where it goes.
There is a MASSIVE difference in life between living as an earth-bound owner, even while giving generously versus coming to know in one’s heart and using the pocketbook to demonstrate that God owns it all. The latter reveals the realm of what Jesus calls The True Riches, which is a realm of increasing revelation from and intimacy with Him. Those True Riches surpass anything else planet earth can offer.