God’s teaching me a critical truth about how to be rich, and it’s this: The time and resources God gives me to steward only become priceless when I give them back to Him. He manages everything He gives me better than I do because He is God. My job is to allow Him to be LORD and quit acting like I should be in charge!
I saw this play out in our law practice a few months ago.
The more I’ve let go of the reins, the more I’ve seen how faithful God has been, which means I can stop scrambling to squeeze every hour for income. This freedom gave me the margin of time to talk with a client I did not expect to hire me. It wasn’t all about the money because God was handling the money! Because I was not worried about making money, I was free to have an unhurried, compassionate conversation and lead that young man to Christ. He accepted Christ’s gift of salvation right in the office, and his eternity changed forever. Wow, right?
This is how God’s kingdom-stewardship works!
I have seen the same principle at work with something as simple as writing a song. When God gives me a song to write, I no longer assume it means I am supposed to be the one who records it. Many times, He has led me to record a song with someone with a gift for music who has never recorded before. What could have stayed a single, private accomplishment becomes a multifaceted blessing. Another person’s talent is stewarded, their gift is developed, and the song reaches ears and hearts mine never could have reached alone.
You see, in the moments when I stop clutching what God gives me and start asking what He wants to do with it, He multiplies it in ways I could never have engineered by myself! Proverbs speaks to the manifestation of the riches of God:
“There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.” (Proverbs 13:7)
How can a person be rich and have nothing? How can someone poor be called wealthy? Solomon was not describing a bank statement. He was describing two completely different economies—one visible and temporary, and one invisible and eternal. Jesus told a story in Luke chapter twelve that shows exactly what Solomon meant.
“Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: ‘The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, “What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?” So he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.'” But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.'” (Luke 12:16-21)
Notice the man was not condemned for having a good harvest. He was condemned because every plan he made was for himself. Bigger barns. More storage. More ease. That kind of reasoning is the mind of the flesh at work—calculating security in bushels and acres. We so easily tend to trust physical abundance instead of trusting God. It is the will of the flesh that says, “I will build, I will store, I will secure myself,” and fails to ask what God wants done with any of it. That man died, and every barn he built stayed behind. He confused abundance with riches, and he ran out of time to change it.
But here is the key difference: The moment we trust Christ as Lord and Savior, our soul is no longer poor.
We become possessors of a righteousness we did not earn, an inheritance that cannot be repossessed, and riches purchased by the blood of Jesus instead of the sweat of our own striving. We do not work our way into being rich. We are already rich in Christ. The new birth gives each believer choices to make with the time and resources God entrusts to us. Jesus made it easy for us to figure out where we’re investing:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)
The rich fool’s treasure was in his barns, so his treasure was no greater than the barns he built. But when a born-again believer sets their treasure on the things of God, and when what He gives—time, money, skill, and work—is spent for His glory, none of it is wasted, and none of it is lost. It is invested into God’s economy, which cannot collapse and cannot be stolen. And, remember, Jesus promised our investment has a 10,000% return!
So yes—anyone can be rich. Not by the world’s math, and not by what they manage to hoard for themselves, but by becoming a surrendered citizen of God’s Kingdom, where God turns every investment into an eternal return.
Prayer:
Father, thank You that in Christ I am already rich—not because of what I have earned, but because of what You have given me. Forgive me for the times my flesh has put security in things that cannot last. Teach me to spend what You have entrusted to me—time, work, and resources—for Your glory, knowing that nothing given for You is ever lost. Keep my heart fixed on treasure that is eternal. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
