I want to give an explanation of what I consider to be the going advice for Christian finances and why I think it’s off the mark.  My purpose isn’t to point fingers, but to be clear about the issues – it’s taken me a few years to finally be able to give voice to these and I hope it’s of value to you.  To do this I’ll restate the advice in a couple of succinct tasks and explain why I believe they are not the advice we need. This method is something I learned in the Army: thinking of what I do in terms of tasks and purposes.  Simple but effective.  It clearly communicates what and why without threat of punishment.  

-Task: Get out of debt. This is very good financial advice. Being debt free can be used to great effect to support whatever our tasks are, but it is not a task itself.  Nor a purpose.  It is an enabler – something that will help me free up cash.  But being debt free doesn’t turn me into a philanthropist, nor does it mean I’m spending what I make in a responsible way.  It simply means I have no outstanding debt and that I make more than I spend. 

-Task: Tithe. This is a good guide but unless you live under the Law, it’s not a task.  More to the point, tithing doesn’t do anything by itself.  Tithing is just a mechanism for setting money aside to further God’s kingdom.  “Ah,” you say, “but if I give to a church, they will do something with that tithe to further the Kingdom.”  True enough, but that misses two key points: churches have overhead costs that part of your tithe goes to, and being a disciple means personal transformation and involvement; you cannot export that work from the body of the Church to the organization of the church.  Remember, every third year the Israelites were to keep their tithe for use to hand out to the needy, any visiting Levite, and travelers. You can’t get more personally involved than that. 

-Task: Live a comfortable life.  This is a wonderful ideal, I guess.  The reality is this is unattainable.  But suppose it was; what would you turn into?  If you could hang out all day or go on vacation or confront the poverty in your area or feed the homeless, which ones would you choose?  At first, I bet most if not all people would do something charitable with some of their time.  But how long would that last?  How long before you start pulling back from that work?  Comfort breeds complacency because it makes us less able to change – to confront the unknown or what’s difficult.  Another strike against this notion of wanting a comfortable life is that Jesus actually said the opposite would likely be your lot in life if you follow him.  Best to leave this task for Heaven.  If it happens that’s great, but don’t seek it out. 

-Task: Give generously. This is the same as tithing; it’s just a mechanism, not a task. And when it’s talked about it is usually just focused on giving more to church. Why this task is particularly poor advice is that it doesn’t help or educate you on how to do this or help you identify to whom you can be generous with your money.  Who actually needs help?   How can you help? This reminds of the movie Zoolander.  Our main character wants to help people and his friends respond with: “What people, Derek?”  To which Derek replies, “You know, people who need help.”  Like Derek, I don’t think most Christians actually know who needs help.  Maybe poor people or people in Africa or hurricane victims or missionaries. 

Bottom line: the usual advice is focused on what to do to get you into a good financial situation but stops short of helping you understand how to use your finances to actually be God’s hands and feet. It gives you tasks to complete, shows you how to get your affairs in order, and makes those tasks the end itself.  Any advice needs to be fully integrated with how you function as a disciple.