I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:12-13
How much money can a Christian make? This is a question that many believers face, but you can never really get a solid answer from them. That's because there's really no one answer to that question.
In the Bible, God speaks about money countless times because God knows how important it is to have a healthy view of finances and how much we should have. God doesn't put a limit to how much money we can make. No one becomes more favored because of how much or how little they earn. What matters most is the issue of the heart.
Is it wrong to earn a lot of money?
Matthew 6:19-21 tells us, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Some have interpreted this scripture as saying that it is against God's will to store up money and to make a lot of it. That is not what the Bible says. What Jesus is saying here is that we are not to replace treasures on earth for treasures in heaven.
Greed comes not because we want more money; it comes when the contents of our hearts are replaced by a desire for the accumulation of wealth above the things that God values. And we all know what God values more than money -- relationships, character, family and the list can go on.
You can make all the money you want as long as it does not come between you and your relationship with God and others.
The true measure of contentment
Contentment comes primarily through understanding that what provision God gives us today is more than enough for us, and that we are to be faithful stewards of the provision that he gives us whether we earn minimum wage or millions.
What matters to God is not the content of your wallet, but the content of your heart. We can earn a little money, but still have greed and the love of money in our hearts because it's not how much you earn but how much of it you value.
We are to value money enough so that we take good care of it, but not too much that it takes up the place of things that should matter most.
