“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children….” (Proverbs 13:22a NKJV)

Off and on for the past few years, I’ve returned to this subject in my personal study.  Whether ministering from the pulpit or working with entrepreneurs and businesspeople in the context of business, the idea that we — as Christians — struggle more than most with money has come up again and again.

Looking at my own church experience, I can see that there are a number of factors that have affected me personally.  It has been a journey in and of itself to reconcile my own thinking with what I’ve come to understand from the Word of God.

But… reaching beyond myself, I’ve discovered that many people struggle with many of the same issues.  And there are others that I’ve found are working to limit the effectiveness of God’s people that had not been a part of my own experience.

The most dangerous ones, of course, are the ones that affect us without us being aware of them. For example, confusing wealth with money is a common misunderstanding. What exactly is it that we are pursuing in business anyway?

All of this has led me to work on something that I’m excited to be announcing very soon.  It is intended to address all of this — and much more — head-on.  Watch this space for updates!

Have you ever noticed that pursuing your dreams takes money?

We’ve talked previously in this setting about the notion that God is ultimately the giver of dreams (Psalm 37:4) and how that I believe that when we’re talking about these dreams that are rooted in the deepest places of our hearts, God gives them to us. By this, of course, I mean that He places them there to begin with! He then challenges us to engage the process of seeing them come to fruition. Not that He leaves us on our own (thankfully!)… but nevertheless, the process requires our involvement. But when it comes to the Source of these dreams… it is He!

Nevertheless, there are few things in life that can be accomplished without significant financial resources. This is true no matter what sort of dream you have. Even if your dream were purely, let’s say, to have healthy relationships with your family — your spouse, your kids, etc. — it would be severely hindered if you were impoverished. Lacking financial resources causes us to have to think constantly about where the money is coming from to pay the next bill… to get another job, to work harder and longer… all the while neglecting the people most important to us.

Is money the “be-all, end-all” goal? No way. However, none of us should apologize for turning a profit in business nor for bringing significant financial resources into our lives.

Some have argued that it is “selfish” to want to have abundance.

I would argue quite the opposite. If you are barely getting by, how can you pay for your neighbor’s kid to go to college? How can you buy a new car for that relative in need? How can you build a homeless shelter or create a camp for kids with illnesses?

Our poverty-minded thinking that has said, “I’ll be O.K. if I just have enough to pay my bills and put a little away for a rainy day,” has left us crippled and enslaved. You can’t be and do what God has called you to do without having more than enough financially.

Certainly, if we have hang-ups with greed, we need to address those as the heart issues they really are. But we must deal with them and move on!

There’s a great discussion on this subject going on over at Michael Pink’s blog. Check it out.

In the meantime, I’m going to leave you with a quote from former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher:

No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions - he had money, too.