By Austin Ukporhe
The subject of money or wealth is always controversial among Christians. Some believe a Christian should not desire or make efforts to become wealthy, others emphasise the pursuit of wealth and stretch it out of proportion.
We see in the scriptures that God desires to see His children prosper and advance His Kingdom on earth through prosperity.
The question now is how do we go about creating and managing wealth as Christians.
To start with, let’s look at what God told Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 verse 2: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing.”
Here, we find the purpose of God’s blessing. When God blesses you, He expects you to become a blessing to others. To be a blessing is essentially to create value for others and make a difference in their lives. In the marketplace, that value is quantified using the currency of exchange. People exchange value in currency for the value of goods and services.
Let’s look at five activities a Christian can engage in the process of creating and managing wealth as a result of God’s blessing:
Trading
The primary activity of the marketplace is trading. In a marketplace, people come to buy and sell. Indeed, the world is a marketplace. If you are not buying something, you are selling something.
The most traded commodity is time. If you are employed to work somewhere, you are selling your time along with other things such as your skills, personality and, sometimes, your reputation. It is not bad to be employed. However, it is important to be aware that you are in the business of exchanging your time for money. This awareness will help you to insist on a fair balance between the value you bring and what you are paid in exchange.
Profit is the goal in the marketplace. Everybody is out to make a profit. As a Christian, you should not lose sight of the fact that as you seek to make a profit financially, you must look out for opportunities to make a profit for the Kingdom of God. The parable of the talents is evidence that our Lord expects profits from us.
God has given everyone something to trade with. We must work at using the abilities God gave us to generate goods and services that we can exchange for money, which we can use to meet our needs and the needs of others.
Producing something
Hebrews chapter 11 verse 3 says, “By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” This means that the intangible produces the tangible.
The blessing of the Lord is invisible and intangible. It is a spiritual empowerment, which God bestows on a person by proclamation. The blessing can enable you to produce things either by invention or by innovation. The stuff you produce can be traded as goods. That is one way the blessing makes a person rich.
Providing a service
The same blessing can manifest in enabling you to provide certain services in a way others can’t.
It can inspire you with new ideas on how to do things more efficiently and get results quicker. That is one way to become the preferred service provider in your field. That means you get more clients and more revenue.
It also works in public service. Daniel was promoted again and again because he was preferred. His competitors couldn’t match his excellence.
If you are a skilled worker or a service provider, why don’t you work on leveraging the blessing of the Lord on your life to improve the quality of your delivery such that everyone knows that you are the best in your industry?
Investing
There are four categories of investments a Christian can consider making. It would be great if you can invest in all four.
Investment in assets: The first is investing in assets. One of the first assets you should consider is real estate. Land is critical in every wealth equation. Control over land is much power. That is why God ensures that His people own lands. Of course, there are other assets that one can invest in. Here are a few options: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, commodities, and business.
Investment in agriculture: Agriculture is the most natural form of investment. A farmer is an investor. Every seasonal cycle, the farmer invests in the divine principle of seed time and harvest and expects the land to yield its increase as God ordained it to be. The farmer does the work of sowing the seed, watering and weeding and then trusts God to bring the increase. It is the same in animal husbandry. The Bible also shows how God prospered our patriarchs through the rearing of animals. Abraham had a great flock. God commanded Isaac to sow in the land. God gave Jacob a miracle idea to multiply sheep. Why wouldn’t you invest in agriculture?
Investment in people: The steward in Luke chapter 16 was rightly labelled unjust. However, he was commended for being wise. And the wisdom referred to here is the way he used money in his possession to build relationships with people by helping out those he could. Jesus recommended such an investment in verse 9. “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions), so that when it fails, they [those you have favoured] may receive and welcome you into the everlasting habitations (dwellings).” Also, remember what Proverbs 19:17 says: “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.”
Investment in yourself: “If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength; but wisdom [to sharpen the axe] helps him succeed [with less effort], Ecclesiastes 10:10 says. Your God-given gifts and abilities are like axes in your hands, with which you can do exploits both in the kingdom and the marketplace. However, these axes are limited in their natural state. It is wisdom to continually sharpen them by undergoing skills development: training and practice. Invest in every line of grace you notice in your life. It is your God-given pathway to wealth. Never become complacent. Always work towards becoming a better version of yourself.
Building a system
If you study the life of King Solomon, you will realise that he painstakingly built a system that helped create wealth, manage wealth and use the wealth to build legacies.
Solomon had multiple streams of income: consultancy, real estate, livestock, precious metals, transportation, etc.
Leveraging the wisdom God gave him, Solomon was so productive that he spoke 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs. The Bible says “He described and classified trees—from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall. He described and classified animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. People came from every nation to hear his wisdom; they came from all the kings of the earth who had heard about his wisdom.” (1 Kings 4:32-34).
That is being fruitful, which is the first commanded response to the blessing of the Lord. “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:28).
After being fruitful (productive), which is associated with wealth creation, the next is the commandment to multiply, which is the stage of wealth management. After creating wealth, you need to manage it in such a way that it multiplies. Beyond multiplying, God expects us to take on legacy projects and have global impact and influence.
To achieve these, diligence is required. We must become people who do not shy away from work. “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” (Colossians 3:23). “Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.” (Proverbs 12:11).
God wants you to prosper. Don’t let the devil deceive you.
.Reverend Austin Ukporhe is the Senior Pastor at Remnant Christian Network, Lagos. Raised in Sokoto, northern Nigeria, he was trained in peculiar firebrand evangelism and was ordained as a pastor in 2001. He has experienced countless and diverse workings of the faithfulness of God over two decades and has developed a passion to see God’s will for Nigeria become a reality. He can be reached on +2348060255604.