A Biblical View on Investment and Economics

There are whole ministries dedicated to helping Christians invest their treasure in companies and ministries that have biblical principles or at least are not anti-biblical in their business model and business practices.  I'll let you refer to those recourses for investment strategies, but I want to think more broadly here because God's economy is more about people than it is about money.  He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and gold is something that He paves the streets of the New Heaven and the New Earth with because it has no value to Him.  Precious jewels are something to use as construction materials for the foundation of the city and giant flawless pearls are materials from which to make the gates of the city.  It is true we need to be careful about how we invest our treasure, but it is as important that we are careful about how we invest our time and talent.

If you were to make a budget on how you spend your money, it would say much about your worldview and what is important to you, but the same could be said about if you look at your calendar or day-planner--however you schedule your time.  It has been said by some that if they wanted to know what was important to man, they needed only to look at his appointment book and his checkbook (this was back in the day when people wrote checks for everything).  On top of this, Jesus gave us the parable of the talents (where we get the idea of someone being "talented" or "having no talent").  God gives special giftedness and aptitude so everyone has some giftedness, but He does not give everyone the same gift, nor does He apportion everything in what we might consider to be fair or equitable (pay attention to this if you are falling into a worldview driven by covetousness that tries to pit the "haves" against the "have nots.").  God gifts us uniquely for the works of service that He has prepared for us and expects us to invest our time, talent and treasure to edify the Body (the Church), to be laborers in His harvest, and to bring about a return on that investment.  So, what are you doing with your time talent and treasure?  Is your goal to earn a lot of money and give yourself a nice safety net so that you can comfortably retire? Are you using all your time, talent and treasure to feed your appetites and to live for excitement and pleasure?  Are you spending all of your time, talent and treasure on your ministry (be careful with this because this too can be bad if you ignore the things that God called you to like family).

Yes, Economics is much larger in God's economy than what we normally think of because God's resources are not material like when we think about natural resources, production of manufactured goods, and the logistics of getting resources and goods from the supplier to the consumer.  God's resources can't even be counted on a ledger, but He wants us to participate in His economy which is in the business of taking the gospel to the whole world and making disciples of all nations.  The world tells us that our resources should be used to acquire more power and wealth for ourselves, but God tells us that all those who seek to be "first" in this world will be "last" in the kingdom of heaven, but those who humble themselves to serve everyone else (like Jesus did) will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.


Philippians 2:5-11
English Standard Version
​5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.