The real reason we envy the 1%

What’s your gut reaction to this news: A report from Oxfam released today reveals that the world’s richest 1% owns as much wealth as the rest of the world’s 99% combined.

Perhaps you’re startled that that’s even possible.
Perhaps you feel angry at the inequality of our global economy.
Or perhaps deep down you feel a twinge of envy—your life would be so much easier, so much more satisfying, if you were in that 1%.

It’s a heart attitude that Graham Beynon helpfully addresses in Money Counts:

“Imagine you hear that someone you know has inherited a lump of money. Or that someone has landed a well-paying job. Or you discover that they are simply stinking rich.

What is your instinctive reaction? I know that I most quickly and easily feel envious. That reaction shows I think they are fortunate. I want to be in their shoes. I want the money they have because of what I think money will give me.

That sort of reaction shows that money has deceived me. It has convinced me that it is something that it is not, and can offer me something that it cannot. At that moment of envy, I’m treating money as a god. That is how money, a convenient way to exchange work and goods, becomes Money-god, a deity that is loved and served.

But how does Money-god fare when put alongside the God of the Bible?

Money deceives us. It promised to give us life now and security for the future, but it was a lie. But God gives true life now, in Jesus, by his Spirit, at great cost, demonstrating wonderful love. He gives true security for the future where nothing can separate us from his love.

Money dominates us. We become enslaved to it, dancing to its tune. But Jesus is the master, “who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2 v 20). We happily enter God’s service, and discover as we do that here is true freedom, because this is what we were designed for.

Money disappoints us. It cannot keep its promises. But God always comes through. His promises are true and certain, and having given us his only Son, he will never let us down.

Money destroys us. It is a trap which will only ever do us harm. But God is the one who graciously gives us life and will only ever do us good.

Which one do you want as your god?

The point is that it is not only wrong to love money, but that it’s a terrible thing to love. It’s not only right to love God, but he is the God who is wonderfully worth loving.

It’s not only right to love God, but he is the God who is wonderfully worth loving.

Consider: What did money ever do for you? Did it create you? Does it give you life? Does it love you? Does it provide for you? Did it ever make a sacrifice for you? Can it guarantee anything for you? Can it comfort you in sorrow or give hope for the future?

No—and so worshipping money can only let you down and do you harm. But the true God has done all these things and more.

Becoming a Christian, and continuing as a Christian, involves turning away from the false gods we have loved and served and trusted. But it also, wonderfully, means turning to God, because he is good and kind. We don’t turn away from the false promises of idols to a dour and demanding God who burdens us, but to the God who loves us. And so we must not only truly turn from the false gods, but turn to live for him. Otherwise we will be left half-hearted, compromised and unable to enjoy knowing and serving God.

So it is with money. We don’t only want to turn away from serving money because it is deceptive and destructive, but we want to turn to a better God—the true, loving, saving God. We turn away from money which dominates and serve the God who sets us free. We shun the love of money which will destroy us, and worship the God who gives us life as it was meant to be.”

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