Study the diagram which lays out the beliefs in sequence. The accompanying narrative will help you work your way through it.6
The listing of beliefs works from bottom left upward and then down to the right. The arrows and circles are explained at the end of the beliefs.
- Because money has a god-like strength, our earning and use of money communicates our values.
- Christians are citizens of a society God is building and are called to share God's values — that is to view and respond to the world the way God does.
- God's values all culminate in this: restoring the universe to its intended purpose — a place of abundant life, a place without suffering, a place where people get to enjoy the fruits of their labor, a place without oppression, or death, or grief, or poverty. Christians respond by giving our life's work to God's service, and to using money to help God provide abundant life for all. (Note: Don't be too rigid or narrow about the descriptive terms for God's redemptive work. The Scriptures provide many terms and metaphors, too many to include in this small diagram!)
- Jesus, as the Christ and Lord of the universe, is where we meet God's generosity. He is the agent by which God's work is accomplished. When we meet this grace in Jesus, we are empowered to live out our belief that God is owner of all. Jesus is our best example of how to live out God's values.
- We embrace Jesus as the Christ and Lord of the universe, and dedicate all of life to him.
- We demonstrate this dedication by giving back to God out of the first and best of all we've been given, and manage the rest in generous ways that give glory to God. We organize life so that God can give us away.
- Given money's power and the constant temptation to move away from a whole life dedication, we need the Holy Spirit and the church family to help us be accountable. Our best decisions about living generously are made with the help of other people seeking to be fully dedicated to God.7
About the circles: The circles remind us that our beliefs about money and our actions with money connect to the very character of God. God who creates gives us all things. God who redeems gives us salvation. God who comforts walks with us and gives grace gifts to the church that we might care for and exhort one another.
About the arrows: The arrow at the bottom of the diagram points from the faith community to money's power once more. This is a reminder that no matter how many times we remind ourselves of our beliefs, no matter how much time we spend connecting our economic activity to our spiritual life, the god-like power of money continues. While we live this life, its connection to us does not disappear. We spend all of our life disciplining ourselves to put our economic life under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
The arrows in the middle are ways which other faith-related economic belief systems bypass the grace given us in Jesus.
Continued
6 From Speaking about money: reducing the tension, by Mark L. Vincent, Herald Press, 2001, pp. 23.
7 For an in-depth treatment of these beliefs, including related scripture study, see the book A Christian view of money: celebrating God's generosity, by Mark Vincent, Herald Press, 1997.