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Wealth and the Family Unit

God is a “Family Man.” He works through the family and is connected to the structure of the family. We are born again into a relationship with Him as our Father and with fellow Christians as brothers and sisters who are being apprenticed in co-running the family business. This apprenticeship is about responsibility, stewardship, and “buying in” to God’s work and people.  

In Matthew 13:12, Jesus discloses a major spiritual law for how increase and prosperity work in His Kingdom. This law essentially says, “Those who care for what they have been given receive more, and those who misuse what they have lose it.” We use our “wealth,” which all of us have, and our “riches,” which all of us have in varying measures. So, what is the difference between wealth and riches? I assert that all lasting wealth comes through the family unit and is built generationally. 

“Riches” are perishable assets, which Christ warned us not to improperly focus on as the primary goal of our labors. Riches can initially be gained with or without ethics and morals. “Wealth,” on the other hand, is primarily achieved through the skills, spiritual knowledge, and character developed by obeying God’s approach to resource management. Riches are something we have; wealth is something we are. Wealth will pass through death, but riches will not. 

Here are five major areas of biblically definable wealth: 

1. Relational peace with God 
2. Relationships God has given you 
3. Revelational wealth 
4. Time 
5. Material contentment 

God’s blessing and wealth pipeline is the family unit; that is why spiritual warfare around families is often so severe. If you weaken or destroy the family, you cut the pipeline of wealth, usually starting the next generation off in a financial hole. Our children are a stewardship and inheritance from the Lord. (See Psalm 127.) God requires us to pass on our wealth to them and to raise them in the faith as we teach them the truths and moral wealth-creating principles of Scripture. (See Deuteronomy 6:6–9.)

In His high priestly prayer in John 17, Jesus exemplified the attitude of relational stewardship that God wants to instill in each of His children. Christ reported back to God on how He had managed the people and affairs the Father had sent Him to oversee. He acknowledged that everything He had ultimately belonged to the Father. Three elements—receiving an inheritance, preserving and building that inheritance, and passing it on to future genera­tions—form the backbone of a biblical understanding of faithful steward­ship of wealth and responsibilities, be they physical or spiritual. It begins with the humble acknowledgment that whatever we start with, we owe to others and ultimately to God. It calls us to rise to the challenge of multiplying what we receive, not for our own consumption but for the glory of God and the service of others. 

Single-generational wealth results in the curse of poverty. It is selfishness versus heritage. It is consumption versus savings. We must adopt a long-range perspective of our families, businesses, communities, and nations. Saving and investment, not consumption and debt, must drive our economy. Godly families pass on the skills of stewardship and character as the primary guarantee of success. The emphasis is not on things or money. The mistake many rich people make is neglecting to teach their chil­dren to be wealthy. When their children inherit money, they waste it with foolish spending or investments. 

Investing in relationships is the key to wealth because it promotes cov­enantal responses (self-government) rather than short-run consumption. Christ’s last act before His death was to arrange for the care of His family. (See John 19:26–27.) What a wonderful example for us to follow! 

Thought of the Day: All lasting wealth comes through the family unit and is built generationally.