Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle. Proverbs 23:5
There was a man in a church I was the pastor of who worked for a major IT firm. Prior to the dot-com bust in 2000, he sold half his stock in the company and bought a very nice new home with the proceeds. Two years later, after the dot-com bust, he sold the other half of his stock…and bought a set of four tires for his truck!
“Money has wings and flies away,” as the saying goes. It actually comes from Proverbs 23:5. Its easy to delay giving to those in need because we think we’ll still have money sitting around for the need next week, next month, next year….
But assuming you’ll always be rich – if you are – is a chimera. I know plenty of wealthy people who have gone through cycles of boom and bust.
As a Christian, the first principle for giving away some of your wealth is to give it while you’ve got it. Don’t hang onto it as a source of security, because it can disappear at any moment.
In that same church there was another man who was a VP for another major IT firm in our area. He also was heavily vested in his company and, like the first, he lost everything (including his job) when the dot-com bust hit.
But when he had his wealth – and before he lost it – he did a lot of good things with it. One of the things he did was give me and my wife a car when we needed to replace our aging van. As a result, I was freed from the burden of a monthly car payment. And as a result of that, I was able to do something that I probably wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise: start New Commandment Mens Ministries, a ministry that now circles the globe.
Are you wealthy? Look around you. See any needs? Meet them. Do it now. Give it while you’ve got it. You may not have it to give tomorrow.
Discussion Questions
- Have you gone through periods of financial boom and bust?
- Have you had money you wished you gave away before you lost it?
- When you have money, do you find it tempting to hold onto it instead of giving generously?
- Have you sacrificially given money away even in times of need in your own life?
- In what ways did the Lord respond to your own need?