the good gifts

by phiLip pLedger

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

The power of money in our world has seemingly always been in conflict with many of the principles taught by Jesus. Within Christendom there are a multitude of positions on how money ideally should, and realistically does play in the lives of Christ-followers. There are those who would reference Jesus' exchange with the rich young ruler in Luke 18 as an easy argument against possessing wealth as a whole, while there are others who would argue for the attaining of wealth in order to use it for good in the world; after all, charity organizations, medical research and even hospitals cannot function without a large flow of money going through them. This past Sunday night, our Bible study examined a number of these viewpoints stemming from a discussion of quotations by a French libertarian economist named Charles Gave.

There were many things said, but one of the central themes, at least in my mind was the concept of ownership and property. The way we understand these terms is at the heart of any discussion about money, and therefore important to how Christians should deal with it. Amongst the many scriptures addressing money, a passage of the book of James stands at the forefront in my mind as a truth about the nature of ownership for Christians. If we are to take the Bible seriously, the implications of this verse are drastic, as we are faced with the realization that not some gifts, not most gifts, but every gift is from the Father. It's easy to rationalize our way around this verse by the glorifying the Protestant work ethic, but in it's simplest manner, we need to honestly ask ourselves where our ownership comes from.

I can imagine that if most people went to their workplace on payday and received a check for $0.00 for their two weeks of work, they would be less than pleased. One could argue that by working for an employer we enter into a contract with them to exchange labor for monetary payment, but this isn't the heart issue. The idea of "earning" our wealth, the central concept of the American dream, has been adopted by Christians as gospel in the modern era, yet it is hard to understand why. Given James' statements in verse 1:17 of his book, our possessions are not earned, but given to us by the Creator, the only One with a right to ownership. With this mentality, "earning" wealth takes on a new light, not for everyone, just for the Jesus followers who submit that both the world and God owe us nothing, no matter what kind of work we may do. Perhaps this is yet another way which God's grace is magnified in our lives; He provides without any obligation to do so.

For Christians, we have to ask ourselves if we truly believe every good and perfect gift is from the Father. If yes, it changes the way we view wealth, because it is no longer ours, but God's, and if it is God's, then our sense of entitlement must shrivel. Only without our sense of entitlement can real Christ-like stewardship of God's resources manifest itself in our lives, regardless of how wealthy or needy we may be. With this mentality, rooted in humility, so many questions about money take care of themselves.