Prosperity and Faith
My wife and I have started reading The Purpose Driven Life (by Rick Warren) with our neighbors. (I'll let the priests chime in on this to correct my theological musings.) The book is a 40 day program of reflection. We won't manage the "do it all in 40 days" approach - three chapters a week is our more, manageable goal.
The first three chapters offer some insights that helped me with this thread.
Almost the very first lines in the book are
That seems like an important means of keeping the material life in perspective. Yes, markets offer us fabulous wealth - even if we aren't particularly wealthy. The riches of our society are so great that even the poor among us live lives unimaginable even 100 years ago. For those fortunate enough to be among the relatively wealthy, as my family is, we live lives unimaginable even 30 years ago - the increase in my well-being from Google alone is so vast as to be almost incomprehensible to me.
Yet none of that ultimately matters. (Maybe we can lure Fr. M out of the comments and into a post here - he's much more eloquent than I am on stating what does matter.)
2. Knowing one's purpose in life "simplifies your life. It defines what you do and what you don't. ... You simply ask, 'Does this activity help me fulfill one of God's purposes for my life?'"
Material prosperity offers a chance to put great resources to work to gratify our personal desires or to serve God. Warren concludes the third chapter of the book by pointing out that we are accountable for how we do this.
One lesson I draw from this is that our material prosperity not only creates challenges for us to keep our focus on God but also challenges us to find ways to use that prosperity to serve God. We have been given much, and so we will have to account for much. (The parable of the talents seems to suggest the same thing.)
Thus while I take PJ and Robert's points that the wealth produced by markets can distract us from Christ, I don't think that's the entire picture. The wealth created by markets - and the wealth that could be created by extending markets - is an asset we've been given by God to use for his Glory. If we don't, that's something we have to answer for. It is not enough, therefore, to simply withdraw once we've reached an optimal amount of prosperity. We must risk prosperity for prosperity offers us the means of contributing to efforts to glorify God, and surely that is one of our purposes (I will admit that I peeked at the end of the book....) There may be an optimal amount of prosperity to free us from the distractions of want and misery to allow us to focus on Christ without the temptations of material plenty. But if we stop at that point in the social creation of wealth, we neglect the wonderous things the greater wealth could do that would be to God's glory. The risk, of course, is that we forget that it's not about us and turn that wealth to lesser purposes.
The first three chapters offer some insights that helped me with this thread.
Almost the very first lines in the book are
"It's not about you. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It's far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God."
That seems like an important means of keeping the material life in perspective. Yes, markets offer us fabulous wealth - even if we aren't particularly wealthy. The riches of our society are so great that even the poor among us live lives unimaginable even 100 years ago. For those fortunate enough to be among the relatively wealthy, as my family is, we live lives unimaginable even 30 years ago - the increase in my well-being from Google alone is so vast as to be almost incomprehensible to me.
Yet none of that ultimately matters. (Maybe we can lure Fr. M out of the comments and into a post here - he's much more eloquent than I am on stating what does matter.)
2. Knowing one's purpose in life "simplifies your life. It defines what you do and what you don't. ... You simply ask, 'Does this activity help me fulfill one of God's purposes for my life?'"
Material prosperity offers a chance to put great resources to work to gratify our personal desires or to serve God. Warren concludes the third chapter of the book by pointing out that we are accountable for how we do this.
One day you will stand before God, and he will do an audit of your life, a final exam, before you enter eternity. ... From the Bible we can surmise that God will ask us two crucial questions:
First, "What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ?" ...
Second, "What did you do with what I gave you?"
One lesson I draw from this is that our material prosperity not only creates challenges for us to keep our focus on God but also challenges us to find ways to use that prosperity to serve God. We have been given much, and so we will have to account for much. (The parable of the talents seems to suggest the same thing.)
Thus while I take PJ and Robert's points that the wealth produced by markets can distract us from Christ, I don't think that's the entire picture. The wealth created by markets - and the wealth that could be created by extending markets - is an asset we've been given by God to use for his Glory. If we don't, that's something we have to answer for. It is not enough, therefore, to simply withdraw once we've reached an optimal amount of prosperity. We must risk prosperity for prosperity offers us the means of contributing to efforts to glorify God, and surely that is one of our purposes (I will admit that I peeked at the end of the book....) There may be an optimal amount of prosperity to free us from the distractions of want and misery to allow us to focus on Christ without the temptations of material plenty. But if we stop at that point in the social creation of wealth, we neglect the wonderous things the greater wealth could do that would be to God's glory. The risk, of course, is that we forget that it's not about us and turn that wealth to lesser purposes.
Posted by Andy Morriss on
Thursday September 29, 2005 at 11:00pm